Stetin, Sol

Sol Stetin, trade unionist, educator and leader of a landmark campaign to organize textile workers employed by J.P. Stevens & Company at factories in the American South, was born in Pabianice, Poland on April 2, 1910. He immigrated to the United States as a youth of ten and settled with his parents in Paterson, New Jersey. (1)

"We came steerage, third class, and I was always hungry," Stetin explained, in a 1977 profile recounting his passage from Europe. "I learned a few English words quickly, and I was always going to the [ship's] chef to get extra food for my family." (2)

Shortly after he arrived in America, Stetin began selling newspapers on the street after school. (3) Emboldened by the "kick" that he experienced "hanging around carnivals," he quit the classroom in ninth grade and briefly tried his hand competing in boxing and basketball, even though he was only five-feet, four-inches tall. (4)

At age nineteen, while employed as a caddy on a golf course near his home, he persuaded a client who owned a textile mill to hire him in the firm's dye shop for thirty-two cents an hour. (5) Later, when an impromptu walkout threatened to paralyze the plant, Stetin, who harbored hopes of winning a profitable promotion, initially complied with his supervisor's directive to distance himself from his disgruntled peers. (6) But a fateful encounter with a unionist friend soon convinced him to reverse his decision and openly profess support for the strike. (7)

In time Stetin would assert that he owed his education—moral and intellectual—to his commitments on behalf of labor rights. (8)

In 1933 he affirmed his formal affiliation with the labor movement as a charter member of Dyers Local 1733 in Paterson. (9) The following year saw his marriage to Frieda Goldstein and his participation in a nationwide job action involving 500,000 employees of textile firms. (10) Thereafter he rose through the union ranks to positions of increasing prominence, advancing from shop steward, organizer and regional director to secretary-treasurer, then president, of the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA).

Stetin's election to the TWUA presidency in 1972 coincided with the culmination of a seventeen-year organizing drive at J.P. Stevens, an event that New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse described as "one of labor's most ambitious campaigns in the anti-union South and one of the most publicized unionization efforts since World War Two." (11) In 1976, at a crucial juncture in the Stevens struggle, Stetin surprised some observers by aligning his "very viable" 174,000-member union with the larger Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to create the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). (12) Analysts suggested that Stetin orchestrated the move at considerable cost to his own career—this, in deference to his belief that the merger was essential if labor hoped to obtain the resources it needed to negotiate successfully with a manufacturer of Stevens' size. (13) The Stevens drive, which ended in 1980 and eventually enrolled some 3,500 workers, was dramatized in the movie Norma Rae (1979, directed by Martin Ritt).

In addition to his numerous union activities, Stetin taught labor studies at William Paterson College in Wayne, New Jersey, (14) where he served on the board of trustees. (15) He was also employed, from 1947 to 1990, by the Institute of Management and Labor Relations (IMLR) at Rutgers University. In 1983 Stetin was named the first labor leader in residence at the Institute's Labor Education Center. (16) There he participated in seminars and taught and advised students for the remainder of his academic career.

Recognized by both the Puffin Foundation and the Sidney Hillman Foundation for his efforts to foster a more equitable society, (17) Stetin additionally received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Rutgers in 1961. (18) Following his 1982 retirement as senior executive vice president of the ACTWU, he helped establish the American Labor Museum (ALM) at Botto House, a state and national historic site in Haledon, New Jersey. (19) Stetin continued his labor advocacy as president emeritus of the ALM, speaking out, for the duration of his life, through his active involvement with organizations like Jobs With Justice and the National Worker Rights Board. (20)

Sol Stetin died on May 20, 2005 at a nursing home in St. Louis, Missouri. (21) His immediate survivors at the time of his death included his wife, a sister, and two daughters.

(1) Steven Greenhouse, "Sol Stetin, 95, Labor Leader Who Unionized J.P. Stevens, Dies," New York Times , 24 May 2005, B9.

(2) Edward M. McConville, "Why Sol Stetin Stepped Down," Nation , 10 December 1977, 622.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Ibid.

(5) Ibid.

(6) "Nothing to Do With You," Folklife Center News , Volume 17, Number 2 (Spring 1995); available from http://www.libraryofcongress.gov/folklife/news/Spring95.txt ; Internet; accessed 26 September 2009.

(7) McConville, "Why Sol Stetin Stepped Down," 622.

(8) Greenhouse, "Sol Stetin," New York Times .

(9) U.S. House. Representative Roe speaking on congressional salute to Hon. Sol Stetin of Paterson, N.J. Congressional Record , 97th cong., 2nd sess., 1982, 128, no. 118, daily edition (9 September 1982).

(10) Greenhouse, "Sol Stetin," New York Times .

(11) Ibid.

(12) Ibid. The Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union merged with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to form UNITE in 1995. In 2004, UNITE and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union combined under the new name UNITE HERE.

(13) McConville, "Why Sol Stetin Stepped Down," 621-23.

(14) Sandra Gardner, "New Jerseyeans," New York Times , 22 May 1983, NJ34.

(15) Congressional Record , 97th cong., 2nd sess., 1982, 128, no. 118, daily edition (9 September 1982).

(16) Gardner, "New Jerseyeans," New York Times .

(17) Unite Here Press Center, "Sol Stetin, Labor Leader And Humanitarian, Dies At 95"; available from http://unitehere.org/frontpagedetail.php?ID=62 ; Internet; accessed 19 September 2009.

(18) Office of the Secretary of the University, "Honorary Degree Recipients By Year Awarded"; available from http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/governance/secretary/degrees-year.shtml ; Internet; accessed 29 August 2009.

(19) Damon Stetson, "Ex-Union Chief Works on a Labor Museum," New York Times , 5 September 1982, 39.

(20) Unite Here Press Center, "Sol Stetin, Labor Leader And Humanitarian, Dies At 95."

(21) Greenhouse, "Sol Stetin," New York Times .

From the guide to the Guide to the Sol Stetin Papers, 1935-1992, bulk 1972-1989, (Rutgers University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives)