Iorwith Wilbur Abel biography
Famous people, famous Labor Leader, Iorwith Wilbur Abel biography
Watch online videos of Iorwith Wilbur Abel
View photo gallery of Iorwith Wilbur Abel
Birthday: - ,
Birthname: Iorwith Wilbur Abel
Birthplace:
Nationality: American
Height: cm
Iorwith Wilbur Abel biography:
1908 - Iorwith Wilber Abel was born on August 11, 1908, in Magnolia, Ohio, a small town fifteen miles south of the industrial city of Canton.
1925 - Abel attended the local elementary schools and graduated from Magnolia High School. In 1925 Iorwith Wilbur Abel went to work for the American Sheet and Tin Mill Company in Canton, where Iorwith Wilbur Abel became a skilled iron molder.
1930 - Desperate for work, Iorwith Wilbur Abel took a job in a brickyard where Iorwith Wilbur Abel did unskilled labor for twelve hours a day at minimal wages. Abel subsequently claimed that his experience as an "exploited" worker taught him the need for social reform and the virtues of trade unionism. Iorwith Wilbur Abel was married in June 1930.
1936 - Abel again had a job as a skilled foundryman with the Timken Company. There Iorwith Wilbur Abel participated actively in the labor upheaval of the 1930s which gave birth to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and industrial unionism for the nation's mass-production workers. Iorwith Wilbur Abel helped found Local 1123 of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) at Timken and served successively as the local's financial secretary, vice president, and president. Iorwith Wilbur Abel was known around Canton as a union hell-raiser and in one year alone allegedly led 42 wildcat (unauthorized) strikes. But Iorwith Wilbur Abel also served as a responsible, competent union official, one who caught the eye of SWOC president Philip Murray.
1937 - Murray appointed Abel to the SWOC staff as a field representative.
1942 - Murray appointed him director of SWOC District 27 in the Canton region and that same year Iorwith Wilbur Abel was elected to the position by the first constitutional convention of the United Steelworkers of America (USA).
1952 - Abel moved up to the secretary-treasurer's office. Abel served as secretary-treasurer for twelve years, during which time Iorwith Wilbur Abel traveled around most of the United States and Canada meeting various local union officers and acquainting himself with the grievances of members. Iorwith Wilbur Abel played a major role in three national steel strikes and kept in closer touch with rank-and-file union members than the increasingly distant and debonair union president, David McDonald.
1964 - As McDonald's aloof leadership style precipitated discontent among USA members, Abel in November 1964 announced his candidacy for the union presidency. In a heated campaign Abel charged McDonald with "tuxedo unionism" and with selling out the workers to the bosses through the steel industry's Human Relations Committee, which was supposed to eliminate strikes. Iorwith Wilbur Abel promised to be more militant and to bargain harder with employers. The election proved so bitter and contested that more than a month passed before final results were tabulated. Abel won by a margin of a little more than 10,000, of which over 7,000 came from Canadian locals.
1965 - Abel was also elected to a vice presidency of the AFL-CIO. Although Iorwith Wilbur Abel had promised to give rank-and-file members a greater voice in the union and to be more aggressive in bargaining with employers, Abel behaved in a manner similar to McDonald. In practice, Iorwith Wilbur Abel preferred to reach accommodations with employers rather than call workers out on strike. As Iorwith Wilbur Abel watched technological change raise productivity and reduce the need for labor, Abel sought to win union members a shorter work week, earlier retirement, better pensions, and more leisure time. Working cooperatively with members of the steel industry and federal officials, Abel at first won many of his goals.
1973 - Abel signed an agreement with the steel companies which promised to eliminate strikes for a four-year period. The so-called Experimental Negotiating Agreement (ENA) worked well between 1973 and 1977 and was renewed that year. This arrangement was later abandoned when the steel industry went into recession.
1977 - Abel voluntarily retired from office, the union had increased its membership by over 40 percent, from under one million members to 1.4 million. Abel had campaigned for laws which improved workplace health and safety and to insure pension guarantees. One of Abel's chief critics was Edward Sadlowski, a Chicago union leader who ran for the presidency when Abel stepped down. But Abel supported Lloyd McBride, who won.
1987 - On August 10, 1987, Abel died of cancer a day before his 79th birthday and was survived by his second wife and two daughters.
Other famous people
Mary Reid Anderson biography: 1880 - Born in Glasgow, Scotland. British labor organizer.1909 - As the representative of the women chain makers of Cradley Heath, Mary Reid Anderson secured a minimum wage and led a strike to compel employers to pay the increase without delay.1911 - Mary Reid Anderson married William Crawford Ander ...
Morton Bahr biography: 1926 - Born on the 18th of July in Brooklyn, New York. Morton Bahr is recognized as one of the world’s most influential union leaders. Morton Bahr is the labor movement’s leading expert on technology and information-based industries. - Served in ...
David Beck biography: US labor leader 1894 - Born on the 20th of June in Stockton, California. 1952-1957 - President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 1957 - Called to testify before the US Senate Anti-Racketeering Committee and questioned about misappropriation of funds. He was received ...
Ernest Bevin biography: 1881 - Born on the 9th of March in Winsford in Somerset, England. Ernest Bevin was a British labour leader, politician, and statesman best known for his time as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour government.1892 - At the age of el ...
Owen Frederick Bieber biography: 1929 - Owen Bieber was born on the 28th of December in North Dorr, Michigan.1955 - Owen Frederick Bieber was elected to local union bargaining committee.1956 - Owen Frederick Bieber was elected president of local chapter, UAW Local 687.1972 - Owen Frederick Bieber served as Regional United Auto Work ...