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Murphy, Bette (audio interview #4 of 6)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This fourth interview with Murphy was conducted almost 4 months after the third one. And although she always seemed very rushed and busy, she was more than willing to devote several hours to the interview. 9/9/1980
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- *** File: rrrbmurphy13.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:05)... After Murphy was elected to the Bargaining Committee, she spent the majority of her time completing union business not overseeing her crew in a lead capacity. Whenever she was involved in union activities at the plant she was paid by the company. She was paid by the UAW for any other union business done outside the plant. (2:05-3:43)... The Bargaining Committee began negotiating their contract six months before the 1951 strike. Forty-five days before the strike, Douglas and UAW representatives exchanged their contract proposals. In addition to handling these negotiations, Murphy also stayed busy by addressing grievances and attending arbitrations. She was the first woman elected to the Bargaining Committee, which comprised seven members. (3:43-7:42)... The Executive Board and the Bargaining Committee were two separate entities. All negotiations and contract proposals were reviewed and approved by the Executive Board before the Bargaining Committee initiated negotiations with Douglas. Each member of the Bargaining Committee was assigned a certain task to complete when the contract was being developed. Murphy's job was to write and rewrite job descriptions as well as the seniority clause for the contract. She details problems with writing the job description for lead personnel. (7:42-11:41)... Murphy outlines the key issues of the bargaining contract that were discussed during the 1951 contract negotiations with Douglas. Although new provisions for sick leave and medical benefits were negotiated at this time, it appears that maternity benefits were already in place prior to 1951. (11:41-16:38)... Like other Douglas workers, Murphy had a difficult time supporting her sixteen-year-old daughter; their pay was not commensurate with the cost of living. This was the reason for the strike. One week before the strike, the Executive Board set up a strike assistance program; other committees were established a few months before the strike to help the workers manage their living expenses. The local did not have a strike fund and frequently borrowed funds from the UAW/CIO International office. Most businesses and landlords cooperated with the committees during the strike. (16:38-19:48)... Murphy was elected chair of her local's delegation to the 1951 UAW National Convention. She discusses the convention and how she gained a unanimous vote in support of her local's strike. (19:48-28:10)... Murphy talks about the 1951 UAW Convention. She was not naive about men's intentions and figured that the men in her delegation elected her chairman so that they would have more free time to socialize. Murphy interacted with other women in attendance at the convention, discussing working conditions, contracts, and their political careers. The men, on the other hand, saw conventions as an opportunity to party. The women wanted to attend to business and bring good results back to the membership. She notes that the Black women in the southern delegations were more likely to meet with the other women at the convention rather than with Black men. End of tape. *** File: rrrbmurphy14.mp3 (0:00-6:16)... Murphy attended her first UAW convention in 1948. She was thirsty for knowledge and concentrated on learning the political processes involved in labor conventions. She digresses regarding the yearly Intercorporation Council meetings that were held in St. Louis for the purposes of establishing nationwide goals and contract standards in the UAW locals that represented Douglas employees. (6:16-7:50)... Murphy's local established a strike fund and committees before the 1951 strike. The UAW/CIO was not involved in these matters. When the strike began, Life published an editorial calling it the "Cadillac of strikes." The Long Beach Press Telegram also published a story with photographs depicting the services available at the local during the strike. (7:50-12:50)... Prior to the strike, contract negotiations with Douglas stalled because the company was opposed to a union shop. Murphy details how maintenance of membership worked and the strategies used by shop stewards to organize new employees. Even though some employees were not members of the UAW, they still went on strike and walked the picket line. The militancy of shop stewards and the tactics used by the "goon squad" discouraged scab activity and helped organized more people during the strike. Murphy talks about the violent activities of the goon squad, some of which led to the criminal prosecution of its members. (12:50-14:04)... Murphy believes that women were more militant during the strike than men because women felt more threatened by the possibility of losing the recognition and protection they had acquired over the years. Murphy was very active in union activities and served as a role model for many women. (14:04-21:20)... Douglas workers walked out at midnight on September 5, 1951. Lakewood Boulevard was "one huge football field." They walked up and down with picket signs and covered the parking lot. When the Federal Mediation Service intervened, the strike recessed and employees returned to the plant on October 19, 1951. After contract negotiations stalled once again, the local drafted a "mile long telegram" to President Harry S. Truman urging him to get the Wage Stabilization Board to act. Later, on January 21, 1952, the workers workers organized a letter-writing campaign and initiated a wildcat strike. The manager of Industrial Relations confronted Murphy for instigating the strike and labeled her a communist. She immediately went to the National Labor Relations Board and filed charges against this man for interfering with her union activity. (21:20-25:57)... When the strike recessed in October 1951, most of the contract negotiations between Douglas and the union were handled by the UAW/CIO International office. However, the Local remained militant and autonomous. She recalls a conciliation meeting in which the Bargaining Committee, a UAW/CIO International representative, and Douglas management met to negotiate the contract. After the conciliator requested a private meeting with the UAW/CIO International representative and a Douglas representative, Murphy contacted the UAW/CIO representative and demanded that he apprise her of any agreements reached in that private meeting. End of tape. *** File: rrrbmurphy15.mp3 (0:00-1:51)... Over time, Murphy learned to be more diplomatic, and whenever she challenged representatives in the union she referenced the UAW/CIO constitution and/or contract bylaws to add credibility to her complaints. In the 1950s, she was "tagged a radical" and accused of being a communist by some members in her local. On many occasions she was the "whipping boy" forced to address questions and criticism from people who were obviously planted in the audience in order to undermine her position in the union. (1:51-5:29)... Note: the tape is shut off towards the end of this segment when Murphy goes to look for some documentation. During the 1951 strike, the women in Murphy's local occupied various roles in the strike assistance program. Although they held traditional jobs in the kitchen, childcare, or the office, women also worked as strike captains and lieutenants. The men in the local did not have any problems with women in these positions. Strike captain and lieutenant positions required a lot of responsibility and the men knew that women could handle the work. While some men went out drinking when they should have been tending their post on the picket line, women stayed on the picket line dedicated to their work. Women benefited from their efforts by moving up in the ranks when the strike ended. Eventually, the Woman's Department and the Woman's Council was formed in the UAW and provided more opportunities for women in the union. (5:29-8:07)... Murphy did not have a social life during the 1951 strike. She was lonely to a certain extent because her life revolved around the union and her family. She was married to Ernie West at the time and they were undergoing a difficult separation and divorce which made her swear off men for a while. During the strike, she occupied positions on the Seniority Committee and the Bargaining Committee simultaneously. In 1954, she campaigned for a trustee position on the Executive Board. (8:07-16:23)... There were several political caucuses that operated in Murphy's local. Murphy was chairman of the New Deal Caucus, which she describes as a progressive and liberal caucus. The "hatchet gang" was a political caucus composed of old-school labor politicians who resorted to intimidation, slander, and violence in order to accomplish their goals. In general, the members of the hatchet gang were not serious about women's rights even though the chairman of their caucus was Lodi Mae Bickerstaff. Murphy describes how political caucuses were developed and maintained in the plant. She digresses regarding her position on the Seniority Committee and her ability to reject unfair seniority agreements approved by members of the hatchet gang. (16:23-22:32)... Note: there is a pause in the discussion when Murphy and the interviewer realize they are having an earthquake. Murphy continues to discuss political caucuses in her local, focusing on their cooperation during the 1951 strike. Although tensions eased during the strike, Murphy's position on the Seniority Committee, the Bargaining Committee, and the Community Services Committee enabled her to approve or reject expenditures. When she rejected inappropriate expenses incurred by a member of the goon squad, the man tried to shoot Murphy while she was on her way home. She talks about another attempt on her life while walking the picket line at the El Segundo plant during an IAM strike. She digresses regarding scab activity, indicating that the UAW gave passes to employees not covered under UAW contracts, such as electricians and telephone operators. Most clerical workers at Douglas stayed out of the plant during the strike and joined the UAW. (22:32-26:50)... During contract negotiations, the UAW political caucuses differed on bargaining issues and "politicked the hell out of it." A contract was finally signed with Douglas on March 6, 1952. Employees received retroactive pay from October 1951, a ten percent wage increase, and a cost of living raise. The remainder of the UAW demands were met except those dealing with censorship, severance pay, a union shop, and maintenance of membership. Although the new contract was excellent, Murphy believes the UAW deserved more. She submitted a report to the local expressing her dissenting opinion. The local went through some reorganization after the strike, which included establishing separate committees for grievances and contract negotiations. End of tape. *** File: rrrbmurphy16.mp3 (0:00-2:07)... After Murphy became a member of the Bargaining Committee, her work in the shop ceased. When the bargaining contract was signed in 1952, Murphy took the next several months proofreading and reviewing the entire contract. She then returned to the Bargaining Committee and worked in that capacity until 1962 when she was elected recording secretary of her local. (2:07-10:22)... In 1954, Murphy was selected by Walter Reuther to attend the UAW/CIO Scandinavian International Workshop. She struggled with her decision to go because it conflicted with her daughter's graduation. The workshop included members from twenty-four different unions from the US and Canada. Meetings were held in England, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The members of the workshop "compared methods of negotiating and toured their facilities." Murphy was elected chair of her group, which comprised unions from three US territories. When she returned to the US, she was interviewed by Walter Cronkite about her observations. She was honored that she was selected for this workshop and it was considered an important event in Long Beach. (She discusses her experiences in England and her disapproval that thirty-three people in Parliament were members of the CP.) (10:22-11:59)... Murphy was terribly disappointed that her daughter wanted to get married rather than pursue a college education and a professional career. When she was eighteen years old, she moved to Montana and married her fiance. Murphy thought he was a nice, clean-cut man, but she never got over the disappointment that her daughter married. (11:59-20:18)... In 1952, Murphy met Ed, her supervisor at Douglas. Her account of their meeting sheds light on workers holiday celebrations. She was married in 1953 in a large ceremony. Their four-year marriage was tumultuous and she suffered from both physical and emotional abuse throughout the marriage. Initially, Murphy believed their problems were a result of career conflicts. However, she eventually recognized that regardless of the changes they made in their lives, their personalities were far too different to cultivate a successful relationship. (20:18-25:52)... Murphy discusses her marital relationship with her third husband and how they managed their competing interests in union and company affairs. When they married, their social life revolved around attending events in the Douglas Management Club, as well as social activities held for the UAW local. In an attempt to dispel her fear that their conflicting careers were creating tension in their relationship, Murphy ceased working for the UAW between the period of 1954-56, during which time she worked at Douglas as a factory specialist and then in an administrative position. A typical day for her involved going to work, coming home and cleaning the house, and then retiring to her room alone. When she divorced her husband around 1956, she resumed her union activities and ran for recording secretary. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Bette Murphy was one of those women who eagerly joined the ranks of defense workers in 1942, pleased to be patriotic and to leave her lower paying service job. Born in 1918 to a military family, she spent her childhood in the Philippines, Virginia and San Francisco, before the family settled in Los Angeles in the 1930s. She married an Army dental technician when she was only eighteen, and by the time they separated two years later, her daughter had been born. Murphy went to work first as a waitress, and then as a practical nurse. When the war broke out, she and her daughter were living with a family in Washington, and she served as a "nanny." When she heard about the jobs opening up at Douglas, Long Beach, she returned to southern California to seek work there. She remained at Douglas, with only a brief period of layoff after the war, until her retirement in 1978. From her earliest days at Douglas, Murphy began to recruit her fellow workers to join the union (UAW). Over the next thirty six years she held various posts in the Local and at the time of the interview she was an officer of the Retirees chapter. Because of her extensive involvement in the union, a very long oral history was undertaken with Murphy, whose bright red hair earned the nickname, Red. (In all 14 hours were recorded in the course of six interviews.) Because of her busy schedule, it took a full nine months to complete the first four interviews, Then, an impending strike in 1980 and various health problems led to a one year hiatus in the interviews. Despite the long interruption, the rapport that had been established initially, made the resumption of interviews relatively easy. The interviewers own union activity contributed to this rapport, and to Murphy's candor about the problems she had with her union over the years. TOPICS - Local 148 governance; 1951 strike - contract issues; strike preparation and committees; 1951 UAW National Convention; and gender relations;1948 UAW/CIO National Convention; Intercorporation Council; 1951 strike - services, community support, goon squad; contract negotiations; union organizing and maintenance of membership contracts; internal politicattitudes towards UAW leadership; internal divisions; women's roles during the 1951 strike; gender relations; union politics and caucuses; experiences on the Seniority Committee and Bargaining Committee; and finalroles and responsibilities in union; daughter; UAW/CIO Scandinavian International Workshop; social activities; third marriage - courtship and marital relationship; family life; and career between 1954-56;
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