Bay discusses his parents’ immigration to the U.S., his mother’s union activity, and the devastating effect of the 1951 flood on the family fortune. He talks about joining the Marines in the aftermath of that flood and then returning to Kansas City to work for TWA. His recollections of being an IAMAW member in Kansas City and L.A. both center around starting a newsletter and communicating with members about common issues. He also talks about overthrowing the old “union establishment,” the effect of the 1966 strike, union structure and restructuring, deregulation, the Eastern and Continental strikes, the Civil Rights Act, and international support of trade unionists. He ends his interview discussing unification with the UAW and Steelworkers and his thoughts on the future of manufacturing and the trade unionism in the U.S.
Antoinette Brooks-Floyd was born in New York City in 1939. Her father was an investment banker father. Her mother, a homemaker with health issues, had worked for the New Yorker magazine during the war. She married early, became a mother, entered NYU, and worked part-time nights as a reservationist at TWA. After her family relocated to Los Angeles, she again worked as a reservationist for TWA and started to become involved in union activities, learning how to represent and organize people. She became involved in the campaign to obtain seniority benefits and to get union representation for the reservationists. Eventually, the reservationists gained representation by the IAMAW. Brooks-Floyd eventually became general chairperson of district 142. She was active in local union political campaigns as well as working with union retirees on the Obama campaign in Ohio. She has also been involved in mentoring young machinists.
Photo and short bio on E'Dalgo taken from the web page of District Lodge 166 in Cape Canaveral.
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