Ed Mann: 1928-1992 An appreciation of a trade unionist who always put the working class first

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'Although Ed retired from the steel mill in 1980, he did not retire from being an activist. Whenever there you could find Ed Mann there with his wit and knowledge. Ed was the type of person who would inspire people to reach beyond what they felt they were capable of doing. He genuinely liked and believed in 6 SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 1992 and LEONARD GRBINICK YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio-On March 21, 1992, Ed Mann was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage: On March 23, he died The world won't be the same now that Ed Mann is gone, but it will also never bé the same because he was here 64 years.

Ed Mann was born on Jan. 6, 1928, in Toledo, Ohio. After serving in the Marines during World War II, he moved to Youngstown, where he held a series of jobs while attending Youngstown State on the G.I. Bill.

Ed joined the United Labor Party, a group formed in Akron at the end of World War II, which ran candidates for local office. He started attending Socialist Workers Party (SWP) meetings. When the majority of the Youngstown SWP branch left with the Bert Cochran split in 1953, Ed ended his formal association with the party, saying, "When there are splits and you don't understand why, you become disillusioned."

Although Ed never joined any other socialist group, throughout his life he remained true to the ideals that motivated him as a youth. In later years, he would describe himself as an "anarchist" who couldn't fit into an organized group.

Ed began working at the Brier Hill Works of Youngstown Sheet and Tube in 1952. Since he wanted to be a machinist, he took an apprenticeship test shortly after he was hired. Since the department where he worked needed a shop steward and no one else wanted the job, Ed was appointed. He immediately filed a grievance which won considerable back pay for a number of people. After that, although he received the highest score in the company on the apprenticeship test, he never heard anything more about the apprenticeship program.

This early experience demonstrated one of Ed's most important qualities. He always fought for what he believed was right regardless of any negative impact on his personal life.

Ed's principled approach soon brought him into conflict with the leadership of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 1462, as well as with the company. He opposed the union leadership's corruption and cronyism and special deals with the company. He said, "The union thought what was good for the company was good for the union. I don't agree. I think the union should look out for its members. The company can look out for itself."

Ed also played a role in steelworker rank-and-file movements nationally. In the late 1950s, he supported the Dues Protest Committee. A small group of people in Local 1462 formed the Organization for Membership Rights. This later evolved into the Rank and File Team, a group which played a major role in opposing the Experimental Negotiating Agreement (a pact between the USWA and major steel companies in which the union gave up the right to strike in exchange for small guaranteed wage increases) and supporting contract ratification by the membership.

He also worked closely with Black steelworkers who opposed the discrimination they faced from both the company and the "Home of the rank and file"

In 1973, Ed was elected president of Local 1462, a position he held until he retired when the plant closed in 1980. A sign hanging over the entrance to the Local 1462 hall best described Ed's philosophy. It read: "Local 1462-Home of the Rank and File."

Ed encouraged membership initiative on the shop floor. When the company tried to cut bonus pay or jobs, Ed didn't tell workers to file a grievance and wait a couple years for a favorable arbitration decision. Instead, he explained that if they stuck together, they had the power to force the company to back down. And, when faced with solid wildcat strikes, the company did back down on several occasions.

The example Ed cited most frequently to show how people can be involved and make a difference was the strike over the death of a steelworker named Tony. Shortly after the company had rejected 33 safety grievances, a popular worker, only days short of retirement, was crushed to death Ed Mann was a strike or a picket line when a truck backed over him. (One of the safety complaints had been the need for warning backup hors on trucks) At Ed's urging, the workers walked out in memory of Tony until the company met all their safety demands.

The next day, The Youngstown Vindicator reported that Tony was killed because of his own negligence. Although the company had already agreed to meet all their safety demands, the workers voted to stay out until the company had a retraction printed in the newspaper. After this retraction was printed the next day, the workers returned to the job.

Fighting plant closings

In October 1978, LTV Steel announced plans to shut the Brier Hill Works, which it had acquired as a result of the merger of J & L Steel with Youngstown Sheet and Tube. On Jan. 22, 1979, Local 1462 held a meeting at the union hall. By coincidence, Gordon Allen, Sheet and Tube's superintendent, was speaking a short distance away at the Mahoning Country Club. After the meeting, steelworkers decided to picket Allen's speech.

Later, they decided to go inside and demand to talk to someone with the authority to save the plant. When Allen finally emerged, he said, "Now, Ed, you know we are handling this through the union." Spontaneously, steelworkers cried out, "We are the union!"

After putting up the best fight they could, Ed concluded that the plant closing was inevitable and it was necessary to negotiate the best plant closings benefits Youngstown Vindicator people?

possible for the membership.

Ed remained a key figure in the fight against the shutdown of other steel mills in Youngstown. On Nov. 30, 1979, Ed went with a group of people to Pittsburgh and participated in the occupation of the U.S. Steel Building. On Jan. 28, 1980, Ed led the workers at U.S. Steel Ohio Works (USWA Local 1330) in the occupation of the U.S. Steel administration building in Youngstown.

Ed took out petitions to run for Congress as an independent candidate, planning to focus on the issue of plant closings and the total disregard that corporate America, backed by the Democrats and Republicans, has for working people and their families. Unfortunately, health problems forced him to withdraw from this race.

Later, he concluded that the campaign would have been a mistake because it did not grow naturally from any mass movement and, thus, would not necessarily lead to the conclusion that workers should run for office independent of the bosses.

He believed in people Although Ed retired from the steel mill in 1980, he did not retire from being an activist. Whenever there was a strike or a picket line in the Mahoning Valley, you could find Ed Mann there with his wit and knowledge. Ed was the type of person who would inspire people to reach beyond what they felt they were capable of doing. He genuinely liked and believed in people.

Ed was an active member of the Workers Solidarity Club of Youngstown, a group which lends active support to strikes and organizing drives. Not only would he help strikers get all they were entitled to from their international unions and provide such nuts-and-bolts assistance as wood for the barrels during a cold Ohio winter, but he would also offer valuable advice.

He would explain how no strike had ever been won by following court injunctions and how workers could only win to the degree they were able and willing to take unified action.

Ed Mann was not just a sideline commentator. In 1982, he helped persuade all the unions in the Mahoning and Trumbull County areas to help out in the bitter Trumbull Memorial Hospital strike. He helped organize weekly mass picket lines in violation of an anti-union injunction. During this strike, Ed was a victim of police brutality and was arrested.

While most of those arrested took their attorneys' advice, plead guilty to misdemeanor charges, and paid a $50 fine, Ed appealed his felony convictions all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. The ACLU represented him in this victorious court case. And, certainly at least as important to Ed, the strategy of effectively blocking access to the hospital won the strike and laid the basis for a much more involved local union membership at the hospital.

Active in social movements When LTV Steel filed for Chapter 2 bankruptcy in July 1985 and attempted to cut off retirees' health benefits, Ed was in the forefront of the protests. He worked with other Youngstown area retirees to form Solidarity USA to fight for these benefits.

Ed was also active in many social movements. He participated in demonstrations against the Vietnam War, remained an active member of the Peace Council of Youngstown, and was a past president of the Youngstown Chapter of the ACLU.

All this sounds as if Ed was spread very thin-and he was—but he handled it well. This would be almost impossible for a healthy person to do. Ed was not a healthy person. He wore an insulin pump on his belt because he was a surgical diabetic. He had numerous operations for various reasons, but they never slowed him down.

Ed Mann proudly carried an IWW card, pointing to the history of Big Bill Haywood and the need for the unions to return to their militant past. While he felt class-conscious workers should be active in their unions, fighting for better wages and working conditions, and running for elected office, he stressed that just getting better people elected to office was not enough.

He argued that fundamental change could only be achieved by replacing the existing business unionism with militant, socially conscious unions—-and replacing the existing society with one based on human needs.

Ed was also a devoted family man. His wife and life-long companion, Betty, worked closely with him in his struggles to build a better world. Early on, his three children-Nathan, Timothy, and Beth—and later his three grandchildren-Rodney, Jed, and Ashley-received a first-hand education on the importance of trade unionism and solidarity.

On March 28, the Sam Camens Center in Youngstown was packed as steelworkers, other trade unionists, social activists, and friends came to pay tribute to Ed Mann. A panel consisting of a retired steelworker, a lesbian feminist activist, a leader of the Workers Solidarity Club, and the treasurer of Solidarity USA, each told how Ed Mann had touched their lives and inspired them in their organizing efforts.

Folksinger Charley King sang some of Ed's favorite labor songs. Attorney Staughton Lynd described Ed's far-reaching radical ideas. The high point of the program was a tape of the speech Ed delivered in that same hall on Jan. 28, 1980, when he led over 700 people in the takeover of the U.S. Steel Youngstown administration building.

The family requests that material tributes to Ed Mann take the form of contributions to Boy Scout Troop 100 in Hubbard, Ohio-to pay summer camp tuition for needy boys—to Solidarity USA, the Workers Solidarity Club of Youngstown, or the ACLU.