NEW! "NATHAN
SPERO: A LIFE IN THE UE" / ON-LINE AUDIO AND MSS. ARCHIVE Nathan
Spero was the Research Director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE)
for thirty-nine years, from 1944 until 1983. Prior to his career with the UE,
Spero worked as a statistician for the National Research Project on Productivity
and Technological Change for the U.S. Department of Labor (from 1937 until 1943).
During his career in the UE, in addition to his regular duties Spero
served as the co-chair of the 13-union joint committee on pensions and insurance
in negotiations with General Electric and Westinghouse from 1975 through 1981.
He was also intimately involved with UE convention work and was responsible for
pre-convention assembly and editing of all convention resolutions. Also during
his years in the UE, Spero was a member of the Department of Labor's Commission
on Incentives. From 1991 to 1992 Spero served as the President for the
New School for Social Research's Institute for Retired Professionals. Through
the 1990s and until very recently, he taught math and labor history at the Manhattan
branch of Queens College in New York City. Spero's publications include
the War Labor Board's Brief on Equal Pay for Women on Jobs of Comparable Worth,
various United Electrical Workers annual reports on the economic situation in
the electronics industry, and industrial pamphlets on such topics as ERISA, Social
Security, and Occupational Hazards. Between 1994 and 1996, Jane Latour
interviewed Nathan Spero about his life, his work, and the history of the UE.
The interviews focused on the 1930s through the 1980s. These interviews, as well
as supplementary documentary materials on Spero's life and career are included
here. "The Fight for America's
Future: A Teach-In with the Labor Movement," held October 3-4, 1996 at Columbia
University, NYC. Plenary speeches and selective workshop sessions. Tapes courtesy
of WRPI (Troy), University at Albany History and Media Project, and Thad Russell.
Original tapes held by the Oral History Program, University at Albany, Albany,
N.Y.  Opening
Plenary Session: Introductory remarks. Speeches by Columbia University President
George Rupp, Steve Fraser, and Eric Foner -- including introduction to Betty Friedan's
speech which follows. (October 3, 1996). [28:12 minutes]
Opening
Plenary Session: Speech by Betty Friedan (October 3, 1996) [14:47 minutes] Opening
Plenary Session: Speech by Richard Rorty (University of Virginia) (October 3,
1996) [16:38 minutes] Opening
Plenary Session: Speech by Patricia Williams (Columbia University) (October 3,
1996) [18:07 minutes] Opening
Plenary Session: Speech by John Sweeney, Pres. AFL-CIO (October 3, 1996) [30:49
minutes] Opening
Plenary Session: Speech by Cornell West (Harvard University) and conclusion of
opening plenary session (October 3, 1996) [28:48 minutes] | MP3
Version
Plenary
Session #2, "The Incorporation of America" -- Introductory Remarks (October 4,
1996). Remarks by Josh Freeman (Columbia University), Brian McLaughlin (Pres.
of the NYC Central Labor Council), and Ira Katznelson (Columbia University). Also
Katznelson's introduction of first speaker, Linda Chavez-Thompson. [14:08 minutes]
Plenary
Session #2. Speech by Linda Chavez-Thompson (Executive Vice-President, AFL-CIO)
(October 4, 1996). [19:09 minutes] Plenary
Session #2. Introduction of, and speech by Orlando Patterson (Harvard University)
(October 4, 1996). [19:15 minutes] Plenary
Session #2. Introduction of, and speech by Katha Pollitt (Writer, The Nation)
(October 4, 1996). [19:58 minutes] Plenary
Session #2. Introduction of, and speech by Joel Rogers (University of Wisconsin,
Madison) (October 4, 1996). [25:34 minutes] Plenary
Session #2. Concluding remarks by Ira Katznelson and Josh Freeman (October 4,
1996). [3:10 minutes]
Plenary
Session #3. Whole session. Individual speeches will soon appear below as separate
files. Speakers include: Nelson Lichtenstein (U. of Virginia), Manning Marable,
Chair (Columbia University), Francis Fox Piven (City University of New York),
Karen Nussbaum (Womens Department, AFL-CIO), Jose LaLuz (Intl. Area Director,
AFSCME), David Montgomery (Yale University), Richard Trumka (Sec.-Treasurer of
the AFL-CIO). (October 4, 1996). [2 hrs, 19 minutes]
Workshop
#6: Labor Teach-in Workshop on Culture, Identity and Class Politics. Convener:
Nelson Lichtenstein (U. of Virginia). Speeches by Todd Gitlin (NYU), Robin D.
G. Kelley (NYU), and Jo-Ann Mort (UNITE). Recorded October 4, 1996. [1 hr, 43
minutes]
If you have a slow modem (14.4 Kb/sec) click here: Workshop
#6.
Workshop
#7: The Wages of Race: Unions and Racial Justice. Convener: Thomas Sugrue
(U. of Pennsylvania). Speakers include David Roediger (Univ. of Minnesota); Derrick
Bell (New York University); Mae Ngai (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO);
Michael Eric Dyson (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill). Recorded October
4, 1996. Please note that the audience was not "miked" and thus questions to the
panel may not be audible. Answers were clearly recorded. Optimized for
28.8 kb./sec modems and faster internet connections. [1 hr, 21 minutes]
Workshop
#10: Labor Teach-in Workshop on Work, Welfare, and the Labor Movement. Convener:
Josh Freeman (Columbia University). Speakers: Katherine Newman (Harvard University),
Bill Fletcher (Education Department, AFL-CIO, Herb Gans (Columbia University).
(October 4, 1996). [1 hr, 33 minutes]
Workshop
#15: Labor Teach-in Workshop on Labor's Values ("Are Labor's Values Still Everybody
Else's?"). Convener: Ronald Aronson (Wayne State). Speakers: Heidi Hartman
(Institute for Women's Policy Studies), Lewis Gordon (Brown University), Jerry
Deneau (Graphics Communications International Union). Audience comments and questions
were also recorded, although the sound quality of the recording of that portion
of the workshop is not very good.(October 4, 1996). [1 hr, 30 minutes]
The following set of recordings come from the G. Robert Vincent Voice Library
at Michigan State University. William
Jennings Bryan (1896)
Eugene
V. Debs (1904). OK, so this is an actor re-reading Debs' speech. Very nice
delivery!
William
Howard Taft (1906)
William
Howard Taft (1912)
William
Jennings Bryan (1912)
Woodraw
Wilson (1912)
Theodore
Roosevelt (1912)
Tom
Mooney (1939)
Fiorella
LaGuardia (1945)
Workfare
Hearings Recorded in Albany, New York (March 11, 1997). Workfare Hearings,
including testimony of workfare workers, recorded in Albany (NYS Legislature,
LOB, March 11, 1997). [1 hr, 17 minutes]. This audio file -- like many on our
page -- is in RealAudio format, so you'll need RealPlayer-compatible software
plug-ins, either RealNetwork's RealPlayer or Microsoft's Netshow 2.0, to hear
them. This particular audio file is encoded/optimized for 14.4 kb/sec. modems
and above. Click here if you have a faster connection (28.8 Kb/sec or above) and
want better quality audio: Workfare
Hearings Recorded in Albany, New York (March 11, 1997).
Audio
File: Sam Darcy interview, Feb. 2, 1992. Long selection from a recorded
interview conducted by Nelson Pichardo on February 1, 1992, from the archives
of the Oral History Program, University at Albany. Darcy was the California District
Organizer for the Communist Party in the early 1930s and was heavily involved
in leading the efforts to organize California farmworkers. 1 hour 2 minutes long.
[I'm working on improving the quality of the audio].
The
following selections come from the Endicott Johnson Corporation Oral History Project,
presently stored by the Oral History Program, Department of History, University
at Albany. For background information on these interviews, see Gerald Zahavi,
Workers, Managers, and Welfare Capitalism: The Tanners and Shoeworkers of Endicott
Johnson, 1890-1950 (Urbana, Ilinois: University of Illinois Press, 1988).
These interview selections will complement Prof. Zahavi's planned oral history
of the Endicott Johnson Corporation, "Ain't Gonna Be So Loyal Anymore": An
Oral History of the Endicott Johnson Corporation. Selection
from Sam Salvatore [Endicott-Johnson Corp. worker] interview by Gerald Zahavi,
July 7, 1981 (audio file) Prof.
Gerald Zahavi comments on corporate loyalty at Endicott-Johnson (video and audio
file). Interviewed by Brian Mauriello, March 1, 1996.
IF
YOU HAVE CONTRIBUTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT GERRY ZAHAVI BELOW.
This
page maintained by:
Prof. Gerald Zahavi
Department of History
University
at Albany
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, N.Y. 12222
tel. (518) 442-4780
email: gz580@albany.edu
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