Reel 51

Scope and Contents On May 29, Local 300 signed contracts with a number of menhaden fishing companies. Beginning June 13, the union struck the remaining companies which refused to sign contracts. The most detailed information on the strike appears in the almost daily exchange of correspondence between Mitchell and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman during July, and in Mitchell's letters to AMC Vice-President Sam Twedell at the beginning and end of the strike (June 19 to 29; Aug 15, 21). Following the...

Scope and Contents The most interesting items in the papers for these months are the detailed affidavits on the strike and the stalled negotiations which Local 300 submitted to the NLRB in an attempt to force the hold-out menhaden companies to sign union contracts. These include several affidavits by Mitchell (Sept 4, 11, 24; Oct 12; Nov 3), one by organizer Lionel Sanders (Sept 27), and several by the fishermen themselves (Nov 29, 30). Mitchell's letters to James Youngdahl contain a good deal of information...