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[[Image:Bates_1941.jpg|thumb|right|Leon Bates handing out UAW literature during the 1941 organizing drive at the Ford Motor Company - River Rouge plant.]] |
[[Image:Bates_1941.jpg|thumb|right|Leon Bates handing out UAW literature during the 1941 organizing drive at the Ford Motor Company - River Rouge plant.]] |
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In September of 1940 the UAW intensified its efforts to organize [[Ford]] with the assistance of the CIO. [[John L. Lewis]] president of the [[United Mine Workers]] and president of CIO put the full support of the CIO behind the UAW's efforts. The CIO sent [[Michael Widman]] to Detroit to head-up the overall organizing drive. The UAW had previously appealed to the Negro workers, but now their efforts were being stepped up. For their part the UAW knew that if they were going to be successful they needed to organize and reconize every man in the plant that they could. At this point the UAW brought in seven Negro organizers, Leon Bates and John Conyers Sr. were the first hired. UAW president [[R. J. Thomas]] picked former Local #212 president [[Emil Mazey]] to be the director of the UAW Negro organizing effort. From the UAW prospective, Mazey was a logical and a safe choice. Mazey had come to prominence for his organizing work at Briggs during the [[Sitdown strike]]s. Mazey was respected and trusted by the many Negro workers of Briggs. In 1937 Mazey had unseated Local #212's first president a |
In September of 1940 the UAW intensified its efforts to organize [[Ford]] with the assistance of the CIO. [[John L. Lewis]] president of the [[United Mine Workers]] and president of CIO put the full support of the CIO behind the UAW's efforts. The CIO sent [[Michael Widman]] to Detroit to head-up the overall organizing drive. The UAW had previously appealed to the Negro workers, but now their efforts were being stepped up. For their part the UAW knew that if they were going to be successful they needed to organize and reconize every man in the plant that they could. At this point the UAW brought in seven Negro organizers, Leon Bates and John Conyers Sr. were the first hired. UAW president [[R. J. Thomas]] picked former Local #212 president [[Emil Mazey]] to be the director of the UAW Negro organizing effort. From the UAW prospective, Mazey was a logical and a safe choice. Mazey had come to prominence for his organizing work at Briggs during the [[Sitdown strike]]s. Mazey was respected and trusted by the many Negro workers of Briggs. In 1937 Mazey had unseated Local #212's first president a avowed racist. Mazey ended the exclusion of negro workers at union social events and hired an Negro secretary over the objections of the White secretaries in the Local 212's office. Local #212 and had fought to eliminate racial pay differentials for equal work. Still the Negro organizers were not happy that a white man had been put in charge of the Negro effort and complained to the UAW International Executive Board, [[Walter Hardin]] (a Negro) was quickly transferred in from a Chicago assignment to be coordinator. |
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[[Image:Leon_Bates_and_the_six_other_Negro_UAW_Orginizers_1941.jpg |thumb|right|UAW Negro Orginizers after the 1941 organizing drive at the Ford Oginizing Drive]] |
[[Image:Leon_Bates_and_the_six_other_Negro_UAW_Orginizers_1941.jpg |thumb|right|UAW Negro Orginizers after the 1941 organizing drive at the Ford Oginizing Drive]] |
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Revision as of 04:18, 20 October 2008
Leon E. Bates Sr. (December 3, 1899 – July 25, 1972) was a labor union leader with the UAW (United Auto Workers union) from 1937 to 1964 when he retired, as an International Representative of the UAW. He was one the first African American Union Organizer to work for the UAW-CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations).
Biography
Leon Bates was born in Carrollton, Missouri to Werner Bates and Matilda (White) Bates. In Detroit he met and married Anna L. Perry together they had two children.
He attended Lincoln University of Missouri for one year before moving to Detroit with other relatives to seek work opportunities in the manufacturing plants during the boom years around World War I. At the end of the war he remained in Detroit while his other relatives returned to Carrolton. In his own words he had many different jobs in the years between the World Wars; working as a Cab Driver, Common Laborer, he even considered trying his hand at home made liquor during prohibition. However, his Bootleg liquor making thoughts were very short lived as he was convinced that every knock at the door would be the police. The Detroit Police Department had a very long and well deserved reputation of police abuse and abusive tactics, and he had no desire to go to prison.
By 1935 he was working at the Briggs Manufacturing Company of Detroit, Michigan; Briggs Manufacturing was founded in 1909 by Walter Briggs, Sr.. Mr. Briggs had worked his way up to be Vice President of the B.F. Everitt Company (car body makers) in 1906, in 1909 he acquired the Everitt Company and incorporated it in to the Briggs Manufacturing Company; which he had formed that same year. Briggs Manufacturing was one of the country's largest auto body manufacturers at one time; supplying parts to Ford, Chrysler, Packard, Hudson Motors, Studebaker and many others. Briggs Manufacturing became a division of the Chrysler Corporation in 1956.
Unions
While at Briggs, Mr. Bates got involved with the organized labor movement. He worked passionately for the orginized labor cause at Briggs, and in 1937 Briggs Manufacturing and the UAW-CIO signed their first agreement. The 1920's and 1930's were difficult, but exciting times in America, especially for the labor movement. The United Mine Workers, The Pullman Porters, The Teamsters were all make great strides in organizing but paying a very high price for that success.
The coal miners would be involved in one of the longest and bloodiest fights of their history in 1920 and 1921. The violence began on May 19, 1920 when simmering hostilities between mine workers trying to organize and the private detectives hired by the mine owners trying to keep the union out, boiled over in the tiny community of Matewan, West Virginia in what has come to be known as the Battle of Matewan and culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain where 10,000 to 15,000 armed miners confronted police, militia, and private detectives in August of 1921. It finally took the intervention of the Federal Government to restore peace to the area.
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was organized by the predominantly Negro Pullman Porters in 1925. The "BSCP" suffered through a long and protracted fight to achieve recognition by the AFL in 1935, and sign its first collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company in 1937.
UAW years
By 1937 the UAW-CIO had organized the Briggs Manufacturing Company and signed a collective bargaining agreement, through that effort Leon Bates became one of UAW Local #212's most outspoken Union stewards. In 1937 Briggs was the forth largest employeer of Negro's; with 1,300 or approximately 10% of its total payroll, in the Detroit area. The UAW-CIO was keenly aware of this fact, their leadership had made the decision to include the Negro workers in the organizing efforts. This decision went against all of the social, economic, and business norms of the day; the vast majority of labor unions were segregated at this time and simply would not accept negro membership. The UAW-CIO was so concerned about the issue of Negro participation that, the UAW-International Office sent out a letter encouraging each local to elect at least one Negro delegate to its 1937 convention; Leon Bates was one of two Negro delegates elected to represent Local #212 at the 1937 UAW convention.
1937 was a big year for the UAW; they had organized Chrysler and General Motors, they were having a significant amount of success with organizing the smaller parts suppliers and manufacturers ie Midland Steel Products, Kelsey-Hayes, Bohn Aluminum, Fisher Body, and Timken Axle.
The UAW had been working on organizing the Ford Motor Company employees for some time, and then came May 26, 1937 and their clash with the Ford Motor Company security guards some times known as the "Ford Service Department", led by Harry Bennett. This violent confrontation has come to be known as the Battle of the Overpass. Just before the afternoon shift change the UAW organizers were posing for the press when they were suddenly and viciously attacked by Ford security guards at gate #4 of the Ford River Rouge Complex. The violence was a publicity nightmare for Ford. Henry Ford had repeatedly stated that he would never sign an agreement with any union. Ford had gone out of his way to publicly undermine the UAW's efforts at his plants. When token donations to Detroit charities and churches were not enough, Ford turned to Harry Bennett and the Ford Service Department and its union busting tactics. Henry Ford also quitely gave money to Negro Carities and Churches, occassionly showing up at Negro church functions. Henry Ford used these occassions to enlist the help of Negro Ministers to influence the Negro community of Detroit against the unions.
For their part, the UAW took some time to heal their wounds and refine their tactics, then returned to the Ford organizing efforts.
In September of 1940 the UAW intensified its efforts to organize Ford with the assistance of the CIO. John L. Lewis president of the United Mine Workers and president of CIO put the full support of the CIO behind the UAW's efforts. The CIO sent Michael Widman to Detroit to head-up the overall organizing drive. The UAW had previously appealed to the Negro workers, but now their efforts were being stepped up. For their part the UAW knew that if they were going to be successful they needed to organize and reconize every man in the plant that they could. At this point the UAW brought in seven Negro organizers, Leon Bates and John Conyers Sr. were the first hired. UAW president R. J. Thomas picked former Local #212 president Emil Mazey to be the director of the UAW Negro organizing effort. From the UAW prospective, Mazey was a logical and a safe choice. Mazey had come to prominence for his organizing work at Briggs during the Sitdown strikes. Mazey was respected and trusted by the many Negro workers of Briggs. In 1937 Mazey had unseated Local #212's first president a avowed racist. Mazey ended the exclusion of negro workers at union social events and hired an Negro secretary over the objections of the White secretaries in the Local 212's office. Local #212 and had fought to eliminate racial pay differentials for equal work. Still the Negro organizers were not happy that a white man had been put in charge of the Negro effort and complained to the UAW International Executive Board, Walter Hardin (a Negro) was quickly transferred in from a Chicago assignment to be coordinator.
The first UAW - CIO Negro Orginizers after the 1941 Ford Drive, from left to right:
seated Joseph Billups, Walter Hardin, Veal Clough, Leon Bates, John Conyers Sr.
standing Christoper Alston, and William Bowman
The UAW divided Detroit into two separate districts [EastSide and Westside] headed by Leon Bates and John Conyers Sr. Each office had a staff of clerks and secretaries, and latter personnel to handle transportation issues. Bates and Conyers met with Ford workers in their homes, coffee shops, and restaurants, they met with larger groups at local churches. During the Ford drive the organizers worked extremely long hours, most of them outside of the office. The UAW created a family atmosphere by organizing wives clubs, they also strengthened their relationships with the NAACP, Urban League, Michigan Democratic Party and the Nation Democratic Party.
The Ford organizing drive ended June 20, 1941 when the Ford Motor Company signed a collective bargaining agreement with the UAW-CIO. This was six months before the United States entered World War II after Japan attacked the U.S. Navy Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. With the agreements settled between UAW the "Big Three Automakers", the UAW-CIO Negro organizers found themselves squarely in the middle of a new battle. The United States was gearing up for the largest military effort in its history, a two front war; when the conflict came to head on the home front, in the form of "Hate Strikes" and "Jim Crow" policies! At Packard Motors White workers had refused to work with Negro workers, after the plant managers refused to reassign the newly promoted and reassigned Negro workers citing the FEPC rules (Fair Employment Practices Committee) and the WLB (War Labor Board) policies, in protest, the White workers walked off the job. As a result the Negro organizers found themselves in the unusual position of advocating for their union at the same time fighting to reform their union. Pushed by the Negro organizers, the UAW urged the U.S. Government to sanction the companies for the labor policies and practices. The UAW also enforced its own sanctions on its members; declaring the strikes improper and against union rules and policies, the UAW international ordered the employees back to work, or they would remove the local union leadership, and the UAW would support the termination of any and every participant of the strike who refused to return to work.
By 1944 the dust was settling on many labor issues in and around the Detroit area, and the UAW leadership was becoming better organized and business savvy, Leon Bates accepted a new assignment in Indianapolis, Indiana. Even though Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Packard, Hudson, and many other manufacturers had signed collective bargaining agreements many areas had yet to fully form local unions, ratify the agreements, or cease Jim Crow policies and practices. Even though the UAW-CIO had official non-discrimination policy and position; many locals had segregated divisions and some plants had altogether separate locals which were segregated. This was the situation in many Indianapolis plants when Leon Bates arrived as a staff representative of UAW's International Office. One of his first and toughest assignments was the International Harvester Foundry, on Brookville Road, on Indianapolis's far East Side. At the time International Harvester maintained a Jim Crow system of management at its Indianapolis Foundry with two Locals (Local #226 and #998). Officially the division was because of skill and job classification ie local #998 was the local that Mold Makers, Millwrights, Electricians, Pipefitters, Machine Operators, etc. belonged to. Local #226 consisted of Laborers, Loaders, and Helpers which were considered Negro jobs. During the war, and through the civil rights era Leon Bates worked on behalf of the UAW cause, and for job equality; often times these were not the same thing.
Retirement
In 1964 Leon Bates retired from the UAW as an International Representative of the UAW. He and his wife Anna moved permanently from Indianapolis to their lake front vacation home in the small community of Idlewild, Michigan. His retirement was an active one, he was appointed UAW Region 3 Representative for Retirees, and immediately got himself elected Yates Township, Lake County, Michigan Supervisor and County Board Member. He was the first African American elected to the Lake County, Michigan Board of Commissioners. He continued to work in Democratic Party Politics at both the state and national levels traveling to events and functions across the region and country. At the time of his death in 1972 he was running for reelection (and favored to win his third term) as Township Supervisor, when he fell from his boat and drowned in Lake Idlewild. His funeral was attended by both State and National Democratic Party Officials, UAW Officials, he was Eulogized by then UAW President Leonard Woodcock and UAW Secretery - Treasurer Emil Mazey.
UAW Local #226's Union Hall in Indianapolis, is named "Reuther - Bates Hall" in memory of Walter Reuther and Leon Bates.
Leon Bates is buried in the Yates Township Cemetery in Idlewild, Michigan.
Leon Bates was an extraordinary man, besides having an imposing physical presence. He left a lasting impression on the people he met, so much so, that 35 years after his death people who knew him, out of respect and fond memories of him still refer to him as Mr. Bates.
See also
Reference
- Labor and urban Affairs Archives, the Walter Reuther Library Wayne State University
- Black Detroit and the rise of the UAW; Meier & Rudwick, Oxford University Press 1979 [1]
- The Flivver King http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0882860542
- Bates Family History
External links
Template:Organized labour portal
- Walter Reuther Library UAW Collection http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/ward/uaw.html
- Michigan Democratic Party Official Web site http://www.michigandems.com/