Ken Germanson, Allied Industrial Workers international union staff member, AIW newspaper editor, and president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society (WLHS), talks with Michigan State University Labor and Industrial Relations Professor Emeritus John Revitte via telephone. Germanson and Revitte talk about their long association, projects they have collaborated on, and their careers. Germanson compares the AIW with the United Auto Workers in terms of how they handled grievances and race relations, the makeup of AIW membership, its political leanings, and the history of the AIW as it navigated the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Gernamson describes steps to racially integrate the AIW, and explains how the union survived allegations of widespread corruption. Germanson says that the AIW was small and depended on the AFL and schools like MSU to educate members. Part 1 of 7.
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