Father’s union activism pointed the way to labor studies program
Graduate ready for career in organized labor

By John Chadwick

They were big, burly men with tattoos, motorcycles, and an intimidating presence.

But the loss of their blue-collar jobs left them shaken, with some even breaking down.

For August Schneeberg, a 2009 Rutgers graduate, the memory of those men is indelible. They worked alongside his father at a motor oil packaging plant in Edison, until the plant closed.

Schneeberg, a youngster at the time, was acquainted with their struggles because his father served as shop steward for the union.

“To see these big guys really shaken up, that was the turning point was for me,” the 22-year-old said. “That’s when I started realizing how important people’s jobs were.”

By the time Schneeberg entered Rutgers, he didn’t have to think long about choosing a major.

“I knew exactly what I wanted,” he said.

He enrolled in the School of Management and Labor Relations, opting for a labor studies concentration that focuses in part on the problems of working people and what workers have done to solve those problems.

He also jumped into pro-union activism – on campus and off.

Schneeberg worked as a union organizer for the Communication Workers of America and received the Anthony Zuccarello Labor Studies Scholarship for his efforts. He also went undercover as a field research intern for Change to Win – a coalition of Labor Unions started in 2005 – taking a job at a retail business to investigate consumer and workforce problems.

This year Schneeberg and other Rutgers students joined with the national group United Students Against Sweatshops in a campaign against Russell Athletic, a company that produced apparel for a number of colleges and universities, including Rutgers.

The students accused the company of shuttering a factory in Honduras to thwart the union activities of its workers – a charge the company denied.

With campaigns against Russell taking place on campuses nationwide, Schneeberg and other students met with university officials to express their concerns, and sponsored a campus event in which two of the fired workers told their stories to students.

In the end, Rutgers decided against renewing its contract with Russell, which expired in March. More than 50 colleges and universities have severed ties with Russell.

“I think we sent a message to garment companies that if they operate in sweatshop conditions, they will be at risk of losing university contracts, which can be pretty lucrative,” Schneeberg said.

Schneeberg’s commitment to working people goes back to his upbringing in a staunchly pro-union family. Besides his father’s work as shop steward for the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union; his grandmother was a riveter for the Boeing Company and a member of the machinists’ union.

“My family had dinner together every night, and my dad always would talk about labor issues,” he said. “It’s funny looking back now, I was so aware of the role and the purpose of my father’s union that I didn’t actually understand there were workers who didn’t have unions.”

Last week, Schneeberg capped his undergraduate career by delivering the student speech at the convocation for the School of Management and Labor Relations. He praised the school’s academic program, spoke of his father’s and grandmother’s union activism, and recognized the contributions of his classmates.

He also spoke out against workplace injustice.

“When we go to work . . . we abandon basic rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of association,” he said. “This just should not be.”

After graduation, Schneeberg wants to go to work for a union as a corporate researcher, analyzing the power structure of companies to determine the steps needed to unionize employees. Despite the decline in the percentage of American workers represented by unions, Schneeberg isn’t worried about his career.

Indeed, he believes union activism could be a growth industry.

As in the 1920s and 1930s, Schneeberg said, the United States is moving from a period of great economic growth, which mostly benefited the wealthy, to an era of economic distress.

“Working people’s wages have not gone up, and they are taking on more and more debt,” he said. “I think workers are eventually going to get fed up and want to organize.”