Battaglini, Rene

Biographical Information

As a member and officer of Local 44 of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, Rene Battaglini was active in the San Francisco labor movement of the 1930s and 1940s, serving leadership roles in the hotel strikes of 1937 and 1941-1942. Born in Grenoble in 1905, Battaglini received his early labor education in France, where he participated in the syndicalist trade union movement. After stints in the French army and as a sous chef in Singapore, Battaglini moved to San Francisco, where he found work as a cook at the St. Francis Hotel, joining the Cooks' Union, Local 44, in 1931. The 1937 hotel strike was the turning point in Battaglini's labor career. During the strike, he headed Local 44's Patrol Office, later serving on the Board of Arbitration to establish a new contract. He then ran for union office on the progressive, rank-and-file ticket, holding successive offices as recording secretary, secretary-treasurer, and president of the Cooks' Union. As a union officer, he was active in the organization and conduct of the 1941-1942 hotel strike. At the age of 37, Battaglini was drafted into military service, serving in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) behind enemy lines. When he returned from the war, he resumed his duties as president of the Cooks' Union, a position he held until 1948, after efforts were made by the International Union to oust him and other suspected communists and communist sympathizers from office. Unable to find work as a cook in San Francisco, Battaglini returned to France and studied at the Sorbonne. Eventually, he moved back to San Francisco, where he began a new trade as a ship's clerk, joining Local 34 of the International Warehousemen's and Longshoremen's Union (ILWU).

From the guide to the Rene Battaglini oral history, 1979, (California Historical Society)