Usery, W. J. (William Julian), 1923-

William (Willie) Julian Usery Jr. was born December 21, 1923, in Hardwick, Georgia. He attended Georgia Military College and Mercer University. From 1943 until 1946, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific. After the war, he became a machinist with Armstrong Cork. He became active in the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), represented the union at Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Center. He chaired the Cape Kennedy Labor-Management Relations Council. He served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Management Relations and Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He served as Secretary of Labor from February 10, 1976 to January 20, 1977. While serving as Secretary, Usery used his talents for mediation to prevent many incipient disputes and solve others, such as the longest strike ever in the rubber industry and a potentially crippling trucking strike. In 1985, he established the Bill Usery Labor Management Relations Foundation, for the betterment of public awareness and understanding of labor-management relations, collective bargaining, and other human resource issues in the free enterprise system. In 1990, he mediated a settlement of the United Mine Workers of America's protracted strike at the Pittston, Virginia, mine and chaired a commission concerned with miners' health and pension issues. From 1993 to 1995, he served on the commission of the Future of Worker-Management Relations and was appointed by President Bill Clinton as special mediator for the major league baseball dispute.