Portland Observer, Tureday, June 28, IMO Section II Page 21
A Champ in The City of Champs
When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Affirmative Action Programs, in the Weber case,
every civil rights leader jumped into the arena to claim credit. The Black most responsible
was Vice President Leon Lynch o f the A F L -C IO Steelworkers Union, which carried the case
to the high court. Lynch is the union’s first Black national officer and a beautiful man. "
- Simeon Booker, Washington Bureau Chief,
"Jet” magazine, July 26, 1979
Who is Leon Lynch? What is it like to be the first Black top level officer of the largest in
dustrial union in the A F L -C IO - the 1.4, million member United Steelworkers of America?
To understand Leon Lynch and his accomplishments, you have to watch him in action.
Lynch is considered by many insiders to be among the one or two most important and in
fluential Black trade unionists in America. Bayard Rustin says, "Leon is the most effec
tive.” Vernon Jordan said of Lynch, "Beyond question, he is one of the most important
young men in organized labor and still greater things are to be expected of him.” After
serving in his steelworker post for three years, Leon Lynch, at age 45, has a central role in the
Black-labor coalition.
One thing that is important to know about Lynch’s position in the Union:
He is not just window dressing — a role many talented Blacks have been consigned to in
major corporations where they serve mainly in public relations and personnel capacities. His
strength is bolstered by the fact that he has been elected by tens-of thousands of votes and
not selected for his job.
In addition to supervising the USW A Civil Rights Department, in his capacity o f Vice
President (Human Affairs), Lynch oversees four other major components of the mammoth
union - its 40,000 member office, technical and professional division and organizing, wage
and arbitration departments -- where "clear it with Leon” is the watchword.
He also has responsibility for leading the USW A representatives on the committee that
implements the 1974 Consent agreement entered into by big steel and the union that
established the nation’s largest and most comprehensive industrial affirmative action jobs
program for Blacks, other minorities and women. To save this successful affirmative action
program and others modeled after it, Lynch marshalled the U SW A ’s legal resources to fight
and finally win in the Supreme Court, a favorable decision in the landmark Weber case.
Speaking for the N A A C P , it’s Executive Director Benjamin Hooks said, “ We deeply ap
preciate Leon’s efforts in opposing Brian Weber’s claim of reverse discrimination . . . Leon
Lynch is well-known and well-regarded by the civil rights community.”
Thus, Leon Lynch always has been in the frontlines of the civil rights struggle from the
streets of Selma, Alabama to the law courts in Washingto, D.C. This is true, too, of trade
union struggles as he demonstrated by his important role in one of labor’s recent major bat
tles, the Steelworkers eventually successful effort to organize 18,000 workers, half of them
Black, in the Newport News Virginia shipyards.
Today, the USWA Organizing Department, under Lynch’s supervision, has set its sights
on unionizing one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chemicals -- the DuPont Company
- which has 50,000 production and maintenance employes, about 10,000 o f whom are
Black.
Perhaps the most important thing to know about Leon Lynch, as “ Jet” pointed out, is
that he is a good man, concerned about his fellow human beings, and he shows it.
It’s clear that Lynch's powerful position has gone to his heart, not his head. He uses it to
help people outside as well as inside the union. In his efforts to provide all the people in his
community with the most modern and best health care -- Steelworker members are already
covered by comprehensive medical insurance - he serves on the board of the Kidney Foun
dation and United Way in the area around Pittsburgh where he now lives.
Born in a poverty-stricken area in Edwards, Mississippi, Lynch also had deep concern and
keen insight into the problems and needs of young people, particularly deprived Blacks and
other minority youth, for higher education or job training. This in part stems from his own
experience. Turning down a college football scholarship in order to earn money for himself
and him family, Lynch attended college at night until receiving his degree in 1967 from
Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Perhaps Lynch’s greatest satisfaction has been his contribution to forging unity between
Overseeing five m ajor dapartm anta of tha 1.4-m llllon-m em ber
United Steelworker* of America. Vice praaldant Laon Lynch he* a buay
schedule. A t hla Pittsburgh headquarters o ffic e , ha goes over
workload w ith hla top aseiatant, J. T. Smith.
United Staalworkara of America Vice Praaldant Laon Lynch w ith
Praaldant Lloyd McBride and other top offlcera of tha union, leading a
march of thouaanda of Newport Nawa. Virginia shipyard workers, who
subsequently won union recognition after a four-year struggle.
the labor and civil rights movements in pursuit of common goals -- such as full employment,
a higher minimum wage and national health insurance. He has fought within the labor
movement, particularly through his membership on the A F L -C IO ’s highest civil rights body,
to end all vestiges of discrimination and through his deep involvement in the N A A C P and
other civil rights groups in insure that civil rights organizations do not support anti-labor and
anti-Black measures such as ” Right-to-Work” . As a leader of the A. Philip Randolph In
stitute he has encouraged Black workers to become more involved and influential in their
union and the Black community.
For Lynch the struggle for freedom, human rights and economic justice does not stop at
the water’s edge. He has, to give a few examples, spoken out on behalf of the rights o f Soviet
dissidents and Chilean trade unionists, denounced South African aparthied and defended the
existence of Israel and testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to present the
union’s position favoring majority rule in Rhodesia.
Lynch did not start from the top. He came out of a steel mill where he was elected to a
variety of local union offices. Lynch does not have a lifetime job and cannot rest on his
laurels for he, like the other officers, must come up for election every four years. The USW A
is one of the very few unions that holds a membership election for officers, a massive exer
cise in democratic participation. Lynch will win or lose on his own merits.
Why Leon Lynch is a hard runner, he is also a gentle man with a gift for persuasion -- a
very difficult combination to beat. .That’s why his colleagues at the International headquar
ters in Pittsburgh call him "another champ in the City of Champs.”
Lynch encourages workers on tha picket line.
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