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Finding Aid Compiled by
Amy C. Schindler
January 2003
M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives
University Libraries / University at Albany / State University of New York
1400 Washington Avenue / Albany, New York 12222 / (518) 437-3935
VOLUME: .2 cubic ft.
ACQUISITION: All items in this manuscript group were loaned to the University Libraries, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, for photocopying by the United Steelworkers of America AFL-CIO-CLC, Local 8652.
ACCESS: Access to this record group is unrestricted.
COPYRIGHT: The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
United Steelworkers of America (USWA) AFL-CIO-CLC, Local 8652 was chartered in 1977, and was apparently the first union since the nineteenth century to represent steelworkers at the Portec Corporation, Railway Products Division, in the Rolling Mill in Troy, New York. The Rail Joint Company operated the plant before being purchased by Poor and Company, which was owned by former Rail Joint Company employee, Fred Poor, in 1929. The Troy plant was a rail joint manufacturing facility. In 1989, Portec Rail Products, Inc. closed its Troy plant and moved operations to West Virginia, thereby ending Local 8652's brief history.[1]
1. Additional information about Portec Corporation is available through its Web site at: http://www.portecrail.com/. Accessed 7 January 2003.
The collection includes contracts from 1977 through 1989, meeting minutes from 1982, job descriptions for employees from 1980, scattered correspondence, and other materials related to union business. The closing of Portec Corporation's Troy facility is documented through the support services offered for employees by the union, a seniority list, and the shutdown agreement. The scrapbook includes photocopies of news clippings and photographs documenting union members on strike from 1986-1987 and the closing of the Portec plant in Troy.
The Rensselaer County Historical Society has records from Portec Corporation's predecessor in Troy, New York the Rail Joint Company.
For additional labor collections in the Department, see the online Labor subject guide at http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/labor.htm.
Box 1
Folder
1. Arbitration Concerning Holiday Pay, 1977
2. By-laws, 1987
3. Contracts, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1988
4. Employee Handbook for Portec, Inc., 1981
5. Grievances, 1989
6. Job Descriptions, 1980
7. Local Union Elections Manual, 1985, 1987
8. Memoranda, 1978-1989
9. Memoranda of Understanding on Contract, 1980, 1982
10. Minutes, 1982
11. Rules and Regulations for Hourly Employees, 1980-1981, 1984
12. Scrapbook, 1986-1989
13. Seniority List, 1989
14. Shutdown Agreement, 1989
15. Support Services for Former Portec Employees, 1989