The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Labor Series STEPHEN I. SCHLOSSBERG Interviewed by: Morris Weisz Initial interview date: June 25, 1993 Copyrig t 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS ackground orn, Roanoke, Virginia University of Virginia (1942) ,ember, NAA.P Initial labor involvement Organi0er, International Ladies1 2arment 3orkers Union 194451951 University of Virginia Law School 195151954 Law firm, Van Arkel and 8aiser 195451940 Organi0ing and the Law (1944) Federal ,ediation and .onciliation Services 194151943 Special Assistant to the Director United Auto 3orkers' Union 194351981 Associate 2eneral .ounsel 194351944 2eneral .ounsel 194451971 UA3 3ashington Office, Director and 197251981 2eneral .ounsel Law firm, Zwerdling, Schlossberg, Leibig, 8ahn 198151985 Post5UA3 Years Department of Labor, Deputy Under Secretary, 198551987 Labor ,anagement Relations Director, 3ash. ranch, International Labor Organi0ation 198751993 INTERVIEW &: We are sitting ere in t e Office of t e International Labor Organization (ILO, in Was ington, D.C. T is is Morris Weisz and I a. going to be interviewing t e Director of 1 t e Office, Steve Sc lossberg. Steve as ad a long and varied career, all of w ic is relevant to t e pro/ect t at we are conducting, t e Labor Diplo.acy Oral History 1ro/ect, and I want to interview i., as I ave ot er people, in ter.s of ow t eir bac2ground in t e trade union .ove.ent, and in t e case of Mr. Sc lossberg is bac2ground also in t e ILO, as governed is understanding of international labor issues. We are particularly interested in is evaluation of t e wor2 and t e ob/ectives of t e diplo.ats abroad in t e labor field 33 t e Labor Attac 4s, t e 5nited States Infor.ation Agency (5SIA, infor.ation people, and t e Agency for International Develop.ent (AID, labor officers. Steve, please begin by describing your fa.ily bac2ground, t at is, its social and political bac2ground, and ow you ca.e into t e labor field. S.HLOSS AR2: Okay. 3ell, I'll start by saying that I came from a middle5class to upper middle5class Cewish family in the retail business in Roanoke, Virginia. ,iddle class, not upper, but I had a couple of rich uncles. I went to the University of Virginia, and then I went to the war. I was in 3orld 3ar II for five years and ten months, and when I came back I didn't go right to professional school. I tried to Dmake itD in a family business, to get started in Roanoke, so I went to work for my rich uncle in a soft EgoodsF department store, more or less ladies' ready5to5wear and soft goods and that kind of thing. I was there for a while, but my natural allies in the city of Roanoke, Virginia, were NAA.P people and labor union people. I was very much opposed to the yrd ,achine and the poll taxH I was for the anti5lynching propositionH and I belonged to the NAA.P as well as being active in politics and so on.. &: De.ocratic 61arty7 politics8 S.HLOSS AR2: Democratic politics. That's right, but left Democratic politics. &: Co.ing fro. t at bac2ground, w at .ade you interested in t e left8 S.HLOSS AR2: 3ell, ever since I was a little kid, I had always been interested in the underdog, and I was always offended by racial prejudice. In high school, I had been an activist and interested in those days in the peace movement. &: T is was t e late 1930s t at you are tal2ing about8 S.HLOSS AR2: Yes, that's right. I graduated from high school in 1938. Senator Nye and Senator 3heeler were heroes of mine, because they didn't want any more wars, and they used to talk in terms of how many schools you could build for Ethe price ofF a battleship and that kind of thing, but 55 It shows you how you grow in life. 55 when it came time to fighting Na0is in 3orld 3ar II, I stopped being a pacifist pretty Iuickly. I had been an early member of the oard of the NAA.P in my hometown and worked very closely with them, and as I said, my political interests were. I had had religious training. Aven though I wasn't religious, I was very much taken with the Old Testament prophets and the notions of social justice that Amos and Hosea and those people had in 2 trying to tell the people to do right, to do justly and live decently. Those values were the values of unionism in the South and the values of EimprovedF race relations of the .ivil Rights movement in the South. So after four years and a few months in business, I couldn't stand it any more, so I had to move. I had two offers then. I had an offer from the NAA.P, Inc. Fund to be a kind of organi0er. I had no profession. I was just a college guy. &: In college w at did you .a/or in8 S.HLOSS AR2: Aconomics. I was going to be kind of a helper to the NAA.P. I also had an offer from the IL2 (International Ladies' 2arment 3orkers' Union) to come to work for them as an organi0er. I chose to become an organi0er. &: Did you ave any e:perience in t e s op or did you go directly to organizing8 S.HLOSS AR2: Directly to organi0ing. It was very interesting. I went from $14,000 a year, which was what I was paid to be a manager of my uncle's store, to $45 a week with a $10 car allowance and a gas card, and that was it. It was a pretty big shock. I worked for the Upper South Department, which was headed by Angela ambacci. She was a very dear, dear friend of mine. She taught me to cook Italian, and we were really very, very close. I organi0ed in Virginia, the Aastern Shore of ,aryland, the Aastern Shore of Virginia, the Aastern Shore of Delaware, Delaware, and 3est Virginia. The biggest strike I ever had was in 3est Virginia. I was arrested, I think, over the years 17 times, mostly for violating ordinances that were unconstitutional, and for disturbing the peace, and so on. ut I organi0ed a lot of people. It was interesting, because I was one of the few guys from the IL2 in the South 55 I was in Ewhat the union termedF the DUpper South.D 55 who didn't speak like a New Yorker and didn't have an Italian accent or Cewish inflections. I spoke like the natives. I remember one vicious campaign we were on, in which the boss had beaten back three previous attempts at organi0ation by the IL2. He wrote a letter to all the people, and he said, DAsk the union organi0er from New York where he was during the war and what his name was and so on.D 3ell, that gave me a wonderful opportunity to write a letter to everybody in the place and tell them my name, that I came from Roanoke, Virginia, and say that I was in the war and had four battle stars, and I wondered what they had.D &: Were you born in Roano2e8 S.HLOSS AR2: orn and raised in Roanoke, Virginia. I also wrote in the letter Dthat I had a term of service on the .ommunity Fund.D At one time my uncle made me go on the oard of Directors of the .hamber of .ommerce from Roanoke, so I didn't sound exactly like a radical from New York. 3e organi0ed that company. It was Perfection 2arment .ompany in ,artinsburg, 3est Virginia. I was very successful. I organi0ed a lot of people that were ready for organi0ation. After about two years, I was made Director of 3 Organi0ation of Angela's Department of the Upper South, and I stayed there until after about five years I decided I needed a Dtrade.D I just didn't want to be a union bureaucrat all my life, so I decided I would go back Eto the universityF and go to law school. y that time I had married a union organi0er named ,ary .oleman, who was a graduate of the University of .hicago and had her master's in economics. 3e met on the picket line, and it was a nice romance. In any event, I decided to go back to law school. &: Before you get into law sc ool. By t e way, Bill Go.berg ta2es credit for telling you t at you s ould go to law sc ool. S.HLOSS AR2: Yes, he did tell me that, and my brother told me that too. ,y brother was a lawyer. ill 2omberg was really a very, very close friend of mine. In those days I knew everybody in the IL2 hierarchy. I knew DubinskyH I knew .harley 8reindler, who was our supervising Vice President. Angela wasn't yet a Vice President in those days. And I knew 2us Tyler very well. 2us wasn't one of my favorite people, but 2omberg was. &: You 2now you are on tape8 S.HLOSS AR2: I know. That's all right. 2us and I have become very good friends, I think, later in life. Anyway, . &: Before you get into t at, I want to. Frequently in t e Labor Attac 4 field, it beco.es relevant to learn 33 as to your connections in t e trade union .ove.ent 33 w ic side of t e trade union .ove.ent you found yourself.