2025 Report of President Candice Owley

These are exciting days for the labor movement. Public support for unions remains durably and encouragingly high at 68%, and support spans different generations, partisan affiliations, and education levels. Labor’s resurgence in popularity has resulted in renewed organizing and strike actions in the last few years. Some of the largest strikes in recent history occurred in both the auto and health care industries. With this trend has come a greater understanding of the power labor unions have in building a better life for all of us. Labor’s positive influence on our democracy is shown in its proud history. The Wisconsin Labor History Society has been busy these past few years continuing to preserve labor’s history and to spread the word about how important our labor unions are to the future of our nation and its people. Check out these activities:

Labor History in the Schools: The Society believes one of its most critical roles is educating our children on the great
role unions had in building our state. We recognize that one day these children will be entering the workplace. They must
be made aware that workers need collective action to gain decent standards of living and safe and humane working
conditions. We sponsor:

• Kenneth A. Germanson High School Essay Contest with generous cash prizes for high school students in the state. We urge all of our members to promote this contest among high school children of their acquaintance.
• National History Day contests with prizes to encourage middle and high school students to create exhibits with a labor history theme. This is very popular among Wisconsin’s school children and offers an excellent way in which to build interest in labor history.
The funds needed for the prizes in the above two projects – and to fund additional outreach programs for children – were provided by generous donations from nearly 70 local unions or labor councils. We sincerely thank those WLHS members who have voluntarily given their time to act as judges for both programs.

Frank P. Zeidler Academic Awards: Thanks to donations made to our Legacy Fund, the Society offers each year a $1,000 award for a graduate academic paper on Wisconsin labor history and a $500 award for papers by undergraduate students. Our most recent winner was Nate Tease, graduate student from UW-Milwaukee, who wrote about UAW Local 248 at Allis Chalmers.

Communications and Media: Our online newsletter comes out monthly – more often when news requires it – and its popularity is shown in that more than 54% of recipients “open” the message. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, send an email to info@wisconsinlaborhistory.org. We also publish our printed newsletter. Our Facebook page has become a “go-to” spot for updated information on labor history. WLHS is also now a regular contributor to the Union Labor News from the South Central Federation of Labor as well as the Union Made Monthly e-newsletter from the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.

Presentations on Labor History: Executive Director Jaclyn Kelly has created three presentations on Wisconsin and U.S. labor history. The topics include general history, Black labor history, and the Women of Wisconsin Labor. She has made presentations to dozens of community and labor groups around the state. If your organization would like a presentation, contact info@wisconsinlaborhistory.org.

Oral History Project: We are pleased to report that WLHS has made five oral history recordings with workers who participated in and led important labor struggles in our state. We’re in the process of transcribing them and preparing them for entry into the Wisconsin Historical Society archives.

Historical Markers: WLHS is supporting the erection of two Wisconsin Historical Society historical markers bringing the history of workers’ struggles to the public. In the Milwaukee area, WLHS is part of a coalition of trade unionists putting up a marker in West Allis to commemorate the mighty UAW Local 248. We’re also working on a marker in Oshkosh to
commemorate the 1898 Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike.

Our 44th Annual Meeting: This year’s annual conference featured Ahmed White, the James E. Jones Professor of Law at UW-Madison. The program also included a panel of attorneys from the School for Workers and Wisconsin law firms and another panel of workers discussing their efforts organizing outside the law. Many thanks to IBEW Local 159 for hosting us at their hall.

2025 Lifetime Achievement Award: The society was proud to present our Lifetime Achievement Award to Candice Owley, the president of the WLHS as well as a prominent labor leader and progressive activist. Candice has brought her organizational talents and leadership skills to WLHS for two terms now, and also has taken on a leadership role with both the League of Women Voters and Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

Bay View Massacre: This most significant and historic labor event occurred on May 5, 1886 when 1,500 workers, marching in an eight-hour-day rally, were shot by the state militia under the orders of Governor Jeremiah Rusk. The Society, with support from various Bay View area citizens, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, and the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, has been commemorating this event since 1986. This year the program was planned and led by a committee of mostly young workers who added a march as the lead up to the event. This year’s speakers spoke of shop floor struggles at the VA as well as immigrant worker issues.

Archives: The Society has compiled a catalog of our archives, listing the numerous items we have accumulated, including pictures, various histories of local unions or labor councils, button and badge collections, minutes, etc. The cataloging was done by Jamakaya, the author of our popular booklet, “Like Our Sisters Before Us.” We have established the Wisconsin
History Society as the official repository of the WLHS history. We plan to continue transferring our organizational documents to the WHS Archives so that our own history now will have a permanent place of preservation.

Website: We continue to work on updating and improving our popular website, making it more attractive and more easily accessible. Check it out at www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org.

Membership is growing: We are gratified for the loyalty of our members (individual and organizational), as indicated by the high renewal rate each year. For our needed operational income, we rely on membership dues and donations and that makes us doubly thankful for the great support from our friends throughout the state and elsewhere.

Other support: We thank President Stephanie Bloomingdale of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and their staff for providing us with office space and other key logistical support that is so necessary for an organization that is basically voluntary.

Final Thoughts: All of the great work done by our Society would not be possible without the support of our Executive Director, Jaclyn Kelly. Since her first day on the job, Jackie has done an outstanding job supporting our leaders with all of these vital programs and she has also made dozens of presentations around the state about the history of our labor movement. The work of our Society is supported by an amazing volunteer Board of labor activists and labor educators in addition to our President Emeritus Steve Cupery who continues to be an active member of our committees. But our greatest volunteer is now and always has been another President Emeritus, Ken Germanson, who at the age of 96 continues to support our Society each and every week from helping with membership mailings, to advising on our electronic and print newsletters, and representing WLHS on panels. We are truly blessed with his wisdom, humor, humility and ability and know that our Society is as good as it is because of Ken.

Labor’s heritage is a story of how working people have struggled to gain better standards of living, safer and healthier working conditions and dignity for themselves and their families through numerous examples of courage and solidarity. Labor’s history gives us the inspiration to move forward, and the Wisconsin Labor History Society is proud to play a role in preserving and promoting that history.