Tom Deary Papers

IUE materials such as agreements, contracts, correspondence, and files, grievances made by workers against their employers, audio tape recordings of strike-related material, and conversations, taped coverage of strikes, and meetings or conferences, as well as election and campaign ephemera such as fliers, buttons, and pins. The agreements and contracts are the outcomes of negotiations held between companies and the IUE or its representatives. The series also contains correspondence between Local 201 leaders, and district or national IUE leadership relating to issues of management, and broader labor issues such as economic deregulation, the loss of jobs, and on-the-job abuse of labor. Grievances primarily document labor issues at the GE plants, as well as within the CIO during the 1990s. Files, and tapes cover strikes against companies throughout the south, and northeast such as Trico (Texas), La-Z-Boy (Lousiana), and the GE plant in Wilmington (North Carolina), and labor movements such as Solidarity/Reform Now (1995) and "the War Zone" in support of striking Tate and Lyle workers in Decatur, Illinois. Some materials have been restricted due to discussion of internal politics and sensitive issues within the IUE after 1995.

A range of publications such as pamphlets, constitutions/ bylaws, agreements, papers, reports, and articles of individuals, and organizations affiliated with the labor movement including unions such as the UAW (United Auto Workers), Trade Union Leadership Institute, and the AFL-CIO. Topics covered include the relationship between local politics, and labor, the role of the state in labor, workers' rights as human rights, and U.S. economic practices. The bulk of the series spans the 1980s-1990s, when labor faced a decline in support from within, and many external threats from deregulation, and the outsourcing of jobs.

Correspondence, newsletters, newspapers, notes, scrapbooks, and other records held by the New England Labor News and Commentary such as feasibility studies, and subscription information. In 1990, Deary was interviewed by Michael Moore in relation to the IAM response to labor's bureacracy, and the desire of some labor leaders to see the newspaper dismantled. Correspondence arranged by state of origin of organization documents the Labor News and Commentary appeals for both financial, and mission support, while feasibility studies and surveys assess what kind of impact the paper could have on New England, and how well it reaches its audience. Prior to the creation of the paper in 1988, New England Labor News published a newsletter beginning in April 1984 to draw attention to local labor issues. After the paper was canceled, Deary hosted a radio show on WMVU. This series includes approximately two-dozen tapes recorded of the show which continue to deal with labor issues on a local, and national scale. Some audio tapes have been restricted due to sensitive material regarding IUE internal politics after 1995.

Photographic material primarily related to various strikes held across New England during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the south. Strikes against the following companies include: ADT (ca. 1990), Amalgamated Transit Union (1990), Colt Firearms (1988), and the United paperworkers' Union (1989). The materials depict picket-lining, leafletting activities, other forms of organizing, as well as negotiations, and meetings. Other photographic materials depict conferences or training activities of IUE, AFL-CIO, and affiliated groups interested in remediating broader labor issues such as the Massachusetts Union Women's Seminars (1988), and the Solidarity March on Washington (1991). Images document staff as well as affiliates of union organizations such as the IUE, local teamsters' unions, and NELNC carrying out day-to-day activities and at formal gatherings.