EDITOR’S NOTE: Superiorland Yesterdays is prepared by the reference staff at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.

30 years ago

MARQUETTE — Changes in the iron and steel industry worldwide are forcing changes in the role of labor unions, a union representative said Tuesday. “The whole philosophy has changed,” said Dave Foster, District 33 director of United Steelworkers of America. Foster spoke to about 70 union leaders representing workers at U.S. iron ore mines. The group was to finish off three days of meetings this morning with pre-negotiation discussions on job issues such as pensions, incentive plans, safety, job security and the state of the industry. The contract for union workers on the Marquette Range expires July 31, 1993. Workers at iron ore mines, such as the Empire in Palmer and the Tilden near Ishpeming, are faced with a paradox because of steel industry ownership of many mines. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., which manages both mines, also owns minority shares of each. Foster said that union leadership’s appearance at a stockholder’s meeting a year ago to help fight off a takeover by the New York City-based management firm Tiger Management Co. was only one of the first examples of the union getting involved in leading CCI. The union opposed Tiger’s efforts. Tiger put five directors on CCI’s board May 7 last year, but fears of a major change in CCI’s direction have so far not come true. “In the kind of economy we’re in today, we can’t sit back and let companies be run for short-term gain,” Foster said.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE —“Marquette has always been proud of the opportunity its teachers have for a more personal relationship with their students. Marquette has been proud, too, of its high educational standards; but these standards are now in jeopardy.” So states the Better Schools Committee, in explaining why it has endorsed the proposed public school construction program in Marquette. Committee members believe that “the squeeze in our schools is not in the future” but that the present classroom shortage “is a real and immediate threat to our pupils.” The committee has cited statistics proving that enrollment figures are multiplying constantly. The committee has indicated it feels these figures show that the Graveraet building would satisfactorily accommodate junior high students for the next decade and that a new senior high school, built to handle 1,500 students, is the solution to the nine-thorugh-12 classroom shortage. Marquette voters will have the opportunity to vote June 11 on a bonding proposal that, if approved, will provide such a program here.