UNION PIONEER, EX-STEELWORKERS CHIEF I.W. ABEL SUCCUMBS TO CANCER AT 78: August 11, 1987
I.W. Abel, a former brickyard worker who became a pioneer in the American labor movement and rose to the presidency of the United Steelworkers of America during the union's heyday, died Monday. He was 78.
The union said Abel, who had recently returned to Ohio after living in Arizona, died at his home of cancer. He would have been 79 on Tuesday.
Iorwith Wilber Abel was born in Magnolia, Ohio. After attending Canton Actual Business College for one year, he worked briefly as an office boy before going to work at a higher-paying foundry job.
He was laid off and joined the labor movement when the only work he could find was firing kilns in a brickyard for 16 cents an hour during the Great Depression in 1930.
Abel became president of USW Local 1123, which he helped organize, in Canton, Ohio, and joined the Steelworkers Organizing Committee in 1936, the year 10 of its members were killed in Chicago when police opened fire on a Memorial Day rally.
The United Steelworkers was founded in 1942, and Abel served as director of the union's District 27 from 1942 to 1952, when he was elected international secretary-treasurer.
He was elected international president by a slim margin in 1965 and was re-elected in 1969 and 1973.
I.W. Abel, a former brickyard worker who became a pioneer in the American labor movement and rose to the presidency of the United Steelworkers of America during the union's heyday, died Monday. He was 78.
The union said Abel, who had recently returned to Ohio after living in Arizona, died at his home of cancer. He would have been 79 on Tuesday.
Iorwith Wilber Abel was born in Magnolia, Ohio. After attending Canton Actual Business College for one year, he worked briefly as an office boy before going to work at a higher-paying foundry job.
He was laid off and joined the labor movement when the only work he could find was firing kilns in a brickyard for 16 cents an hour during the Great Depression in 1930.
Abel became president of USW Local 1123, which he helped organize, in Canton, Ohio, and joined the Steelworkers Organizing Committee in 1936, the year 10 of its members were killed in Chicago when police opened fire on a Memorial Day rally.
The United Steelworkers was founded in 1942, and Abel served as director of the union's District 27 from 1942 to 1952, when he was elected international secretary-treasurer.
He was elected international president by a slim margin in 1965 and was re-elected in 1969 and 1973.
UNION PIONEER, EX-STEELWORKERS CHIEF I.W. ABEL SUCCUMBS TO CANCER AT 78: August 11, 1987
I.W. Abel, a former brickyard worker who became a pioneer in the American labor movement and rose to the presidency of the United Steelworkers of America during the union's heyday, died Monday. He was 78.
The union said Abel, who had recently returned to Ohio after living in Arizona, died at his home of cancer. He would have been 79 on Tuesday.
Iorwith Wilber Abel was born in Magnolia, Ohio. After attending Canton Actual Business College for one year, he worked briefly as an office boy before going to work at a higher-paying foundry job.
He was laid off and joined the labor movement when the only work he could find was firing kilns in a brickyard for 16 cents an hour during the Great Depression in 1930.
Abel became president of USW Local 1123, which he helped organize, in Canton, Ohio, and joined the Steelworkers Organizing Committee in 1936, the year 10 of its members were killed in Chicago when police opened fire on a Memorial Day rally.
The United Steelworkers was founded in 1942, and Abel served as director of the union's District 27 from 1942 to 1952, when he was elected international secretary-treasurer.
He was elected international president by a slim margin in 1965 and was re-elected in 1969 and 1973.
I.W. Abel, a former brickyard worker who became a pioneer in the American labor movement and rose to the presidency of the United Steelworkers of America during the union's heyday, died Monday. He was 78.
The union said Abel, who had recently returned to Ohio after living in Arizona, died at his home of cancer. He would have been 79 on Tuesday.
Iorwith Wilber Abel was born in Magnolia, Ohio. After attending Canton Actual Business College for one year, he worked briefly as an office boy before going to work at a higher-paying foundry job.
He was laid off and joined the labor movement when the only work he could find was firing kilns in a brickyard for 16 cents an hour during the Great Depression in 1930.
Abel became president of USW Local 1123, which he helped organize, in Canton, Ohio, and joined the Steelworkers Organizing Committee in 1936, the year 10 of its members were killed in Chicago when police opened fire on a Memorial Day rally.
The United Steelworkers was founded in 1942, and Abel served as director of the union's District 27 from 1942 to 1952, when he was elected international secretary-treasurer.
He was elected international president by a slim margin in 1965 and was re-elected in 1969 and 1973.
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