Craig D. Robinson Papers

This series contains court cases, contracts, local impasse (grievances), proceedings, and summary orders for court related to Robinson's legal work, primarily representing individuals for the American Postal Workers Union, as well as a file of testimonies from the American Postal Workers Defense Committee (1980) with which Robinson was involved. The cases span the 1980s-90s, and primarily deal with issues of work-related discrimination towards blue-collar workers, especially women, and minorities. Some of the cases, and grievances, mention racism, sexism, and discrimination against disability or health issues arising in the U.S. Postal Service such as Nelligan v. U.S. Postal Service, Ross v. U.S. Postal Service, Smith v. U.S. Postal Service, and Suprenant v. U.S. Postal Service respectively. A number of cases were won by Robinson, and involve arbitration on the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which sought to remediate unfair practices in the U.S. Postal Service among other agencies. A few cases deal with the topic of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity during which postal workers developed allergies to chemicals circulating while handling the mail, making work intolerable as in the case of M. Masse v. U.S. Postal Service. Other cases mention potentially unfair hiring practices, and disciplinary actions towards employees in the postal service. The series is organized alphabetically by material type, and court cases are organized by last name.

The series includes personal materials such as awards/certificates, correspondence, diplomas, a number of files, and organizational fliers related to American Postal Workers Union elections circa 1980, and major union issues, as well as educational materials from coursework, papers, and seminars attended. Some of the files and a paper relate to the Taft-Hartley Act (Labor Management Relations Act, 1947); a piece of legislation passed to restrict power of labor unions in the workplace known as the “slave labor” bill among union representatives. The series includes a file related to the Coalition to Save Jobs; a prominent labor movement that sought to return jobs being moved overseas or replaced by automation to the United States. Papers written by Robinson during his undergraduate and law school education are also present on such themes as undocumented workers (1980), and the working class (1974), as well as the movement to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act which would give more rights to labor unions (1980). Also included in the series is a single photograph of Robinson with Cesar Chavez; an American labor leader and civil rights activist, representing the National Farm Workers Association. The series is organized alphabetically by type of material.

This series contains publications relating primarily to labor, as well as some related to law such as informal publications including pamphlets, and handbooks, journals, magazine, news files, newsletters, and newspapers. Several news files document rising inflation, the Anti-Nuclear Coalition, and the death of Michael McDermott; a post office employee who was killed in a bulk mail sorter accident at a mail center in New York City in 1978 which led to the American Postal Workers' Union encouraging strikes, and calling for tighter OSHA regulations and safety reforms in the wake of the accident. Informal publications deal with the issues of labor union organizing during the era of Reaganomics, alternatives to monopoly capitalism, as well as labor law and general law practice in the United States with a focus on economic justice and equality. Series is arranged alphabetically by type of material.