This is an interview with Francis J. Vadasz for In the Age of Steel: Oral Histories from Bethlehem Pennsylvania.

Transcription

1 This is an interview with Francis J. Vadasz for In the Age of Steel: Oral Histories from Bethlehem Pennsylvania. The interview was conducted by John Bodnar on July 11, 1974 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 00:00:01 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on July 11 th, 1974, with Francis and Katherine Vadasz? F. Vadasz: Vadasz. Vadasz, V-A-D-A-Z? F. Vadasz: S-Z. Let s spell it again. V-A-D? K. Vadasz: A-S-Z. A-S-C. Okay, I got it. K. Vadasz: Z, like in zebra! Okay, I just want to make sure I had it right. Okay, V-A-D-A-S-Z, right. And you live on 3 rd Street in Bethlehem? F. Vadasz: That s right. Okay, Mr. Vadasz, can you tell me first of all, when you were born, and where you were born? F. Vadasz: I was born in Bethlehem in In 1908? Where were your parents from? F. Vadasz: From Hungary (inaudible). Were they immigrants?

2 F. Vadasz: Yes. Where did your father come from, what village? F. Vadasz: That, I don t remember. Or your mother, do you remember the village she came from? K. Vadasz: We ll say, was it (inaudible)? Do you know when your father came to this country? F. Vadasz: I don t know that, either. Where were you born? F. Vadasz: Bethlehem. Where, though? A neighborhood? F. Vadasz: A neighborhood, like, with the street? F. Vadasz: Around 3 rd Street, 2 nd Street, that is. 2 nd or 3 rd. Now, that s going far back. K. Vadasz: That isn t there no more! Where was it a home? Did your father own a home there, or was it a? F. Vadasz: Oh, no, we rented, they rented. You rented a home?

3 F. Vadasz: Yeah. Where were you from, Mrs. Vadasz? K. Vadasz: Bethlehem. And where were you born? K. Vadasz: Bethlehem? The street, or the neighborhood? K. Vadasz: 3 rd Street. 3 rd Street? Were your parents of Hungarian background, too? K. Vadasz: No. Where were your parents from? K. Vadasz: Austria. Your parents were from Austria? K. Vadasz: Right. And what were they German, or Austrian? K. Vadasz: Austrian. They were Austrian?

4 K. Vadasz: Right. What was your maiden name? K. Vadasz: Ender. Oh, Ender, E-N-D-E-R? K. Vadasz: Right. 00:01:53 Okay. Now, where did you grow up? What neighborhood did you grow up in? F. Vadasz: Well, in this neighborhood, mostly. Who lived in the neighborhood? F. Vadasz: Why, it was Dutch people around here. It was Irish, and Windish 1, Hungarian, and a mixed nationality. Okay, did you grow up in this neighborhood also? K. Vadasz: Right. 00:02:17 Did you what church did you attend? K. Vadasz: Holy Ghost 2, German. Was that a German church? K. Vadasz: Right. And you attended a Hungarian church? 1 Term used to refer to people whose ancestors came from Prekmurje, a mountainous region in eastern Slovenia. 2 A Roman Catholic church located on Bethlehem's South Side.

5 F. Vadasz: Yes, Saint John s Church 3. A Hungarian Catholic Church? F. Vadasz: Yes. 00:02:30 Where did your father work? F. Vadasz: He worked in the Steel. What department? F. Vadasz: In the blast furnaces Were most of the men in the blast furnace Hungarian at that time? F. Vadasz: No, they were mixed. It was mixed up? F. Vadasz: Yeah, you know, Polish, Slavish, and Dutch. Were there any oh, even some Dutch, and native born? F. Vadasz: German, and 00:02:48 German? When did you go to school in this neighborhood? F. Vadasz: Yes. 3 Refers to St. John s Capistrano which was a Catholic church that historically served a Hungarian population formerly located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was closed in 2008.

6 Was it a parochial school? F. Vadasz: Hungarian school that s a public school. You went to a Hungarian School? How many years did you go to a Hungarian school? F. Vadasz: All together, maybe 6 years, 5 years. 00:03:06 Did you have to leave school to go to work? F. Vadasz: Yes. Well, yeah, I used to work in the silk mills. Then I worked at a I started in the Steel about I wasn t quite 18 yet, though. And from there I joined the Navy. I was in the Navy for 3 years, and I came out, and I got a job. And I worked in the plant in When you started in the plant, you said 1925? F. Vadasz: Yes. What was your first job in the plant? F. Vadasz: Oh, I (sighs), well we used to paint the billets 4, or the billet numbers, with a white paint brush. That was the first job. What was that called? Was there a name for that job? F. Vadasz: Well, they were called paint boys at that time, but I don t know what they call them now. All right, well, that s all right! (Laughs) And you worked as a paint boy for 3 years, first of all? F. Vadasz: No, for about a year. Then I joined the Navy from there. Oh, you worked as a paint boy for about a year, and you were in the Navy for 3 years? When you came out of the Navy, you went back to the plant? 4 A solid semi-finished round or square product that has been hot worked by forging, rolling or extrusion.

7 F. Vadasz: Yeah, I went in the cindering plant 5. The cindering plant? And what did you do in the cindering plant? F. Vadasz: (Whispers) You shut out what? You shoveled? F. Vadasz: No, I worked as a (recording paused) Now, in 1936, what job did you have? F. Vadasz: Well, I became a repairman in the Structural Steel, and I worked there for 37 years. 37 years? As a repairman in Structural Steel, now, you started, you say, in 37 [1937]? F. Vadasz: 36 [1936]. 36 [1936], and you must have recently retired then, did you? F. Vadasz: I retired last July. Okay. When you retired at the end of 37 years as a repairman, in the Structural Steel, did you say? F. Vadasz: Yeah. What position did you hold at that point? F. Vadasz: Oh, I I was a mechanical man. A mechanical-electrical we were combined. 5 A facility within the Blast Furnace division where the agglomeration of fine iron ore materials into a suitable lump material for blast furnace consumption took place.

8 Okay. F. Vadasz: Electrical repairman, but we did everything there. Through the course of those 37 years as a repairman, did you ever have any promotions? Were you able to work yourself up, or get anywhere in the department? F. Vadasz: Well, I started as a helper, and we had different classifications, down through the years. We had contracts, you know, we were given, and promotions, you know. 00:05:37 Were you satisfied? Did you feel at the end of 37 years that, you know, that you got the promotions you could have got, or should have got? F. Vadasz: No, I wasn t satisfied. I think I should have got the better deal out of it, but I can t help it. Why can t you help it? I mean, what better deal do you think you should have got? I ll turn it off. (Pause in recording) F. Vadasz: some tests down there, and it made it pretty difficult for me, you know. So others were favored; they were given simpler tests than I got (inaudible). Do you think because of your, the past experience you had with the company? (Pause in recording) F. Vadasz: No, see, I don t want it on record. But that was a foreman 6 ; he was (pause in recording). I don t want to make it that. Okay, that s all right. Back though, to the 37 years you spent as a mechanical helper. What avenues were open? Did you try to get an advancement? Or, what were the ways you could go? In other words, you start as a helper, what could you go to after a helper? I m trying to understand what it was like in the mill. F. Vadasz: It was up to supervision to give the promotions, you know. And if he thought you were qualified, sometimes you were, sometimes you weren t, but you didn t get it if, you know, the right things turned out. He turned you down for reasons of his own. And while you thought naturally, most people do I thought I was qualified many times, and younger men were promoted over me, see. 6 A workman who supervises a group of workers, especially in a factory.

9 Yeah. You don t feel anytime it was due to your background, though, being, for example, Hungarian? F. Vadasz: No, no. It had nothing to do? Okay. As you look back upon it, was it worth it? Was it worth the 37 years of hard work? Did you ever think of maybe going somewhere else? Maybe moving, leaving, working somewhere else? F. Vadasz: Well, I didn t have the education. That s why you couldn t go anywhere. I finished the 2 nd grade, you know. How about another steel plant, though, or another? F. Vadasz: Well, it was during the Depression. You couldn t get a job anywhere. Everybody was out of a job. And then 1936, I got down to Structural Steel. It s a beam yard 7, you know, they call it. That department, I got a job there, as soon as I got married, about a year after that. And when you re married, you stay. 00:08:01 When did you buy a home? K. Vadasz: In ? What was the first thing you would say that job enabled you to acquire, or to get, or helped you out? A car, a home? F. Vadasz: Oh, I had a car. Then we saved for a home. Well, we were raising a family. It was pretty tough, those days, you know. Well, did you have any goals? Did you have any specific goals that you wanted to get? Was a home your goal, or what, you know, did you have a? F. Vadasz: Well, like anybody else, you wanted to succeed, you know, have decent life, you know. K. Vadasz: And a family. 7 Also known as the Structural Shipping yard. Structural steel was produced here by the rolling mills of the Saucon Division was prepared for shipment to the customer by rail and truck.

10 F. Vadasz: You got to have decent wages and live, yeah, like anybody else would want to. Okay, did you ever want to become a foreman, maybe, or? F. Vadasz: No, I never wanted that. Why didn t you want to become a foreman? F. Vadasz: (Laughs) Well, from the experience I had, in 1931, you know. That s always sort of rankled me, you know, and I was sort of burned up about things like that. 00:08:59 Did you ever work, Mrs. Vadasz? K. Vadasz: After I was married? No. You never worked after you were married. How about before you were married? K. Vadasz: Yes. What did you do? K. Vadasz: I worked in the silk mill. You worked in the silk mill? Was there a silk mill here in Bethlehem? K. Vadasz: Oh, yeah, there was quite a few of them. Oh, there were a number of them? K. Vadasz: Oh, yes. Which one did you work in?

11 K. Vadasz: Laros 8. How do you spell that? K. Vadasz: L-A-R-O-S. Who worked in the silk mills? Was it mostly anybody? K. Vadasz: Women and men. Men and women? K. Vadasz: Yeah. It wasn t mostly women then? K. Vadasz: Mostly women. Oh, mostly women. Were they any particular ethnic or nationality background? K. Vadasz: Oh, no, just a mixture of those. Just a mixture of women? And you stopped when you were married? K. Vadasz: Yes. 00:09:42 Okay. What about the union? What about the Company Employee Plan, or the Company Representative Plan 9, before the union? Wasn t that a pretty good plan? 8 Established in 1921, the R.K. Laros Silk Mill was located at the northeast corner of Broad and New Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The mill specialized in the silk for women s hosiery. 9 This refers to the Employee Representation Plan, a company union that could not negotiate on wages or strike. Workers subsequently elected the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, predecessor of the United Steelworkers, as their bargaining agent in 1941.

12 F. Vadasz: That was a company plan, a company union. Yeah, but didn t it give any benefits? Did you get any benefits from it? F. Vadasz: Not much. Nothing to speak of. We didn t have any benefits that was there weren t any to get worthwhile, until the union came to the town. You know, they organized. When did the union start to come in? F. Vadasz: Oh, around 1936 or 37 [1937]. Were there any departments or sections in the plant that were primarily of one ethnic group? Like for example, would you say that Hungarians tended to maybe have a pretty strong hold on certain jobs, compared to maybe the Windish on another group of jobs? F. Vadasz: Oh, I don t know, no You wouldn t it didn t strike you, then? F. Vadasz: Where I worked, it was a mixture, I think. Now, who were the first union (inaudible)? Did you have an organizer, or was it among the men? How did the union get started in Bethlehem? F. Vadasz: Oh, well, let s see. Phil Murray 10 and John L. Lewis 11, they broke away from the mine work, or from the AF of L 12, you know, and they formed the CIO 13, and they were with the miners, you know, as officers in the miner s union, and they 10 Philip Murray served as the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) and the first president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). 11 John L. Lewis was a major figure in organized labor. He was the President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to The American Federation of Labor, founded in 186, was one of the first labor unions in the United States. 13 Committee for Industrial Organization was created by John L. Lewis in 1935 when the American Federation of Labor was reluctant organize unskilled laborers.

13 formed the CIO, the Congress of Industrial Organization. They went out to organize the Steel, you know. Because AF of L only worked as organizer, trades, trade unions, or into trade unions. So they thought that the steelworkers should be organized, and they sent people here around 36 [1936], 37 [1937]. Do you remember those people coming here, their organizers? Can you remember some of the earlier ones at all? F. Vadasz: I don t remember their names. I don t remember names. Well, there was a man, Bittner, was here. He was the Vice President to Phil Murray and others. When were you first approached, or inclined, to join the union? F. Vadasz: Oh, I joined about About 37 [1937]? When did they first recognize the union here in Bethlehem? F. Vadasz: Why, in 1940, when we had a strike. We had a strike for 5 days, for union recognition. And then in 42 [1942] sometime, early in 42 [1942], I believe, we had a National Labor Relations Board 14 election, and we won the election, and we represented the workers from then on. Who supported the union in Bethlehem, when the CIO first came in? Did it tend to be mostly the younger workers? Was it all workers, would you say? Or was there any particular group that seemed strong? F. Vadasz: Well, most of the people. You would say most of the men? F. Vadasz: Most of the people. Because when we had the election, we well, we won the election by, I believe, better than 2 to 1. I don t remember what the figures were, but, and we had a pretty big strike. Some stayed in, you know, like due to they were afraid of the consequences. You know, when the union first comes on the scene everybody s, somebody s doubtful of the outcome. But the majority stayed out, the biggest majority. 14 Formed during the Great Depression, the NLRB works to guarantee the rights of employees to bargain collectively.

14 00:13:10 What was it about the union, or about what the union organizers were saying, that made the union appeal to you most? What were they saying? What were they promising, job security, better wages? F. Vadasz: Job security, that s right. Pensions and job security, and a better working conditions which we needed, working conditions. And as it had a set up, years ago in the plant, like you d be working in one department, and you were doing the same type of work, and you d get a different wage, you know, than somebody else. And in the department or another department, they d get a higher wage or lower wage, and geez, I don t remember now how many wage scales they had, but they had a lot (inaudible). It was very, kind of a hodge-podge of wage scales? F. Vadasz: Yeah, that s what it was, yeah. 00:14:04 They wanted some uniformity out of that. Did many men lose seniority during the Depression? Were they out of work long enough to lose it? Or don t you remember? Did you? Were you out of work? Well, you didn t work at the plant from 31 [1931] to 36 [1936]? F. Vadasz: Well, I don t believe there was any such things as the seniority then, you know, because you didn t have a union. If you or, your work had seniority. But if you were laid off, then you were laid off. You were out of you lost the seniority. What did you do from 31 [1931]to 36 [1936]? F. Vadasz: Oh, I worked in odd jobs, contractor s laborer, worked at a silk mill. K. Vadasz: Wasn t that the WPA 15? F. Vadasz: Yeah, at the WPA. I worked on a WPA, and the CWA 16, the government had. At the time, I worked with some surveyors. They surveyed these places for sewer lines, and things like that, you know, new water system. 15 Formed in 1935, the Works Progress Administration was one of FDR's New Deal programs. It employed people to carry out public works projects. 16 Formed in 1933, the Civil Works Administration was one of FDR's New Deal programs. It employed people in temporary construction jobs during the winter of

15 00:15:05 How about, what were your social activities? Did you attend any particular church throughout the years, or any clubs or organizations, anything? K. Vadasz: (Laughs) That s all, church! F. Vadasz: Yes, we belonged to clubs, you know, and to churches. What church was it? F. Vadasz: And, nobody had no place to go. Saint John s? Did you attend church at Saint John s? K. Vadasz: No, Holy Ghost. F. Vadasz: They had (inaudible). K. Vadasz: Only after we were married, we joined it. We had to join his church. That was the rule. Saint John s? K. Vadasz: Yeah, my husband s church! (Laughs) What type of activities took place around the church, then? F. Vadasz: Oh, well, when I was young, or young people, they had a K. Vadasz: Baseball team, a soccer team. F. Vadasz: a baseball team, and basketball. But did the Hungarian Church have its own baseball team?

16 K. Vadasz: Yes. What was it called? F. Vadasz: Hungarian Catholic Club. And who did they play? K. Vadasz: The city league. Oh, they had a city league? F. Vadasz: Had a city league. Did you play on it? F. Vadasz: No, I didn t play on it. I wasn t very athletic! What about, where were you married? K. Vadasz: Holy Ghost Church. In the Holy Ghost Church? Did you have a big wedding, or a small wedding? K. Vadasz: Reception, you mean? Yeah, well anytime. What was your wedding like? K. Vadasz: At the house. Oh, well, I was a bride, married in Mass. You weren t some of the Polish people went to churches in carriages, drawn by horses. Did you go? K. Vadasz: Oh, no, we had cars! (Laughs)

17 Maybe that was a little bit later. They were older, I think. K. Vadasz: This was in 37 [1937]. 00:16:35 Oh, that was quite a bit before then. Right, okay. You said before that you never considered leaving Bethlehem, or moving anywhere else. Is that because you had a growing family? Did you have children? K. Vadasz: Yes. How many children did you have? K. Vadasz: Five. Five, oh wow! K. Vadasz: Twins! (Laughs) Twins? (Laughs) So, did that influence your decision in perhaps staying here? F. Vadasz: Oh, sure, yeah. You have family, you must stay, you know. K. Vadasz: You have your roots here, you ll stay. Okay. Did you have any other relatives here in South Bethlehem, Bethlehem? F. Vadasz: Brothers, sure. I had brothers and a sister. Is there anything else that you d like to talk about? (Pause in recording) 00:17:17 F. Vadasz: Took part in the first strike we had. In 41 [1941], you mean?

18 F. Vadasz: It was I was on the picket lines. It was pretty rough, though, the first strike. The State Police were battled us and the city police battled us. Those were rough days! It s 5 days, I think we got. 00:17:43 Was there any political leaders here in Bethlehem that were particularly strong, say among the Hungarian community, or from this particular neighborhood, 5 th Ward, maybe? Does anybody stand out that was, oh, say somebody, you would say, that the Hungarians or the families in the 5 th Ward loved and supported, and maybe was their voice, or their spokesman? Did anybody stand out as a leader, or a political leader? F. Vadasz: No, they didn t look to one particular person, you know. There were clubs, political clubs, in the 5 th Ward. And there weren t any particular men, ethnic K. Vadasz: Well, do you mean like that ran for Mayor, or anything? Mayor, sure. K. Vadasz: Sure, there s Chain ran for Mayor. F. Vadasz: Recently. K. Vadasz: Oh, recently. Well, that s all right, recently. But he was the first one? K. Vadasz: He would come here, yeah. Was there anybody from the 5 th Ward that ever got anywhere in politics? Let s put it that way, that maybe became a Mayor, or a Representative? K. Vadasz: Assemblyman? Assemblyman, anything? There must have been somebody.

19 K. Vadasz: O Donnell? You must have had a Councilman, didn t you? K. Vadasz: Jim O Donnell 17 was Assemblyman. He was from the 5 th Ward. F. Vadasz: Harrisburg was from the 5 th Ward. And Irvin (?) O Donnell 18, he was a Postmaster in Bethlehem here. K. Vadasz: And he was from the 5 th Ward. F. Vadasz: And Rooney is now. He s a Congressman, you know, Rooney. They all sound Irish, though? K. Vadasz: Yeah, they are! (Laughs) 00:19:10 F. Vadasz: Yeah, well that s why I say, this neighborhood at that time: Irish, and Polish, and Hungarian all these. K. Vadasz: See that row over there? That was all Irish when I was a little girl. That 3 rd Street row? What did they call it? K. Vadasz: That was the Irish Row. They call it Irish Row? K. Vadasz: Yeah. And these double homes were steel company homes. And then when they they worked for rent. People lived and rent. Then they start selling them, I don t know what year. Because my parents bought a home from the Bethlehem Steel right up Mechanic Street [Bethlehem, Pennsylvania], those big homes up there. Did you buy your home from Bethlehem Steel? 17 Project staff were unable to identify this person. 18 Project staff were unable to identify this person.

20 K. Vadasz: No, not us, but my parents did. And there are some people up the street, still live it, that bought it from Bethlehem Steel. I don t know what year that was. Well, I was about 7 when we bought our home from the Bethlehem Steel. 00:20:00 Who were in your neighborhood here? Were there grocery stores that were maybe purely Hungarian, or purely Irish? Or were they pretty well mixed? Or were they businessmen who dealt in? K. Vadasz: Well, there were corner stores at every corner! (Laughs) And a butcher at every corner! And, well I think they spoke a couple of languages, you know. Oh, yeah? K. Vadasz: Yeah, sure, they could talk German, Hungarian. A lot of the people around here say they ll refer to people as being Dutch 19. Do they mean, did they come from farms around here? Were they Pennsylvania German? K. Vadasz: I believe that, yeah. F. Vadasz: Pennsylvania German. Okay, is there anything else? (Pause in recording) 00:20:41 F. Vadasz: that s what they call a shop steward 20 now. Where were you a shop steward? F. Vadasz: Why, at the Structural? 19 The Pennsylvania Dutch, also referred to as Pennsylvania German, were emigrants and the descendants of emigrants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. 20 A position held voluntarily in which an employee monitors and enforces agreements made by the union with management.

21 F. Vadasz: Structurals, yeah. What s the name of that department again? It s the Structural Steel Department is that the name of it, actually? F. Vadasz: Well, they actually call it the Beam Yards. It s a structural steel department they make structural steel. The rolling mills are there, you know. And they send the steel out into the yard, and they pile it up in stock, and they ship it from there. If you look back, in retrospect now, looking back on the 37, 40-odd years that you put into the plant, how do you evaluate it? I mean, was it a good 40 years? Or do you wish it had gone another way? Or do you think that it wasn t too bad, or what? 00:21:29 F. Vadasz: Well, I worked outside. The Beam Yard is outside, and it was pretty tough. You know, all kinds of weather. Was it hazardous? Was there a lot of possible hazard, or accidents where you worked? F. Vadasz: Oh, yeah it was hazardous! You had, used to watch yourself every minute. Why? What particular? F. Vadasz: But I liked the job, and (inaudible) different. Because once I d work on a crane, then I d work on the saws, you know, with just a group of men. Mostly repairing? F. Vadasz: Always something different repairing, (inaudible). Was there any steps taken by the company to insure your safety? F. Vadasz: Well, they did, but we had to fight for a lot of that stuff. And I was on the Safety Committee for years, and I know, we had a lot of battles there, we had. By battles, you mean in meetings, or arguments?

22 F. Vadasz: Yes, in meetings and arguments. K. Vadasz: Tell him about the basket. F. Vadasz: They disagreed with us, that we wanted certain safeguards, and we finally got well, we convinced them, is what they were. Now they have, on a stretcher now that they use in one of the shifts. The firemen use them, the rescue people. It s a basket-type; I forgot the name of it now. K. Vadasz: Metal basket. You often see them, when they strap you in. Yeah. F. Vadasz: And, well they never had this down there. And because I was in the Navy, I knew about this, how to rescue the people. Because something happened. While I was working the Beam Yards, a pipefitter got hurt up on top of a pretty high platform. And it took them about an hour to bring him down, you know, because they didn t have anything. And I suggested that we get this stretcher, and they didn t know how to use it! And I explained it to them, you know, and they said they d have to look into it. And after about a year or so, we finally got it, and now they re using it all over the plant. And since then, they came in handy. There was a couple of people hurt on a crane, and some fellow had a heart attack, and they got hurt; they lowered them down in this. That s one of the things, I m proud of that. Oh, you kind of brought the idea of it? F. Vadasz: Yeah, I brought the idea, and now they use them all over the plant. K. Vadasz: Through his effort. Now, explain I want to make sure it s clear on the tape. Explain to me again, where exactly did they use this basket, and how was it used? F. Vadasz: This basket is a stretcher. Okay, go ahead.

23 F. Vadasz: And I forgot what the name is. When somebody s high up on a crane, you know, and he gets hurt, he s running the crane and he gets sick, or he passes out or something, you know, and like if a rigger 21 or something gets hurt, and they can t get him down, they put him into this basket-type stretcher, and they strap him in. You know, they have ropes and pulleys to lower him down to the ground. Well, how did they try to get him down before they had such a thing as this basket? What would they do? F. Vadasz: Well, they d get him down the best way they can. I don t know! (Laughs) Which would be dangerous or hazardous, right? F. Vadasz: Yeah, yeah. I see. F. Vadasz: It was haphazard. Now how did you go about getting this, at meetings with the officials or your superintendents 22? F. Vadasz: No, the Safety Meeting with the officials in the main office, Industrial Relations. We had a meeting every once in while, when we d have something that was hazardous, or someone would bring it to our attention, the workers. And we d ask for a meeting with management, and we d discuss this, you know. And during the discussions, something else would crop up, and we d discuss that in there. And I proposed that we have something like that, because of this accident we had down there. 00:25:03 What was the biggest advantage you would say you got out of your work here, over all those years? Was it, maybe, did it help your children? 21 Worked on the high steel with the L beams, erected Electrical Overhead Traveling cranes, and moved and set in place heavy machinery. This position was considered especially dangerous and was well paid. 22 A person in management charged with overseeing or directing an organization.

24 F. Vadasz: Oh, sure! Well I tell you, now they re getting a good pension. You know, these people retiring now are getting good it s a darn good pension. We, I said, went out on strike in 1949, in March I believe it was, and we were out for 32 days for a pension! And we got 100 dollars a month. And before, the company gave a pension, but it was very little, you know. And so we won the strike. Well, Eugene Grace 23 was the Chairman then, at the time, and he agreed to give us 100 dollars, but this included the Social Security 24 payments with it. To total 100, yeah? F. Vadasz: A total, 100. And well I don t know, the steel company must have had pretty good influence in Washington, because, why, soon after we got this pension agreement, your Social Security benefits went up, see. Which would (inaudible) the company s contribution down? F. Vadasz: And I don t remember how it went up, or how much it went up, I think. But, no matter how much it went up, the steel companies would still have to pay 100 dollars. Oh, I see. F. Vadasz: Well, there s a difference. We d get a 100 dollar pension, but their costs would go down, in proportion, you know. Yeah, I see what you mean, yeah. F. Vadasz: (Laughs) And so we got out of the strike, but for 32 days, that s one thing we accomplished, you know. And before we had a pension agreement, people would get pension, and if they didn t have children that they lived with, they d have to go to the poorhouse! Which, we should be they re going to the poorhouse! And they had it pretty tough! 00:26:55 When you were a young man, and you know, you first started working in the mills, and then you went into the Navy. Did you have any aspirations? Like, what did you want to do? Did you have anything in sight? You know, sometimes people think about things they want to do, when you re 18, 19 years old. 23 Served as the President and then Chairman of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation from 1913 to 1945 and served as Chairman of the Board from 1945 to A system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped.

25 F. Vadasz: No, I just wanted to do something that I liked, and I liked this here repair work. It s maintenance work, you know. So you just wanted to get some type of job you liked, that was the? K. Vadasz: Well, it was electrical, too. You know, he did a lot of electrical work. F. Vadasz: When I started out, but we were combined, see. K. Vadasz: But he learned a lot. But what I mean is, I was just wondering if you had, if there was anything that as a young? 00:27:30 F. Vadasz: It was interesting work, and I liked it, see, because I never knew anything about electricity, and anything like that. And so I learned the job, you know. But what took up most of my time I could have got further, I mean, studied the job more. But I was very active in the union, see, and that took all my time! I studied and read, and I went to conferences, a conference, every day. We used to have meetings; before we got the contract, oh, we had meetings about 5 nights a week. So, we were shop stewards, you know. And then after the meeting, we d go out and sign people up at the gates. And then dues inspection, and that took us about 6 days a week, see. Oh, sure. F. Vadasz: But it was interesting, you know. (inaudible) and answer. F. Vadasz: And when you re pitting your skill against someone that s pretty smart, and so he s smarter than you, you know! You re putting your mind against somebody else s mind? F. Vadasz: Yeah, yeah, yeah! And you know, you there was a challenge, and we liked it. I did, and others, you know. That s why we were successful in organizing this. And I ll tell you, some of these bosses down there were better organizers than we were, because how they treated the people! You know, the workers? Why, as soon as you approached some of these

26 00:28:59 people, How about joining the union? it s like, Sure! Give me that card! They signed, because they were pushed around, see. Times were pretty tough here before we had the union, I tell you! (Laughs) Didn t Bethlehem bring in some Mexicans during the early 30 s [1930]or something? F. Vadasz: Oh, that was during the First World War, when I was a kid (inaudible). That was around 31 [1931], 32 [1932], though? K. Vadasz: No! 00:29:10 F. Vadasz: No! No, that was early. Well, a lot of people said the union s just no good. I don t know why, because they never go to the meetings, and they don t know what the union s all about, or how the union works. All they know is that they should get a bigger paycheck, get better vacations, and things. They don t know how you get it! They don t know that you have when you meet with the company, or you re sitting across the table, and you must fight for everything you could get, you know? But, a lot of people don t like it, and they don t know what the union does, outside of contract negotiations. Like, how we help these people, is locally, to help the people that need it. What did the union do locally? Did they ever did they do things of a local nature, maybe help people out in hard times? F. Vadasz: Yeah, they did. That s what I say. They helped people out. Like what? How would they help them, like? F. Vadasz: Well, the people that get sick, and they were so hard pressed to pay their bills, they sent up the different agencies to help them out. Like welfare, and others. K. Vadasz: They used to get a 10 dollar check (inaudible) F. Vadasz: Yeah, they used to help them out. K. Vadasz: And when they were sick, I know this neighborhood (inaudible).

27 00:30:28 F. Vadasz: And I ll tell you one thing we did here I supported the First World War out, well see, because I was in the Navy, you know. And I didn t join into the service, because I had a family. And so I was afraid of what was going to happen to the GI s when they came back, because certain groups, well, why, all the way on the left, you know. And I thought, and some of us thought, that they were going to use them when they came back for propaganda purposes. And so I organized a Veterans Committee over here. I went to C.V. Moore 25, the District Director, and I says, Look, as a veteran, I was in a part of service. And I d like to organize this, but some of these other guys that come back, say Commies, well you know, because you were pretty popular around here for a while. And I said, (inaudible) organize them, and after they re established, they ll get rid of me? And he says, Well, I m going to appoint you as Executive Secretary, he says, And you hold the elections. So some of these people came back from the war, and we had elections for Chairman and the officers. And I knew we did a lot for the veterans. We sent people to Valley Forge Hospital 26 ; we entertained them, you know. And we brought some here, and took them around the town, and fed them. And I took care of them, visited different homes, and places of interest. Is this in the late 40 s [1940]now, after the Second World War? K. Vadasz: Well, sure. F. Vadasz: During the Second World War, right after, yeah. While the war was almost over, then I organized, you know. And we worked with the American Veterans Committee 27. That was a big organization, a veterans organization. And there was a conference in Philadelphia, on, well, they were trying to get a soldier s bonus in Pennsylvania. And so we attended that, about 12 or 13 of us. And I met some people that well, they were, the Commies they didn t like to see the GI s get anything, you know. Now, you say the Communists, are you talking about people in the labor movement itself that were farther to the left, is that what you re saying? F. Vadasz: Yeah, they were, and others, further to the left, yeah. See, I thought they d take advantage of them, and they d use them, use propaganda. And so we went to this conference in Philadelphia, and those same people well, they weren t from here all over Pennsylvania. And they were against this. They said that if they get there s a bonus for the GI s, why, 25 Project staff were unable to locate this person. 26 A former military hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. 27 Founded in 1943 as a liberal counterpoint to the conservative-based American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, this organization is focused on advocating for veterans. Its last two chapters closed in 2007 and 2008.

28 the state of Pennsylvania would go broke. And they had a caucus on it during one between one of the sessions. And these people were convincing everyone that was a bad idea. So we went here, as shop stewards here, and officers, we were pretty well versed in debating with people. So we got in these groups, and we told the people what to say. And we stayed there, and when it finally come down to a vote, why, the conferencers voted that we d approved the resolution, it was. And it went to Harrisburg [Pennsylvania], and they got a soldier s bonus; I don t know how much it was, a few hundred dollars. I can t understand, though, why those that were more to the left would oppose the bonus? Why would they care if the veterans got a bonus? F. Vadasz: (Laughs) Well, the opposed it anyway! That s your propaganda, you know They would rather have the fact that they? F. Vadasz: (Inaudible) they wanted a second front, regardless of whether it would hurt us or not. They felt they could exploit veterans maybe more? F. Vadasz: Exploit, that s yeah. if they didn t get a bonus? Then they would be a little more resentful, and then maybe use them a little bit more. Is that it? F. Vadasz: Sure, that s what the purpose of this Veterans Committee was here. We were afraid they d exploit them, take advantage of them. So the Veterans Committee, then, of your union local, right? F. Vadasz: Oh, we did a lot. This was part of the union local, this Veterans Committee? It was an attempt, maybe, you said not only to help the veterans, but to prevent any communist infiltration, or attempt to win them over, or anything like that? Who was behind this Veterans Committee besides yourself? Was it just you? Was it your idea, or was it?

29 F. Vadasz: Well, it was my idea, and then the District Director okayed us. He had to okay, my District Director. Then when some of these GI s came back from the war, I contacted them and we got together. And there was one John Wurst (sp?) he s a foreman down at the Beam Yards now. What s his name? F. Vadasz: John Wurst 28. Oh, Wurst. He worked with you on this? F. Vadasz: Yeah. Why, I appointed him as the Chairman. Then they had an election, and he stayed as the Chairman. We wrote letters to different veteran s organizations. 00:35:29 Why were you against the leftists? F. Vadasz: (Laughs) We didn t trust them. That s why, see? Because you know, they d get up at some of our local meetings and everything that they thought was good for Russia, why, they fought for. Like the second front that was one of their pet things, you know. But hadn t Russia, they just Russia and America were allies during the war, weren t they? F. Vadasz: Yeah! Supposedly. F. Vadasz: Yeah, but you know what happened since then? They said they won the war, we didn t won the war. Yeah, but since then. But now this is only like 46 [1946], 47 [1947]. But you say what did they want to do with this second front? What were they talking about at the time? To work behind, so to speak, subversion? 28 Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Wurst worked for Bethlehem Steel for 41 years and died in 1991.

30 F. Vadasz: Well, Hitler was fighting Russia, you know. And they wanted us to attack Germany, at the same time to relieve the Russians, you know. They were preaching this in the local meetings, here? F. Vadasz: Yeah. Who were were there any particular group that tended to be leftist, or was it from any particular shop, or mill, or department? F. Vadasz: No. When I tell you, there weren t many around here, but they had a lot of well, they made a lot of noise! And they convinced a lot of people, you know, the people well, they have a good argument. They find out what you want, what you were for, and then they used that. Then pretty soon, they d gain your friendship. Did they come from did they have jobs in the mill that maybe were extremely dangerous jobs, hazardous, occupations? F. Vadasz: Oh, they worked all over the plant. So you can t identify them? F. Vadasz: No. (Pause in recording) And they followed it. 00:37:11 Was there resentment among the Hungarian people that you knew, ever, towards the priests or the pastors? Did they feel, maybe, they had to work very hard for a living, and these men didn t have to work as hard, or anything like that? F. Vadasz: No (inaudible). How about toward white collar workers in the plant, or the mill, or the offices of the steel company? Was there any friction? F. Vadasz: That wasn t anything, no, no. Not that I know of. In fact, when we had a strike, we let the white collar people go in there and do their work, because we figured if we keep them out, we need our paychecks, and things like that! So they had to

31 00:38:00 work, and we let them work, anyway. They couldn t produce; they couldn t take our job. As long as they didn t take our job, we let them go. And they had to do their work, so we let them go. Okay. In Bethlehem, was there any division, or was there over the years, in the residential patterns here? And by that, I mean, did certain groups tend to live on the South Side 29, and maybe another in the Northeast? Or was people spread pretty much around Bethlehem? K. Vadasz: Everybody lived on this side, they all just went over on that side! (Laughs) What do you mean, everyone lived on this side now? Everyone lived on the South Side, no one lived on the there must have been other people living over on the other? K. Vadasz: No, that was that wasn t. No, I understand what you meant just now. But I mean historically, for years and years now, did many Hungarians live over on the northeast side? F. Vadasz: No, that was just recently they start going over town and Who lived over on the other side of town? I mean, 20 and 30 years ago. K. Vadasz: There weren t too many streets over there. That was all fields and farms over there. F. Vadasz: People started to go from the South Side, and they built it up. A lot of people went there, especially the younger ones. They started it up. They bought homes and built homes up there. Did many Germans live in this area, in the South Side? K. Vadasz: Oh, yes. Well, the way they lived, they would live around their church, you know? That s the way they lived here. Most of the people? 29 Area of Bethlehem located south of the Lehigh River which includes the area where Bethlehem Steel s plant was located.

32 K. Vadasz: Mm-hm. The Polish people were around their church; the Slavs were around theirs. Were you around your church? Were you close? K. Vadasz: Well, he was Hungarian; he was around it. I wasn t. I had to walk, oh, a couple of miles to school! (Laughs) 3 miles. See, he took you away. K. Vadasz: And go to church every day. You know, I was Catholic. And that s out on Carlton Avenue. I don t know if you know that section. I m learning. K. Vadasz: It s around Lehigh 30, there. Every day, I went to church. And then the Windish were around their church. I don t know where the Italians lived. (end of recording) 30 A private university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.