The following was contributed by Mel Smith (Smithy), January, 1992:
TEAMSTERS LOCAL 238 is a general Local Union and was chartered in 1935 (?) Most of the charter members were from Street Maintenance Department of the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One of the charter members was Rollie White, who drove truck for the Street Department. His brother, William White, who I think was also on the charter application, drove truck for Cedar Rapids Transfer and Storage.
One of the first, if not the first, business representatives was James D. White, another brother. Jim always said that when he was first employed by Local 238, there was no money in the treasury. If he wanted paid, he had to sign up workers on membership applications and then collect the initiation fee and dues. Local 238 did not enjoy dues check-off in those days - in fact, dues check-off in Local 238 was not generally available or used until the early 60's. Some members came into the office to pay their dues or mailed them in, however, for the most part, it was necessary to contact each member each month to collect dues. It was also necessary to know what day was payday and make your contact on that day, because if you didn't, the money was gone and dues weren't paid. At some Locations, it was even necessary to arrive at a specific time. Even then, some members, not many but a few, would do their best to miss you so they didn't have to pay dues.
Jim White, who was a U.S. Navy veteran, re-enlisted in the Navy in 1941 about the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the time he was in service during World War II, the Local's business representative was George Shilhon, and on some occasions, he was helped out by Frank Frisby.
Jim White returned from active duty in the Navy in 1945, and the affairs of the Local were in shambles. Contracts had not been negotiated, or if negotiated, had not been signed. Many members were in arrears with their dues, and many employees had never been approached to join the Union.
At this time, the offices of Local 238 were in the old YMCA Building located at 90 1st Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This building housed several other union offices, including Ironworkers Local 89, Operating Engineers Local 234, Carpenter's Local 308, Laborers Local 43, and the Cedar Rapids Building Trades. This building was known as the "Labor Temple". The building was located on the northwest quadrant of the intersection of 1st Avenue E and 1st Street E. This location is now a small walking park at the east end of the 1st Avenue bridge. Directly across the street to the east was the National Headquarters for the Order of Railway Conductors (ORC).
In January, 1946, Harry J. Wilford, was hired as assistant Business Representative. Wilford had just recently been discharged from the Army after service in World War II. Prior to entering the Army, Wilford had been Secretary-Treasurer and Business Representative for Local 371 in Rock Island, Illinois. When he returned from service, he decided not to return to union work, and instead intended to obtain work as a driver for a freight company, a job he had done prior to accepting work for Local 371. When Jim White asked Wilford to work for Local 238, he agreed to help him get the Local on its feet but then he would be leaving. Wilford eventually was employed by Local 238 until January 31, 1984. Wilford stated on many occasions that when he began employment, there were less than 500 members and many of them were in arrears with their dues. I believe the figure I heard Harry mention was 476.
At this time, members were primarily employees of the City of Cedar Rapids, freight companies, transfer and storage companies, construction drivers, ready mix drivers, lumber yards, quarries and uniform and towel companies.
There were continuing attempts to organize various groups. Some of the first were the employees of John Blaul's and Sons, Western Grocers and Lagomarcino-Grupe Company; all grocery warehouses. John Blaul's and Sons also was the distributor for Budweiser Beer. This operation was also covered by the contract. Dale Lee took over the distribution of Budweiser and was covered by the contract when he did so. This was the first beer drivers contract in the Cedar Rapids area. Lagomarcino-Grupe also had warehouses in Iowa City, which was in Local 238's jurisdiction, and in Burlington, Iowa, which was under the jurisdiction of Local 218. All of the Lagomarcino-Grupe warehouses were covered under a Master Agreement.
Employees at E. Cohn and Sons junk yard were organized in the late 40's, as were the employees of the plumbing wholesale houses; Cedar Rapids Pump Company and Chandler Company.
Salesdrivers at Peter Pan Bakery, Colonial Baking Company, Cedar Rapids Bakery and Amana Bakery were organized in the late 40's or very early 50's.
Transport drivers for Ruan Transportation and Eldon Miller, Inc. were organized in the late 40's.
In 1947, the three transfer and storage companies in Iowa City were organized. They were Maher Brothers Transfer and Storage, Thompson Transfer and Storage, and Iowa City Transfer and Storage.
In the late 40's, John Melsha was also hired as an assistant Business Representative. He had been an employee of the Concrete Materials Rock Quarry located on Otis Road along the west edge of the Cedar River in south Cedar Rapids.
In the late 40's and early 50's, some of the motor freight companies operating in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City jurisdiction of Local 238 were: Western Transportation, Gateway Transportation, Brady Motor Freight, P. I. E., Carstensen Freight Lines, Arledge Transfer, Bos Freight Lines, Pal's Freight Lines, Rock Island Motor, A.W.Schmidt Transfer, Watson Brothers, Denver-Chicago, General Expressways, Navajo Truck Lines, Merchants Motor Freight, Takin Brothers and Hawkeye Motor Freight. Most of these companies have long since disappeared - either through mergers, buyouts or bankruptcies. The only two still operating in Cedar Rapids/Iowa City are Carstensens Freight Lines and A.W.Schmidt Transfer.
In the early 50's, Local 238 successfully organized Searles Dairy, Sanitary Dairy and Northwood Dairy in Cedar Rapids and Model Dairy in Iowa City.
Also in the late 40's or early 50's, Borden Ice Cream Company was organized on a state wide basis. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that each plant could not be organized separately but the total Iowa operation stood or fell on the one vote. The vote, not taking into account a challenged ballot, was tied at 50-50. This ballot had been cast by a part-time employee, who was a college student. His right to vote had been challenged by Local 238 based on his part-time status. The employees had been assured this was a "secret" ballot and how they voted would never be known. The NLRB ruled that the employee who cast the challenged ballot was an eligible voter, and since the challenged ballot could affect the results of the election, that the ballot must be opened and counted. Remember - Local 238 had challenged his vote. When the ballot was opened, it was found to be a "yes" vote. The Unions, therefore, had successfully organized Borden Company on a state-wide basis, and had won the election by only one vote. The student then said to White and Wilford, "You told us all along that no one would ever know how we voted. I tried to tell you it was impossible to have a completely secret ballot, somehow everyone would know how we voted." What could they say? His was the only vote which was not secret. I guess there are no "absolutes" in this world.
At this time, dues were $4.00 per month for members employed by motor freight companies, and those members employed as construction drivers and ready mix drivers. Dues for all other members were $3.00 per month.
In 1952, Mel Smith was hired as assistant Business Representative. He had been employed at Thompson Transfer and Storage in Iowa City.
In addition to organizing, negotiating contracts and servicing those contracts, Wilford had two ideas or goals which were uppermost in his mind. The first was that he wanted a building for the Local which the members could be proud of and feel like bringing their families to. The second was to establish a credit union for the Local so that members could help members. This would be especially true during time of strikes or other hardships when normal lending institutions might consider a loan too risky. During his tenure at Local 238, Wilford saw both of the above goals become fact.
In 1947, the membership adopted a $3.00 per member Building Assessment. This was later raised to $5.00 per member.
In 1958 or 1959, Local 238 bought four acres located at 5100 J Street SW in Cedar Rapids. In 1960, the old Labor Temple at 90 1st Avenue NE was sold and all the local unions housed there had to move. An attempt was made to have all local unions pool their resources and build another Labor Temple, but this was unsuccessful. The need to move had caught us by surprise at this time. We had not started our building, in fact, we did not even have plans drawn up. We moved 238 offices to 3rd Street SE, just about one-half block south of the intersection of 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street SE. We were located just above Sramek’s Bakery. We were in this location until the summer of 1963, when we moved into our new building. Several local unions, including Ironworkers Local 89, Sheetmetal Workers Local 263 and Painters Local 447, rented office space from us. Many other local unions and groups held meetings in our building. An open house was held in October, 1963. The special guest was General President James R. Hoffa. He was accompanied by Sid Zagri, who was then National Director of D.R.I.V.E. Approximately 750 members, guests and friends shared a gala evening with a sumptuous banquet and dancing until the wee hours of the morning.
In about 1973, the Teamsters Building was taken over by the Iowa Highway Commission. We had heard rumors of the possibility of a road being routed over the site prior to building but were assured by the Highway Commission that such was not the case. That building site is currently covered by about 40 feet of fill, the road cutting over from 1-380 to Bowling Street SW goes over it.
Land was then purchased at 5000 J Street SW and the current Teamster Building was constructed. Seems the Highway Commission was after us because they again took several acres off the rear of our lot but left us enough for the building and parking lot. This was again after giving us assurance prior to us purchasing the land, that it would not do so.
While the new Teamster Building was under construction, Local 238 offices were located in a house we purchased with the building lot. This house was at 5060 J Street SW. The business representatives worked out of and meetings were held in a vacant store, which was located in the small shopping center at the junction of 16th Avenue and Williams Blvd. SW. We moved into the current Teamster Building in the summer of 1975. Several unions, including Ironworkers Local 89, Painters Local 447, Asbestos Workers Local 81 and Laborers Local 43, rented office space from us. An open house was held in October, 1975. Special guest was General President Frank E. Fitzsimmons.
The 10,000 square foot auditorium and several smaller meeting rooms are rented by various individuals and groups for wedding receptions, church meetings, political rallies, Co-Op meetings, union meetings, etc.
The Teamster Local 238 Credit Union was chartered in late 50's. It normally had offices located in the Teamster Building, but in recent years, it has had it's own office building located on a corner of the Local 238 lot. It currently has assets of over 2 million dollars and has been a real help for Local 238 members and their families.
In late 1954 or early 1955, Jim White was ecstatic one afternoon and after work, bought Wilford, Melsha and Smith a few drinks. We were all mystified as to why. White finally told us the reason. White had just finished checking the books for the previous month, and the revenue for Local 238 had exceeded $6,000.00 for the first time ever! This was the most revenue ever collected in one month by the Local Union.
In September, 1955, Jim White resigned and Harry J. Wilford was appointed Secretary-Treasurer and Executive Officer to complete his unexpired term. White’s resignation was primarily brought about because of lack of support received from International Union officers during a long, bitter strike against Witwer Grocers. This strike lasted for considerably longer than a year, and was lost. In addition to the grocery warehouse, Witwer Grocers also had a manufacturing operation to make and package potato chips, nuts, other snack items and some private label products for the Me Too Grocery stores, which were also owned by Weaver Witwer. Western Transportation hauled most of his canned goods, cereal and other non-perishable items after the strike began because other freight carriers respected our enforcement of the "hot cargo clause" contained in their motor freight contracts. Western Transportation ignored our requests to embargo freight for Witwer Grocers, consequently, Western received most of the freight. Their independent owner-operators would bring the loads into Cedar Rapids and by-passing the terminal, would rendezvous with Witwer Trucks and switch trailers. These owner-operators were Local 710, Chicago members and Local 710 could not or would not stop them - on the pretext that they weren't crossing a picket line. When Jim White requested assistance from International officers, the help was not forth coming. No one wanted to buck Local 710, after all, one of 5 the International VicePresidents, John T. O'Brien, was from Local 710 and he carried a lot of weight. He tried to tell us, he couldn't do anything because Iowa was a so called "right to work" state. We had many arguments with him over this.
White felt he had been "hung out on a limb to dry" by the IBT. He felt so strongly that he resigned his office and accepted employment in the personnel department at Watson Bros. Freight Lines.
February 1, 1955 was the date when contributions to the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund began. Contributions were provided for in the Central States Motor Freight Agreement. In addition to the motor freight carriers, Local 238 was successful in negotiating the Central States Health & Welfare and Pension programs into the transfer and storage company agreements. The initial pension program provided for a contribution of $2.00 per week. To be eligible for retirement, a member had to be at least 57 years of age, have 20 years of service in the Teamsters industry, and have 80 weeks of contributions made on his behalf. Charles Kindle, a member working for Thompson Transfer and Storage in Iowa City, was Local 238's first pension recipient. He received $90.00 per month for five years and $22.50 per month for life thereafter. Brother Kindl was in excess of 70 years of age at the time of his retirement. By today's standards, the amount of the pension would be insignificant but it was a magnificent sum in 1956.
In 1956, Herman J. "Doc" Casten was hired as assistant Business Representative. Casten had been employed as a driver by Iowa Farm Bureau, later to become FS Services, yet to be known as Growmark.
It wasn't too long after Casten was hired that John Melsha's employment with Local 238 was terminated.
In early 1959, Casten decided to discontinue employment with Local 238 for personal reasons and tendered his resignation. This left Wilford and Smith as the only business representatives for a period of time. Later in 1959, Keith R. Johnson was hired as assistant business representative. Johnson was affectionately known as "Moose". Johnson had been a sales driver for Colonial Baking Company. He had been on the negotiating committee one year and his boss, Mr. Walter Brown, really became incensed when Johnson told him, "the store owners and customers aren't buying Colonial bread, they are buying Moose's bread." Moose was on Brown's list every after.
During the late 50's, Local 238 was successful in organizing Home Town Dairy in Iowa City. During negotiations for the initial contract, the owner had our committee convinced he could not meet the terms of the standard dairy industry contract covering the employees at the other dairies, even though Home Town had purchased Searles Dairy and Northwood Dairy in Cedar Rapids and was paying dairy industry rates to those employees. Wilford, Smith and our committee had met night after night and were getting nowhere, mainly because our committee was very nearly sold by the company that they could not afford the contract. Little by little, our committee, although still physically seated on our side of the table, was actually crossing over to the company side. The owner was no dummy and he sensed this. In an effort to finish driving the wedge between us and our committee, he asked, "Where is the money going to come from to pay you these kinds of wages?".
No one on the committee answered him, so he asked again, "Where is the money going to come from to pay you these kinds of wages?". When he still did not receive an answer, he said, "Well, I'll tell you. It will have to come out of my profits". Quick as a wink, our committee was back on our side of the table, emotionally and spiritually as well as physically.
In just a few more meetings, we had the contract settled on the standard dairy industry contract. Wilford and Smith often wondered what would have happened had the owner not answered his own question the way he did, if he had left it hanging there for the committee members to ponder. It was our opinion that we would have been unable to successfully conclude the organization at that time because the employees most probably would not have supported a strike.
During the late 50's and early 60's, Local 238 organized many groups. Some of them are: Langer Manufacturing whose primary products were wire milk cases and metal bushel baskets; Iowa Milling, a soybean processor, whose plant has since become Cargill East; Cargill Corn, starch and syrup; Corn Sweetners, now known as ADM (Archer-Daniels-Midland). At the time it first started, the plant used about 50,000 bushels of corn daily. The daily grind is now in excess of 300,000 bushels. In addition to starch, syrup and fructose, the plant produces millions of gallons of ethanol annually; Cargill West, another soybean processing operation; F. W. Means Plant, uniform and towel launderers and processors. Electro Coatings, custom plating operation for all types of industry; Hubbard Milling, Co-Op Feed Mill, FS Feeds and Wayne Feeds, all producers of animal feeds.
Sanitary Ice Cream, Cedar Rapids, and Sidwell Ice Cream, Iowa City, were also organized during this time. During the negotiations with Sidwell Ice Cream one of the Employer's committee members expressed concern that a certain employee could not perform well enough to command the higher pay. We were told, "Why he can't even lift a 10 gallon can of milk to dump it. About all he can handle is 5 gallons.". When we talked to the individual he said, "I've only been doing work which corresponds to my pay. If I get minimum wage I don't do much. When I get the higher rate which is in the contract, I'll do the work". Sure enough, he did.
In 1964 we successfully organized the computer operators at Collins Radio (now Rockwell Collins). Initially the unit had 164 members. Other groups related to the computer operators, such as tape librarians and auditors, were added in later years. Even with the addition of various groups the technological advances have eroded the group until currently only a handful remain.
In about 1965 Casten was again hired as assistant Business Representative. During the period since 1959 he worked at Gateway Transportation.
In 1966 Moose Johnson left Local 238 to become a safety inspector for the Iowa Bureau of Labor.
In 1966 Everett G. Dague was hired as assistant Business Representative. He had been employed at Carstensen Freight Lines.
In 1967 Robert E. Schorg was hired as assistant Business Representative, he had been employed by Sanitary Dairies.
During the late 60's and early 70's Local 238 had several successful organizing drives in the industrial sector beginning with Square D Company in 1967. There were about 430 employees in this assembly unit. Local 238 won an NLRB election handily over IBEW. Machinists Local 831 represented the fabrication unit with a similar number of employees. Square D's operation was primarily the fabrication and assembly of electrical controlling devices, such as, circuit boards, switches and gears. Starting in 1975 monetary issues were negotiated on a company wide basis for all organized plants. These negotiations were coordinated by the IUD (Industrial Union Department). International Unions involved were:
Electricians, Machinists, Molders, UAW, Sheetmetal Workers, Operating Engineers and Teamsters.
In 1968 employees of Owens Brush Company (now Oral B) were successfully organized. Local 238 had previously attempted organization of these employees but were unsuccessful. NLRB elections were held in 1958, which was lost by about a 5-1 margin, and in 1960 which was lost by about 20 votes out of about 400 who voted. After request for representation was made in 1958 an independent "Union" was formed with the help of the company. After the 1960 election another attempt to organize was made in 1962, but response was only luke warm at best. Smith started talking to and meeting with officers of the Independent Brushmaking Union and convinced them to have a membership vote to affiliate with Local 238. Their by-laws called for a 2/3 majority on such an issue. The issue came up for vote several times but never could muster a 2/3 majority - vote was usually about 60%. Suggestion was made to change by-laws to require only a majority vote for such issue. By-law change was made and on the very next vote taken the issue carried by nearly a 3/4 majority. The Company recognized Local 238 os bargaining representative until the current contract expired but insisted on an NLRB election because less than 1/2 of the employees belonged to the independent union. Local 238 won this election by a landslide. Owens Brush Company was the world's largest manufacturer of personal brushes - tooth and hair. The Company no longer manufactures hair brushes.
In 1969 employees at Cryovac Inc. voted to be represented by Local 238. This developed into a bitter fight between the Rubber Workers and Teamsters. Local 238 won a decisive victory. There were about 300 employees involved. Primary operations at the Cedar Rapids plant were the extrusion of plastic film, the manufacture of plastic packaging materials and the extrusion of hard plastic containers, such as, wig boxes, tool chests and tackle boxes. The extrusion operations are no longer performed at the Cedar Rapids plant.
In 1970 employees at Sheller-Globe (now United Technologies Automotive) voted to be represented by Local 238. This was a bitter fight among Teamsters, Rubber Workers and an independent group whose intention was to affiliate with the Rubber Workers if it won the vote. It was never explained to anyone's satisfaction why both the Rubber Workers and independent group were on the ballot. The vote was quite decisive for Local 238. The primary operations at Sheller-Globe were to manufacture plastic foam and to manufacture padded products, such as dashboards, steering wheels, arm rests and door panels, for use in the automotive industry. Manufacture of the plastic foam is no longer done at the Iowa City plant.
In about 1971 Local 238 attempted to organize the key punch operators at Collins Radio (now Rockwell Collins). The company insisted that the key punch operators were not an appropriate unit but should be included in an overall group of clerical employees. The NLRB ruled in the Union's favor and scheduled the election. Just prior to the date scheduled for the election the Washington office of the NLRB ordered a halt to the election and ordered a rehearing. After many NLRB and court hearings the position of Local 238 was again upheld and a new election date was set. This election was about a year after the first one had been scheduled. On the day of the vote - in fact the polls were open and employees were voting - the Washington office of the NLRB again agreed to rehear the company's appeal. However, since the employees were already voting the NLRB ruled that the voting should continue and after the polls closed the ballots would be impounded and held until "another final" determination was made by the NLRB and the courts. In early 1974 the ballots were finally counted and the employees had selected Local 238 as their bargaining representative by a one vote majority. In the 1974 negotiations for an extension of the computer operators contract the company finally agreed to include the key punch operators in the master contract.
In 1971 Richard A. Schmidt was hired as an assistant Business Representative. He had been employed at Sheller-Globe and was instrumental in the organization of those employees.
In 1976 the Public Employee's Collective Bargaining Bill was adopted by the Iowa Legislature. This was the first time in the history of the State of Iowa that public employees had an absolute right, which was protected by law, to organize and be covered by a collective bargaining agreement. This opened up many opportunities for organization and Local 238 was quick to take advantage of it. One of the first groups to come under the Local 238 banner was the Cedar Rapids Police Department. This was quickly followed by other groups, such as, county secondary road departments, city employees covering nearly all phases of employment, school bus drivers, school maintenance workers, food service workers, teachers, deputy sheriffs and others.
In 1978 Schmidt resigned as an employee from Local 238 for personal reasons.
In 1978 Willard L. Ewart was hired as an assistant Business Representative. He had been employed at Cryovac. For several years he had been a departmental steward. At the time of his employment by Local 238 he was chief steward and Chairman of the Negotiating and Grievance Committee.
In 1979 Schmidt was re-hired as an assistant Business Representative.
The high point in Local 238 membership numbers up to this time occurred in the late 70's. Local 238 consistently paid per capita tax to the IBT on more than 4000 members. The top was about 4400 members.
During the late 70's the U. S. Congress saw fit to deregulate the trucking industry even though the system which had been in effect for years had been the most efficient ever known for the movement of goods, not only in the United States but in the world. Following deregulation fly-by-night operators sprung up overnight quoting rates which assured they would get the goods to haul. Unfortunately for them others came long and cut their rates. This vicious cycle continued until operators could no longer afford to maintain their equipment and they would fall by the wayside. Many certified carriers which were covered by the National Master Freight Agreement and Supplements could not compete against such cutthroat operators. Many of the motor freight carriers mentioned earlier and/or their successors went out of business. Many members who had worked in the freight industry all their lives were suddenly without work. Many were owed wages and benefits when their employers took bankruptcy. Many voted to give major concessions to their employer but most of these plans failed.
During the presidential campaign of 1980 Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, had made commitments to the air traffic controllers, who were U. S. Government employees, that if he were elected president he would guarantee them that additional consideration would be given to stress factors in their job during the next contract negotiations. During those negotiations U. S. government representatives, evidently with President Reagan's support, took a hardline and refused to give such additional consideration. The air traffic controllers felt the only way to receive what had been committed to them was to go on strike, even though it would be an illegal strike. In 1981 when President Reagan ordered the striking air traffic controllers discharged and barred them from re-hire by the U. S. Government (a bar which has since been lifted) the anti-union sentiments of people in the United States seemed to boil over. Companies whose employees had been covered by collective bargaining agreements for years with good relations between the parties suddenly began hiring anti-union consultants to get rid of the Union. Attempts to organize were met by the same tactics. Not only did the anti-union consultants use defamation campaigns against the Unions and union organizers they did nearly anything, legal or illegal, to try to generate a "no union" vote in representation elections. I f the organization campaign was successful the anti-union consultant tried to maneuver negotiations so that the members could not and would not accept contract proposals made by the employer. This was done with the sole purpose being that the members would be so disheartened they would "drop the Union" or if they remained militant and pursued their legal right to strike, permanent replacements would be hired. In either event the result was that the Union was ousted and the employer was no longer required to negotiate with his employees on the matters of wages, hours and conditions.
A combination of the deregulation of the freight industry, antiunion sentiment with its increased difficulty in organizing new groups and the economic recession of the early 80' s caused the membership to take a plunge.
By 1984 membership had dropped to little more than 3000 members.
In January, 1984 Harry Wilford retired. Herman Casten and Everett Dague resigned. Melvin Smith was appointed to fill Wilford's unexpired term as Secretary-Treasurer and Business Representative.
In early 1984 Larry Omann and William Lyman were hired as assistant business representatives. Omann had worked in the construction industry for many years and at the time of his employment was working for Kleiman Construction Company.
At the time Lyman was hired by Local 238 he was an employee of Local 828 working primarily in the Marshalltown area. Local 828 was located in Mason City, Iowa and the Marshalltown area was hard for them to service efficiently and economically. An agreement was made between the two Local Unions that Local 828 would transfer the members in the Marshalltown area to Local 238 and Local 238 would assume Jurisdiction over that area and would employ Lyman. This arrangement increased Local 238 membership by about 275 members.
In 1985 Gary Dunham was hired as assistant business representative. Dunham had been an employee of Cargill Corn. He had been a steward and on the Plant Committee for many years.
As is always the case with a general union the Job classifications covered by Local 238 collective bargaining agreements are many and varied. In addition to the traditional Teamster classifications such as, truck driver, sales driver, warehouseman, fork lift operator, furniture mover and mechanic there are many others, such as, policeman, deputy sheriff, radio operator, key punch operator, computer operators, machine operator, welder, electrician, plumber, tool and die maker, machinist, millwright, assembler, teacher, food service worker, teacher aide, librarian, road maintenance, bridge inspector and clerical. If Local 238 had not organized workers in the industrial and public employee sectors when it did the truck deregulation, anti-union sentiment and the economic recession of the 80's would probably have been quite disastrous. With the traditional Teamster groups as a foundation and the other sectors to supplement Local 238 has survived and continues in the forefront of the labor movement in Iowa.
Recognizing that worker safety is a major concern of a union representative's job Local 238 has long been active in job safety programs. In 1965 Smith was appointed by the Governor Harold Hughes as a member of the Employment Safety Commission whose duty was to promulgate and adopt worker safety rules for the State of Iowa. Iowa had never had any meaningful safety rules up to this time. The Commission consisted of eight people - four representing management and four representing labor. A majority of six was needed to adopt a safety rule so progress was very slow. In 1971 the Williams-Steiger Act (OSHA) was passed on the national level. At that time the federal safety rules became enforceable in Iowa so the Employment Safety Commission was disbanded. In 1971 Smith was appointed by Labor Commissioner Jerry Addy to the Advisory Council for the Annual Governor's Safety Conference which was just being started. The Governor's Safety Conference continues today and is recognized as one of the best safety conferences in the United States. Smith served on the Advisory Council until his retirement in 1986. Willard Ewart was appointed to succeed Smith on the Advisory Council and continues to serve at this time.
It has always been said that the boss can be away from the office and everything still run smoothly but let one of the office staff be absent and everything stops. The situation was no different in Local 238. The Local has always been blessed with a good efficient office staff. June E. Poole began employment in 1953 and worked for the Local until her retirement in 1985. Ruth Smith began employment in the early 60's and worked until her retirement in 1974. Linda Frieden began her employment in 1966 as an office education student from Prairie High School and is still employed (update retired in 2001). Beverly Wilford began her employment in 1974 and worked until her retirement in 1986. Betty Svoboda began her employment in 1975 and is still employed. There were several office employees with shorter periods of employment, namely Judith Kimpton (61-63), Jackie DesCombes (74-78) and Julie McNeal (85-90). No one could ask for a more dedicated or efficient office staff than the above.
Mel Smith retired in October, 1986 after nearly 35 years as a business representative and officer for Local 238.
Robert E. Schorg was appointed Secretary-Treasurer and business representative to complete Smith's unexpired term.