Background on Charley Richardson
Charley Richardson (1953-2013) was a prominent local labor activist, union steward, and director of the Work and Technology and Labor Extension Programs at University of Massachusetts Lowell. He passed away in 2013 after a six-year battle with cancer. Along with being a labor educator and activist, he founded the organization Military Families Speak Out in the wake of the Iraq War in 2002 which sought to lend support to military families. Richardson authored several prominent papers on worker bargaining with management, including “Tricks and Traps” which taught employees how to hold-out against management demands on the shop floor. He began his career in unions when he became a ship-fitter for Sun Ship Co. in Quincy, Mass in 1976, and joined the United Steel Workers Union (USWA).
Prior to his work as a ship-fitter, Richardson worked on a ranch in Wyoming, and traveled throughout Chile for several years after completing his studies at Hampshire College in 1975. During his time at Hampshire, Richardson became very active in Vietnam War protests. However, it was the years he spent in Chile that had the greatest impact on him, and his concept of revolutionary class struggle during the 1970s.
Richardson worked in several positions as a union steward after he joined the union in 1976. As shop steward he supported the grassroots movement urging companies to detail the risk of chemical exposure faced by workers. In 1983, when he joined the shipyard in Quincy, Mass., Richardson became a union safety steward. He married his second wife, Nancy Lessin, in 1988, who was working on labor safety and health issues at the time.
During the 1980s, Richardson became more involved in labor education, after becoming the director of the Technology and Work Program in 1986 where he taught courses to students and union workers involving worker retraining in the face of technological change, and automation in various industries ranging from manufacturing to food service. He was a part of the Department of Work Environment, in the College of Engineering, starting in 1989 at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, after obtaining his M.B.A. from the same institution in 1988. Richardson taught courses in Human Resources Management, Ergonomics, CAD/CAM, Labor Relations, Labor and Technology, Modern Productivity Methods, and Industrial Hygiene. He participated and led numerous conferences and workshops hosted by labor unions, academic institutions, and corporations such as Six Sigma and “Training to Improve Working Conditions,” (Helsinki, Finland), and worked closely with the Center for Productivity Enhancement at UMass Lowell publishing and co-authoring papers and studies. He later became involved in the Labor Extension Program.
Founded in 1995, the Labor Extension Program was a state-wide initiative to provide workers with further training in a broad range of subjects along with technology such as leadership training, contract bargaining, and strategic planning. It serves individual unions, central labor councils, community-based organizations and institutes, union members, and community activists. In Lowell, the Extension Program has frequently partnered with local organizations, and the scope of its activities covers several central labor councils such as the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO, the North Shore Labor Council, and the Central Massachusetts Labor Council for whom it provides workforce and economic development activities, including workshops, and retraining.
In 2002, Richardson founded the Military Families Speak Out after impending deployment of his son, a marine, to fight in the Iraq War. After attending a large antiwar rally in 2002, he sought to inform the public of the experiences of military personnel and their families, as well as draw attention to what he perceived as the administration’s unjust motivations for going to war such as the search for oil in the Middle East. Richardson participated in antiwar rallies, protests, and even was interviewed by C-SPAN. His organization grew to 4,000 families throughout the country, with chapters in 18 states where it provides a network that lends support and encourage to thousands of individuals affected by the war.
He was also an active member of the Marine and Shipbuilding Workers (IUMSWA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the United States Steelworkers Union (USWA) throughout his working life.
