by Joe Thomas | Sep 6, 2014 | stories
My grandfather, Hal Thomas, came back from World War II and moved to St. Louis where he went to school on the GI Bill and worked the assembly line at McDonnell Douglas for thirty years. As a member of the International Association of Machinists, he had decent pay, seniority to choose his work schedule, and a good pension. He sent five children to college on his union paycheck, and enjoyed a decent retirement. When I was a child, he was already retired and hosted the entire extended family for dinner every Sunday at the house he bought with his union job. As a labor and community organizer, what Hal Thomas was able to provide for his family is what I work for all workers to be able to provide for their...
by Scarlett Ahmed | Sep 5, 2014 | stories
My grandmother worked a variety of secretarial jobs at Saint Bonaventure University near my hometown in western New York. A friend told her to take civil service exams for jobs with the campus post office. She did and ended up working as a postal clerk for many years. During that time, she trained a succession of postmasters who were all, by university tradition, Franciscan friars. My mother, a women’s libber, eventually encouraged my grandmother to protest this. She did and was appointed the first woman, first lay-person postmaster at the university. I guess it caused quite a scandal at the time. The family always joked that the appointment letter was signed by President Richard Nixon (we weren’t big fans). In my own work life, I try to balance my grandmother’s work ethic with my mother’s rebelliousness. They are both my...
by Roger Beau | Sep 5, 2014 | stories
I’m 3/4 Swiss. During the 1840s there was massive unemployment in Switzerland due to the invention of the automated Jacquard Loom in France. Cloth making was cottage industry with cloth being made on hand looms. the Swiss government created 2 immigration societies, one was sent to South America the other to the US. They were put on a boat traveling the Rhine to the port in the Hague where they boarded a ship which took 7 weeks to cross the ocean. Landed at Philadelphia, walking to Pittsburg where they boarded a boat sailing the Ohio river West. During the journey the chose 2 men which they tasked to find suitable land for the group. The two set out from Indiana while the main group continued on to the Mississippi and St Louis. Strief and Durst walked across Indiana and Illinois not seeing anything they felt suitable. Talking to locals they heard there was land in Wisconsin. They set out for Wisconsin. At Mineral Point they were told there was land to the East of there 30 miles or more. Going there they found what reminded them of home: pine trees, hills and rocks. They went back to Mineral Point which had the land office for the area and purchased the land. Sending word back to the group in St Louis they met at Galena walking together to their new home which they called New Glarus. With winter coming on they set about building shelter for everyone then divided up the land purchased according to what each put into the fund. Not having skills for farming they contacted the county...
by Meg Garcia | Sep 4, 2014 | stories
My Grandparents, Romulo and Alvina Morales were born in Southwest Texas to Mexican immigrants in the 1890’s and due to lack of education in the early 1900’s they were unable to have good jobs in the 1900’s. They were also discriminated for their ethnicity, however, there was a demand for labor but it paid low wages, but they had a passion for survival to raise a family. My Grandmother was blind but still managed to get up early and do housework, feed the chickens, work in the yard, do the washing and ironing, cook meals and I held the honor of being her guide to see. I was about seven years old then. I spent my growing up years with my grandparents in the 1950’s and 60’s and observed and learned from their endurance, their values, and their faith in God. In the 1930’s my grandfather labored in the fields picking cotton, fencing work, and WPA work. They were the first ones in our small Knickerbocker, Texas community to own a Model T automobile and the first ones to own a television set. This was because of my grandfather’s work ethic and ability to save some of his hard earned money. He was sought after for work by employers who knew he did quality work and was dependable. I believe my grandparents work principles and steadfastness shaped my work life and contributed to my successful career and retirement with telecommunications and my work as a CWA union officer committed to being a part of improving the work lives of CWA members and their families. Growing up around my grandparents...
by Grace Saia Phillips | Sep 4, 2014 | stories
All four of my grandparents came as teenage immigrants from Sicily to the US with their parents at the beginning of the 1900s. I believe that the families all knew each other in Sicily, and that they moved to the US in order to better their lives, which they did, despite the fact that the Great Depression happened soon after they arrived. My Great Grandparents opened up grocery stores, one on the north end of my small hometown of Helena, Arkansas, and one on the south side of town, both near the Mississippi River. The small grocery stores were on the first floor, with the family residences on the second floor. I don’t know exactly when the grocery stores were first opened, but I do know that my Grandparents helped out in the stores, and then eventually owned them themselves, and my Parents then helped as they were growing up. Both sets of Grandparents had the foresight to buy up property on the block as they could afford it. (These were small “shotgun” type houses in poor neighborhoods, typical of homes of the Depression era.) My Grandparents worked hard, paid their bills, served the Lord through their church, and acquired a good reputation in town, even though they never had much money. I feel that I inherited (but, more importantly, was taught) a strong work ethic from my Grandparents (and my Parents as well) that is based on faith, honesty and hard work. I feel very blessed to be from a wonderful hard working Italian immigrant...
