Robert
Schrank,
Center Moriches, NY 11934
October 19,
1917 –
June 7, 2012
Robert
Schrank, Ph.D., a prominent labor leader in the 1930s-1950s, former City
Commissioner under Mayor Lindsay and renowned expert at The Ford Foundation on
labor negotiations and workplace issues, died on Thursday, June 7, 2012, in
Center Moriches, NY, at the age of 94.
From
young political activist and union leader to foundation professional and
management consultant for global corporations, Schrank lived a life based on
empathy and principles for workers and workplace issues; and, as a union
activist, was involved in some of the major political and social upheavals of
the twentieth century.
In
one of his two books, Wasn’t That a Time?
Growing Up Radical and Red in America, Schrank described the life events of
his role in the rise of industrial unions in the 1930s and 1940s. He was part of the radical world of true
believers, elected President of the local 402 of the International Association
of Machinists (IAM) at a young age.
During his time as president of the local, membership grew by leaps and
bounds as the union pursued a policy emphasizing the class struggle for
workers.
Schrank
was a rebel in the union landscape, being expelled three times from union
office for stances he took supporting workers in opposition to some ideas
within the union leadership. In a
landmark First Amendment case (Schrank vs. Brown) the State Supreme Court of
New York twice returned him to membership.
Convinced by the early 1950s of the failure of socialism in the Soviet
Union; he, however, remained faithful to the desires and needs of the rank and
file working people throughout the remainder of his own working and personal
life.
One
of Schrank’s most memorable union experiences was organizing a rare general
strike in 1945 in Stamford, Connecticut.
An opening shot in the post-World War II anti-union environment was
fired by the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company, which simply refused to
bargain, even though the IAM local had been certified as the workers’
bargaining agenda by the National Labor Relations Board. After a long strike, Schrank rallied other
union support for Yale & Towne workers by successfully organizing a rare
general strike that shut down the city for an entire day leading to the end of
the long IAM strike. Later, as a union
organizer, in 1954, Schrank spent the longest, coldest winter of his life
working to reorganize and restore the Montana local of the Mine Mill and
Smelter Workers’ Union.
Following
his union organizing days, Schrank became a plant manager for a short time
before becoming a Director in Mobilization for Youth, one of the country’s
newest, and most successful manpower programs for troubled youth in New York
City. Schrank later became Assistant
Commissioner for the City of New York under Mayor Lindsay, responsible for the
operation of the city’s manpower programs. This job was not without controversy
as a congressman from the Bronx had attacked Schrank as a radical and called on
any federal funds for the city of New York be withheld until Schrank was
discharged. Mayor Lindsay supported
Schrank saying that he knew Schrank and that he was hired for the record of his
achievements, not his politics, and that was what the city needed.
As
a Project Specialist at The Ford Foundation from the 1960s through 1980,
Schrank’s numerous projects were centered on workplace issues. Schrank was instrumental in organizing a
“Workers Exchange.” The idea of the
exchange was to have workers from a particular industry to become visiting,
working employees, in plants that were doing experiments in alternative work
organizations. The exchanges that took
place involved auto workers from Detroit to Saab in Sweden, nurses from
California to the National Health Service in England, longshoremen from San
Francisco to Rotterdam, and policemen from Hartford, Connecticut to London and
Amsterdam. The results of these
exchanges were helpful in thinking about how work can be reorganized, and how
that reorganization can, and needs to, involve the workers in the organization.
Schrank
wrote about his extraordinary and varied work experiences from skilled
machinist to union leader to NYC Commissioner to Ford Foundation professional
in his first book, Ten Thousand Working
Days. Schrank’s broad work
experience provided a realistic basis for a personal and social portrayal of
work, its pain and pleasures, its frustrations and satisfactions. His life’s professional narrative served a
special purpose by bringing together in the context of his own work experience
the sociology and psychology of work and what really happens on the job. His writings were almost always from the
point of view of the rank and file, whether describing his role in the
leadership of the New York State Machinists union or as a corporate consultant.
Robert
Schrank was born October 19, 1917, into a New York City immigrant family in the
Bronx that was part of New York’s large German socialist community, a community
of political and intellectual individuals. At fourteen, he left school and was
sent off to work. It was not until his
forties that he entered Brooklyn College and received a bachelor’s degree,
going on in later years to earn his Masters and Ph.D. in the sociology of work.
After
retiring from The Ford Foundation, Schrank moved full-time with his wife,
Kathleen Gunderson, to their home on Moriches Bay in Center Moriches, NY, where
he treasured the nature and beauty of the area.
He spent many years sailing the waters off Long Island, organized and
led efforts to turn the 263-acre “Havens Estate” into what is now the Terrell
River County Park Preserve. The skills
he learned as a machinist were used to build many finely crafted pieces of
antique furniture for his dear friends and family. Their home was often filled with the same
enjoying evenings of deep discussions along with much merriment and
singing.
In
his retirement, Bob Schrank continued to be involved with issues related to
working people consulting to major corporations and at Standard-Knapp, Inc.,
serving from 1985-2011 as their longest Outside Director. Bob received many awards over his life, but
the most important award he received was a Lifetime Contribution to Social
Justice for Working People award presented to him in 2008 from The Center for
Study of Working Class Life, Stony Brook University.
Dr.
Schrank is survived by his loving best friend and wife, Kathleen Gunderson;
daughter Elizabeth Bessin of Santa Fe, New Mexico; son Fredrick (Barbara) of
Madison, WI; granddaughter Amrita Bessin (Robert Cohen) of Santa Monica, CA;
grandson, Theo Bessin of San Francisco, CA; granddaughter Allie Schrank of
Madison, WI, great-grandson Soren Cohen of Santa Monica, CA and many beloved
lifelong friends.
