Meyer Bernstein (1914–1985) was a 20th-Century American labor leader and educator who worked for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the

United Steel Workers of America The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

(USWA), the U.S. Department of Labor, and the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...

(UMW).

Background

Meyer Bernstein was born on March 30, 1914. His parents were Philip Bernstein and Sophie Rubin. He had a brother Jacob and two sisters, Lillian and Jennifer. In June 1932, he graduated from the Benjamin Franklin Junior-Senior High School in Rochester, New York, where he had managed the School Service Committee and run a newsstand during his senior year. In September 1932, he entered Cornell University on a competitive state scholarship and graduated with a degree in economics in 1936.

Career

In 1936, Bernstein joined the SWOC. In 1937, he helped SWOC in the

Little Steel strike The Little Steel strike was a 1937 labor strike by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its branch the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), against a number of smaller steel producing companies, principally Republic Steel, In ...

, which he described later in his writings. In 1938,

Lee Pressman Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following hi ...

, general counsel of the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

CIO) as well as of SWOC (a CIO member) sent Bernstein into the field with A. W. Smith, a deputy general counsel to research hiring and firing patterns among "

Little Steel The Little Steel strike was a 1937 labor strike by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its branch the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), against a number of smaller steel producing companies, principally Republic Steel, ...

." In 1939, he helped Pressman prepare CIO statements. He worked there until 1941 as a research assistant and national representative. During World War II, he served as U.S. Army Air Corps sergeant. In 1946, he joined the USWA, became Director of the International Affairs Department, and he worked until 1972. In 1947, Bernstein wrote as an

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

against Pressman (amidst a rising tide led by Walter Reuther against pro-communists in the CIO); Pressman resigned shortly thereafter. From 1953 through 1969, his efforts focused on the United Steel Workers International elections. In 1972, he joined the Labor Department to help observe a rerun of a 1969

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

(UMW) election. "He was a union official in District 8 and District 16 of the United Steel Workers." Later in 1972, he became director of the Public and International Affairs Department of the UMW just as Arnold Miller succeeded

W. A. Boyle William Anthony "Tough Tony" Boyle (December 1, 1904 – May 31, 1985) was an American miner, union leader, and convicted murder-for-hire conspirator. He became president of the United Mine Workers of America union in 1963, serving until 1972. Bo ...

as the union's president. He stayed there into 1973. Flag of the United States Department of Labor

In 1975, he became executive secretary of the Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations at the Labor Department until retiring in 1982.

Personal and death

At the end of his life, Bernstein lived in Brussels, Belgium. On December 10, 1985, he drowned near

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

at the age of 71.

Works

After 1945, Berstein's writings focused on Europe. * ''The 100 Largest Steel Companies of the Free World'' (1956) * ''The Steelworkers Election, 1965'' (1965) (unpublished manuscript)

References

External sources

Subversive Influence in the Educational Process - US Senate Judiciary Committee
Bernstein for

United Public Workers of America The United Public Workers of America (1946–1952) was an American labor union representing federal, state, county, and local government employees. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal ex ...

(1952)
Steel Imports - Hearings of the US Senate Finance Committee
Bernstein for

(1966) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Meyer 1914 births 1985 deaths American trade union leaders United Mine Workers of America people Cornell University alumni People from Rochester, New York Trade unionists from New York (state) Deaths by drowning in the United States