Local union leader reflects on history of labor, holiday
TEXARKANA, Ark. — For members of United Steelworkers Local 752L, Labor Day is a day to remember their heritage.
Traditionally on Labor Day, the union puts on a fish fry for the membership and immediate families. This year, however, COVID-19 has forced them to postpone and adapt.
“We are going do a fish fry later this month, on the 18th and the 25th,” union president Kerry Halter said. “We will cook fish dinners here in the union hall and bring them to those on shift, seeing all shifts are served over those two days.”
Halter said Local 752L, headquartered across the street from Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in Texarkana, represents nearly all of Cooper Tires’ 1,500-member workforce.
“Only 20 of the eligible members of the labor force have declined membership in the union.,” he said. “With organized labor in the modern world not as strong as it once was, that level of percentage of union membership, of unity, is rare nowadays.”
Halter said the declining rate of union membership is primarily generational, although the
nature of the work done by labor has changed in many ways in the ensuing years.
“It is a generational thing,” he said. “Younger age groups don’t understand the history of American labor — no real grasp of the history of it, the continuity of the labor movement over the years.”
There are some on the Cooper Tire labor force who have been with the company for more than 40 years, so institutional memory remains, both with them and in the comforting confines of the Union Hall. Halter said older workers try to impress upon new hires the heritage they are inheriting.
“We do try to give the new hires perspective during their orientation,” he said. “We tell them about the history of what they are joining, the benefits unions have brought to labor and what happened before they came here.”
Halter said he disagrees with the perception that unions are becoming obsolete.
“Union membership comes with many benefits and those are the rights and privileges we offer to them. … We also want to remember those who have lost their lives in the cause of labor over the years,” he said.
In particular, Halter refers to Ben Butler, who is the only worker who died in an industrial accident at Cooper Tire - Texarkana in the 55 years of its operating history.
“We don’t ever want to see that happen ever again,” he said. “Safety is a big thing in our culture and in the company, both among the workers and management. We work closely with Tommy Culles, the plant manager, to ensure a culture of safety is maintained. I’m part of the safety committee and operational safety is always at the top of our minds. Safety first, production, everything else below those.
“We want people to have a better understanding of the value of labor, those who work to get things done, to provide value.
“Without labor, I don’t know if we would have a middle class.”
The United Steelworkers Union was established in 1942 in Cleveland, Ohio, through the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the alliance formed with the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. Eventually, Local 752L joined USW in 1996. Originally part of United Rubber Workers, Local 752L (the “L” indicating former membership in United Rubber Workers) found a new home in USW, when URW merged into USW.