Sam Pollock (labor Leader) - Union Career

Union Career

Pollock was labeled a radical for his involvement with the AWP and the two strikes, and ostracized from the mainstream labor movement. However, in 1938 Pollock was hired by the Amalgamated Meat Cutters to help organize a new local in Akron, Ohio. This organizing drive was highly successful, and the workers formed Local 372. In 1941, Pollock was appointed a national organizer with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters. Local 372 merged with Amalgamated District 427 in 1950 and moved its headquarters to Cleveland. Pollock and his family moved there as well. In 1951, Pollock was elected president of another Amalgamated Meat Cutters local, the United Food and Communication Workers Union. He held this post until his retirement in 1973. Pollock was appointed interim District president in 1952, and elected to the position in his own right in 1953.

During his tenure, Pollock negotiated a number of progressive collective bargaining agreements. Just a few years after his presidency began, Pollock had negotiated contracts which limited the work week to 40 hours and significantly raised wages. Pollock was particularly interested in health care for workers. In 1955, he won establishment of an employer-paid health and welfare fund, one of the first in the nation. In 1964, Pollock successfully negotiated the creation of the Community Health Foundation, a prepaid, direct-service medical care program. A year later, he won an agreement to establish a portable national employer-funded pension plan for all Amalgamated members. In 1958, Pollock helped defeat a right-to-work amendment to the Ohio constitution. During this political battle, he was extremely active on The Committee to Oppose the Ohio Right to Work Amendment.