Union Man

By Billy JOE Jordan

The reason I wrote Union Man is to give you a better understanding of labor union and the racial situation in America. Every union person in America should read this book. Becoming the first black president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU}, I Local 29 in Pittsburgh is what inspired me to write this book, Union Man. It really gave

• Language: English
• Publisher: Primix Publishing
• Release date: Jul 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781957676661

Billy JOE Jordan

My name is Billy Joe Jordan. I was born December 25, 1939 in Lineville, Alabama. I lived with my grandparents until I moved to Pittsburgh at the age of six. At a very young age, I was aware of racism in our society. I was 22 years old when I started working for Gimbals Department Store. I worked as an elevator operator from 1963-1972. This was a union job for SEIU, Local 29. At this time I was not involved in the union. I was participating in civil rights marches and rallying for job opportunities for black people. I never was a person that went along just to get along. The elevator job was my first job as a grown man. I rallied other young elevator operators to fight for the right to wear beards because I felt to deny the elevator operators their right to wear beards was a violation of their individual rights.In 1972, I worked as a janitor at night for Pittsburgh National Bank. I confronted a supervisor who had disciplined employees about the work they did. I told the supervisor, "It was not the janitor's work that was the problem; it was those beat-up old vacuums that blew out more dirt than it was collecting." The cleaning company got the employees all new equipment and that is how my peers first recognized me. The workers voted me to be their shop steward to represent them. That is how my career started as a Union Man.

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© 2023 BILLY JOE JORDAN SR. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by Primix Publishing 07/14/2023

ISBN: 978-1-957676-65-4(sc)

ISBN: 978-1-957676-66-1(e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023912080

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Dedication

I d e dicate this book to my mother, Minnie Davis; my wife, Myrtle Jordan; my two sons, Billy Joe Jordan, Jr. and Wesley D. Jordan, and to my grandfather, Wesley Craig. Also to Martin Luther King, Jr. who told America that That men should not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, and to Malcolm X, who told us to Have self-determination and stand up against intimidation.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Moving to Pittsburgh from Lineville, Alabama

Chapter 2: The Black Movement for Job Opportunities

Chapter 3: Justice for Janitors

Chapter 4: Organizing

Chapter 5: My Experience as a Black Business Agent for SEIU, Local 29

Chapter 6: How I Became the First Black President of SEIU, Local 29

Chapter 7: What Organized Labor and America Must Do to Avoid Destruction

Authors Notes

Reference

About the Author

Introduction

This book Union Man tells the story about a black man who was once a hopeless alcoholic. It is the story of a dedicated union activist and civil rights advocate. It is the story of my life.

I started drinking heavily at eighteen and stopped drinking in 1981, at the age of 4l, and joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). For 14 years, I worked as a cleaner at Pittsburgh National Bank, now called PNC. I have always felt that racism and the greed of corporate America to bust the unions would be the destruction of America.

I worked my way up from shop steward to become the first black president of Service Employees International Union, Local 29, primarily a janitors union in Pittsburgh. My experience as a union official gave me a greater insight and understanding about racism in America. Through my experience, I found that some black union members looked upon me as inferior, because they felt I was not as qualified as a white president would be. Deep down inside, a large number of black people view themselves as being inferior to white people, and that is why they viewed me in the same way. On the other hand, white union members could not stand to see me in leadership. Many of them made unrealistic demands to make me look incompetent.

This book will broaden your insight on how deeply rooted white racism really is in America, and it will also show you how deeply rooted black-on-black racism is. This book is intended to encourage black people to have respect and a positive attitude toward their own people, and to wake up the well-meaning white American who does not understand how serious the race problem is. White America does not understand how deeply rooted their racist attitudes are. If people do not wake up and realize how their racist behavior is hurting America, they will surely destroy themselves and the future of this great nation.

Within the union, I held every position possible. I worked as