Meyer Bernstein

Meyer Bernstein (1914–1985) was a 20th-Century American labor leader and educator who worked for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the United Steel Workers of America (USWA), the U.S. Department of Labor, and the United Mine Workers of America (UMW).

Background

Meyer Bernstein was born on March 30, 1914. His parents were Philip Bernstein and Sophie Rubin. He had a brother Jacob and two sisters, Lillian and Jennifer. In 1938, Lee Pressman, general counsel of the Congress of Industrial Organizations CIO) as well as of SWOC (a CIO member) sent Bernstein into the field with A. W. Smith, a deputy general counsel to research hiring and firing patterns among "Little Steel." In 1939, he helped Pressman prepare CIO statements. He worked there until 1941 as a research assistant and national representative.

During World War II, he served as U.S. Army Air Corps sergeant. The Steelworkers Election, 1965 (1965) (unpublished manuscript)