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Building the Service Employees International Union: Janitors and Chicago Politics, 1911-1968

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Building the Service Employees International Union: Janitors and Chicago Politics, 1911-1968 Building the Service Employees International Union: Janitors and Chicago Politics, 1911-1968 BY BENJAMIN L. PETERSON B.A., Willamette University, 2004 M.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, 2007 THESIS Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Chicago, 2016 Chicago, Illinois Defense Committee: Robert Johnston, Chair and Advisor, History, University of Illinois at Chicago Leon Fink, University of Illinois at Chicago, History Jeffery Sklansky, University of Illinois at Chicago, History Andrew Wender Cohen, Syracuse University, History Eileen Boris, University of California—Santa Barbara, History To Grandpa Don, who believed that I could win any fight. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would not have completed this dissertation without the advice, support, and love of an entire community of people. During my time as a graduate student at University of Illinois at Chicago, I found a vigorous community of colleagues and friends who supported my intellectual and personal growth in numerous ways. In particular fellow graduate students Tom Alter, Dan Brunsvold, Cory Davis, Tom Dorrance, and Anne Parsons all provided me with feedback that significantly shaped my understandings of political economy and history. Thanks for traveling this road with me. Although I owe a debt of gratitude to the entire UIC History Department, two of its members deserve special thanks. Between the classes I took with him, his work on my dissertation committee, and the years I spent working with him on the journal Labor, Leon Fink significantly influenced every word of this dissertation. His support and insightful comments helped me to become a better scholar in countless ways. Robert Johnston, my adviser, shaped my entire time in graduate school— and indeed much of my adult life. Willing to devote hours to discussion and minute evaluation of my work, Robert challenged, inspired, and motivated me on a daily basis. Without his legendary patience and faultless kindness, I truly doubt that I would have completed this work. I can say without exaggeration that it has been a singular honor to work with Robert over these past few years. Thanks so much to both of you, and to the entire fantastic department. A wide variety of other scholars have provided significant help during the process of this dissertation and deserve thanks. Eileen Boris, Andrew Cohen, and Jeffery Sklansky all served on my defense committee and showed me a great deal of patience, and helped me to shape and sharpen my ideas. Joseph Slater, Jennifer Klein, and Rachel Sherman all gave influential feedback on conference papers that helped me to develop several of my ideas. Several of my friends and colleagues deserve thanks for helping me through this process. Everyone at Willamette University—but particularly Seth Cotlar, Bill Smaldone, David Gutterman, Ellen Eisenberg, and Melissa Buis-Michaux—provided me with all the guidance and support that a junior faculty member could ask for. I owe them, and Willamette University, a tremendous debt of gratitude. During the long process of dissertation writing my friends also provided me with greater support, encouragement, and patience than I had any right to expect. In particular, thanks to Caity Roberts and Nic Bodiford who have stood by me in good times and bad. My greatest thanks goes to my family. Betsy Strobel, my partner and companion, sat beside me hour after hour as I wrote and revised. Without her kind words—and sharp skills as an editor—I could not have pushed through the difficult days and eventually produced the dissertation you hold in your hands. I cannot express what an honor it is for me to have her in my life. Larry and Linda Peterson, my parents, played an integral role in every phase of this dissertation. I have professionally written few words that they did not read before anyone else. I cannot count, cannot even imagine or estimate how many hours they have spent working on my writing, nor can a express how much their help, support, and love has meant to me. Whatever I achieve, whatever good I am, is because of them. BLP iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1 II. HIS MAJESTY, A JANITOR ....................................................................................................26 A. Introduction.......................................................................................................................26 B. The City By The Lake.......................................................................................................30 C. Furnace Room Slaves........................................................................................................39 D. Brought into the Light ..........................................................................................................45 E. The Making of a Civic Union.............................................................................................58 F, Conclusion........................................................................................................................72 III. LOBBY DAY.............................................................................................................................76 A. Introduction.......................................................................................................................76 B. The Proving Ground of Democracy.......................................................................................80 C. Vote for the Crook, It's Important...........................................................................................85 D. Beyond Flat Janitors..........................................................................................................95 E. Payless Paydays.................................................................................................................100 F. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................106 IV. WE ARE NOT JANITORS.....................................................................................................113 A. Introduction....................................................................................................................113 B. Janitorial Professionals?.................................................................................................120 C. The Art of Self-Respect..................................................................................................125 D. His Majesty, The Professional........................................................................................131 E. Conclusion......................................................................................................................146 V. HIS MAJESTY ARRIVES IN NEW YORK...........................................................................151 A. Introduction......................................................................................................................151 B. Building Services Employee International Union, New York Style?...............................155 C. Conclusion........................................................................................................................179 VI. POWER, CORRUPTION, LIES AND JANITORS...............................................................183 A. Introduction.......................................................................................................................183 B. The Functionality of Corruption........................................................................................187 C. Pretender to the Throne........................................................................................................194 D. A Shadow over Atlantic City................................................................................................209 E. The Fall of Scalise's Empire.................................................................................................216 F. William McFetridge and the Limits of Reform.......................................................................220 G. The Building Services Employee International Union goes to War................................229 H. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................237 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) VII. THE MCFETRIDGE IDEA AND THE PROFESSIONAL JANITOR.................................244 A. Introduction.....................................................................................................................244 B. Janitors in Power.............................................................................................................249 C. Guardians of Chicago......................................................................................................259 D. The Real Janitors of Local 1...........................................................................................282 E. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................289 VIII. THE MACHIAVELLI OF MARINA CITY..........................................................................299 A. Introduction......................................................................................................................299
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