WEBVTT
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Interviewer: Both the mill and the town has changed a lot. How has the
town changed? How is it different from it was, say, when you were a kid?
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Vravel: When I was a kid, you could work all you wanted. Now all work is
limited. There's no laying around down there. One time when you went down
there, if you had a breakdown for three, 4 or 5 hours, you stayed there,
you loafed till they fixed the job and you wouldn't go home till the
whistle. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: Now, when it breaks down, everybody
goes home. They only keep the maintenance man and they keep it going.
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Interviewer: Yeah. So then that means they don't have to pay people for
sitting around.
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Vravel: They'll dock you five minutes if you got five minutes before the
whistle, now.
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Speaker3: In them days, when my dad worked, they didn't have machinery.
Everything was done by back, then. Interviewer: Yeah. That's the way they
were.
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Vravel: I remember the time department--
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Speaker3: Before the machinery work, had machinery now--
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Vravel: Each mill had a timekeeper. He'd go around hollering, you know,
who's there? And you holler. Now everything's-- When they hand you a card--
You show your ID card, you get a, time card and your foreman fills it out.
If you work seven hours and a half, he punches the hours in the minutes.
Interviewer: Huh? Vravel: Then when you're going out, the security man, he
punches you out. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: That's official.
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Speaker3: Them days, there was 12 hours a day working. Not eight hours.
Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker3: My dad worked 12 hours a day.
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Interviewer: Well, even when you started, what was the workday like then
when you started, in 1928?
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Vravel: Well, they they didn't have a security system as they do now. Our
ambulance calls had no radios. Now if you get in a car, everything is on
radio. You could speak to each other. They have monitors in the offices. If
I talk to you, they could hear me. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: Of course,
when you were in a car, you had a car number. And that's the man who will
answer the call. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: If I call you, I says K-G-3,
call, call three. And every car it's on that wavelength would of-- would
stay off when it just said-- You'd say, this is ten three. Go ahead.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: And we'd give the message and you'd say-- When I
got your message, I said ten four over and out. I acknowledged the same
way.
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Interviewer: What-- was one of the things you had to do when you were on
security, go around like, say, if fellows got hurt in accidents or
something like that.
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Vravel: Yep. Investigated thefts. Now the safety department investigates
accidents.
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Interviewer: When did all the safety stuff come in? Can you remember? I
mean, like when--.
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Vravel: Well, wehn when Dr. McCormick came there. He took a, walk through
the mills and all them shafts. You know what a shaft is? Interviewer: I'm
not sure. Vravel: The wheel with gears on it. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Vravel: None of 'em had shields on 'em. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: If
you were doing a job, then he put no locks on the switches. If you get
caught now on a job and the switch is on and no lock on then you go home,
that's it. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: In other words, they didn't want you
to do nothing when everything is in motion. If you're going to do any
repair work, you pull the switch and you put the lock on it. Interviewer:
Yeah. Vravel: Then you know you're safe. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Interviewer: But a lot of people used to get hurt in the old days.
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Vravel: One time we didn't walk undera [inaudible]. You were-- You were a
coward. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: If you walk underneath an ingot now or a
lift, why, you're gone. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: It-- I know when I used
to drive a car. We used to get five six, seven, eight eye cases, dirt in
eye. And when they enforce that-- goggles stuff. Interviewer: Yeah Vravel:
That dropped way down.
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Interviewer: So it did make a difference then.
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Vravel: Oh, now she made a lot of difference. Then they come out with
metatarsal shoes. You see these bones in your feet? Their metatarsal bones.
And they give that cover. Yeah, that name after that. So. In the mill now,
if you work, say, under a crane, you ain't even allowed to put your hand on
the lift. They use hooks. Now they have signs. We can replace hooks, but we
can't replace hands. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: And when they were building
the mills, it was nothing for a man each week to get killed. I remember
when they were building a structural mill. Say who-- You hear who got
killed? Yeah. Blah. So and so. There's nothing new to get killed in the
middle one time. Then that safety start creeping in. Now you ain't even
allowed to feed a pigeon on the street in a mill. You ain't allowed to
throw a paper bag. In the can-- You got to put it in a can and close it.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: Everything's sanitary now.
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Interviewer: Did the union have anything to do with that kind of stuff
or?
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Vravel: Well. Union proposes certain things, but the company has the final
say so. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: It was cheaper and better for the
company to have a safety.
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Interviewer: Yeah I suppose. Yeah.
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Vravel: And having some-- I've seen guys that take chances down there
trying to chain up the lift and get hurt and be off for 2 or 3 years and
run a company in a three, 4 or 5, 50, not 50,000, but $500,000 worth of
medical expense. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: I used to take one kid from
Homestead Medical Center to Shady Side Presbyterian for grafting and all
that. If he had to pay that we figure it out one day, it would run in the
hundreds of thousands and nothing but the best surgeons.
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Interviewer: Somebody that was hurt in the mill. Vravel: Yeah.
Interviewer: Burned or something.
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Vravel: And we used to have a West Penn Hospital. When somebody got hurt,
it was the police. They called them police. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: We
put them in the ambulance and they had to have a driver and a man attending
the patient. We used to strap them down sometime if they got out of order.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: And if it's a severe case, the doctor rode with
us. Interviewer: Mhm. Vravel: Because he needed equipment to work on, but,
we didn't have it. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: So we still use West Penn
Hospital. They used to have a ward there called the US Steel Ward.
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Interviewer: That was for all the people that got hurt, at uh--.
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Vravel: The whole area, in the valley. All steelworkers.
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Interviewer: What was the depression like in this area? Can you remember?
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Vravel: Well. They didn't send out gas bills, electric bills and water
bills then. Most of the cooking was done on a coal stove. Most of the
lighting was done by gas. You had gas lights in the house. Nobody had
telephones in the house. They'd send you one notice when you were a
delinquent on your bill. They wouldn't come bother you. They'd just put a--
ladder up against your house and cut the wires off. When they'd leave, they
had the-- neighborhood would go and put it right back.
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Interviewer: Yeah.
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Vravel: And in those days, during the Hoover days. They-- things are-- And
then the most of the people were shamed and get welfare then. They didn't
have welfare systems like they do now, but they gave out food once in a
while. Now, there's no one going to starve in this country now, no matter
what he is or what he does. Interviewer: Yeah.
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But people didn't like to take welfare, then, you don't think.
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Vravel: Had too much pride. Depression starts setting in during Herbert
Hoover's days. 28, 29, 30, and in the late 31s, Roosevelt was elected and
he took office in January 1932. First thing he done was he froze all the
money in the banks. Then, one good thing he's done here, he mocked up
prohibition. We all want to know what a bottle of beer looks like.
Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Vravel: My first bottle was a
silver top.
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Interviewer: You remember your first bottle of beer? Vravel: Yeah.
Interviewer: Huh.
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Vravel: You know how kids are. They-- they want to see what it tastes
like. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: They figure you're a man when you can take
a shooter back and a beer, then. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: There's no
place to loaf. They had no-- no radios and no TVs then. Also, the district
had about five theaters. And when you went into one of them, you had to
wait for an usher to find you a seat. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Yeah. So a lot of people went to the theater then for movies and stuff?
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Vravel: They had nothin' else to do.
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Interviewer: One of the few things to do.
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Vravel: Dancing and the theaters. Interviewer: Yeah. Where'd
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you dance?
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Vravel: I never danced. I played music.
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Interviewer: Now, you were in one of the bands then that went to these
places?
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Vravel: No, we had our own orchestras, but I never danced in my life. My
wife used to go to dances, but I-- I-- I was a different kind of a man. I
just enjoyed myself some other way. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Vravel: I
played at weddings and dances, but never cared to dance. Interviewer: Yeah.
Vravel: They had marathon dances in, where you danced. The reason they had
marathon dance is the young girls and boys had nothing to do. Interviewer:
Yeah. Vravel: They danced for a week or 2 or 3 weeks. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Well, how did people get by during the Depression if they didn't take
welfare and they were out of work?
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Vravel: Well, most of the people from Europe, they'd done all their baking
at home. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: And they made the eats. You'd see some
in pots it looked like in the army. Now you get a can get-- Everything's
instant now. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: You don't want to electric can
opener or you put the gas on. You turn it, it comes on. You want to go to
bathroom or get the warm water, you just push the button. It's all there.
Yeah.
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Interviewer: Well, you remember it as being different than that?
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Vravel: Oh, yeah. That [inaudible] your life now, because I remember how
it was. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: They're still living that way in Europe.
When my dad took us there for a couple of years, I couldn't live how I was
now when it was for nothing.
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Interviewer: So you were glad to go back to the US then, when you left.
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Vravel: Well, I was too young and dumb to know what it's all about yet.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: But my dad, he didn't see his father for 26
years. He was getting old and lonely. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: He said,
no matter what it cost me, he took the five boys, his wife and himself. I
remember when we got there, my dad, he cried like a kid. Didn't see his
father for 26 years. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: While we were leaving, it
was the same old story. Just like going to a funeral. You'll never see him
again.
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Interviewer: Yeah.
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Vravel: -- Same way on a boat. Took us nine days across the Atlantic. I--
I never smelled ocean water for, all them years. But if you took me near an
ocean, I could smell the water. You kidnapped me and blindfolded me, took
me on a on a boat on the ocean. I said we're on the ocean. Interviewer:
Yeah.
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Can you remember people like families helping each other during the
Depression?
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Vravel: That's how they got along.
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Interviewer: What kind of things?
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Vravel: Well. Say your father or mother was an invalid. They didn't know
what an old age home was in those days. Or send them away. Get rid of them.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: They took care of them. Was the families more
tied together then. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: If somebody needed help, he
got it. The-- members of the family have been lending you money to buy
something or, put a down payment on a mortgage and all that. Now
everything's legal. You want to get a loan on the house now, they
investigate you from A to Z. If you don't have one third, you're done. Say
you want to buy a home for 15,000. If you don't have 5000 cash, just forget
about it. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Vravel: In those days, why, you didn't
need one third down.
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Interviewer: And like a brother would help another brother get a home or
something. Vravel: Yeah, and
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Vravel: well in a family there's always feuds, but there's certain ones
that stick together. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Well, what about one family helping another family, though. Like during the
Depression? Say if the father is out of work or something like that. Did
that ever happen?
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Vravel: They were helping each other. Yeah. If some--
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Say you--. Speaker3: They used to carry boxes and they gave that powdered
milk and dried beans. Nothing worthwhile eating. They could put it up in a
wagon--.
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Vravel: I know when my mother was sick, she had friends that come over and
bring her stuff to eat.
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Interviewer: Yeah.
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Vravel: You don't have that now.
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Speaker3: They put your own cabbage up with a garden. Work was the biggest
thing in their life. They spend all their time making this gardens.
Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker3: And live on that.
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Vravel: They knew how to stretch a dollar, in other words. Interviewer:
Yeah. Vravel: Yeah. They know how to stretch a dollar. Speaker3: When I got
married.
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I could have got--. Vravel: This is what
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you call a metatarsal shoe. Interviewer: Huh? Vravel: That could absorb
half a ton if you drop one on it.
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Interviewer: I see what you mean.
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Vravel: You know, I seen them tryna to put the shoe on like they use in
the garden in France. Put your shoe there. Of course, your foot wouldn't be
in there, that drop all the way down there. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel:
They'd measure the impact. And that's a must now. You ain't not in the mill
with out 'em. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: You ain't allowed to work with out
of them.
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Interviewer: I've seen steel toed shoes, but I never saw that kind
before.
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Vravel: These are metatarsal. I put mine on the garbage can one day. I
didn't want to throw it in the garbage can. I put it on the can, and this
colored guy picks our garbage. He just grabs a look at 'em. Put it on the
front seat. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah.
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What about this town? How is that this-- this town of Homestead? How has
that changed? Vravel: Well--
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Speaker3: No city man, streets all dirt.
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Interviewer: At that time you mean Vravel: We
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had no postal service.
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Speaker3: We had mud. When spring time came, you had muddy kitchen. You
could have scrubbed it with a broom.
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Vravel: Well, I'll tell you how it was in those days. If it snowed in
November, that snowed later till springtime. They didn't have ash crews
Speaker3: And I lied on my
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Speaker3: Back side side of mine-- Vravel: They didn't
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have ash crews and everybody
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hollering.
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Vravel: You know, people hollering about salt the streets. They didn't
have that then. That's why you had-- We get cold weather now, but--
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Speaker3: When we got snow they didn't have these plows. But like he says,
when it starts snowing, you had until you got warm. It stayed-- It's more
on top. But we had the days sliding and sled riding. Interviewer: Yeah.
Speaker3: And most of these, like Schwab Street down here, was all uphills
and downhills till date. And all this was all empty.
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Speaker3: All this had--. Vravel: This town of Whittaker has a little
cemetery right in the center there. And Aaron Whittaker. This was his farm.
And that's where--. Interviewer: This whole town. Vravel: Yeah. That's
where they got the name Whittaker. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker3: They still
have
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that piece of ground where people from 17 or 15-- Vravel: Years
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ago, like, say, in-- Interviewer: 1700s. Vravel: 1700s, they didn't have
cemeteries. You buried people in your own lot. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Vravel: You take them rich dudes that-- They, uh-- They won't put 'em in a
cemetery. They'll put 'em in their own place. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Can you remember of neighborhoods being like, say, all one nationality,
like one neighborhood in Homestead being Polish? Vravel: You ever hear
the--
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Vravel: like seeks like. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Vravel: Well, I'll give you an idea. Hazelwood, they had scotch bottom. In
Amstead they had Slavonic people. Polish people. And stuff like that. They
seemed-- they go-- they went where their churches and schools were. They
lived in that area. In fact, you take all of your nationality, churches.
They built it themselves. The people contributed it. Interviewer: Yeah.
Vravel: And they build it. And there's a difference in the church There's a
sectional church where it's open for everybody. As long as you're of that
religion. Like, say Catholic, Protestant or Jew. Interviewer: Yeah Vravel:
I can go to this church here and move to Mexico and come back and I'll
still be a member here. Interviewer: Yeah.
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This is an ethnic church.
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Vravel: This is a our area church. Just like Saint Michael's church in
Homestead was built by the Slavs. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: And I know
people went to Europe, moved out of town, then became old and died. He
brought 'em back and buried them out of that church. No objection because
they're on the books.
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Interviewer: You said that your mom and dad took you back to-- to Europe
to live for a couple of years. Was that pretty common for people to go back
and forth, like, maybe get a little money? Vravel: No.
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They didn't have no money. The reason my dad, what prompted him to go is,
he didn't see his father for 26 years and he got that lonely feeling. He
sold the house and everything. He got passports for the kids and all that
said, away we're going. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: But those days they
didn't have money like they have now. Now, you-- you can get an airplane
now, go to New York. You're in Europe in two, three, four hours.
Interviewer: Yeah.
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It was pretty hard for people to go back then.
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Vravel: They didn't have no money. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Speaker3: I remember, in them days you could have went on twelve dollars
to Europe. Interviewer: Oh that's probably right. Yeah. Speaker3: And they
went maybe for 2 or 3 months before-- If you wanted
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Vravel: to go to Europe now, they charge you $15 from Pittsburgh to the
airport. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Vravel: And the taxi or whatever
conveyance they have there. In those days, there was no-- no time for
people getting in trouble. Everybody's working six, seven days a week and
overtime. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: In other words, they didn't know any
better. Then finally, like in US Steel, when a union organized, they fought
for six day a week. As they're renewing contracts down through the years
and they went for 40 hours a week. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: Now
everything over 40 hours now, is time and a half and a seven day is double
time. On holidays-- Those days, you got paid straight time. Interviewer:
Yeah. Vravel: Now if you're working on a holiday-- If you're working at
double time and a quarter. And if you're off, you get paid anyway. It was
all done through the union. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: Unions are a very
important thing for the working man. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: No matter
where you belong now, you wouldn't have a union behind you if you're
independent, why-- They just-- They just don't mix in with them, that's
all.
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.000
Interviewer: And people probably felt pretty strongly about it then, that
everyone should should join.
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Vravel: One time he mentioned union, you got fired.
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Interviewer: Can you remember that?
00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:22.000
Vravel: Yeah. Before they had the union. You get down you now, like, I've
got this boss. He said, Hey, I'm a busy man. I'll talk to you. Interviewer:
Yeah. Vravel: You better arrange for an appointment there, buddy.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: I got a complaint. You ain't treat my men right.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: I'll call that foreman in on the carpet and
raise all kinds of Haiti with him. Interviewer: Yeah.
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Because the union's pretty strong now.
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Vravel: Oh. Company couldn't operate without a union. The union could tie
them up in one minute. In other words, they must cooperate to get along.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: The company needs workers and the workers need
to work. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: So that's the way it breaks down.
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:51.000
Interviewer: But now I guess it's right in the contract that they don't
strike anymore or anything.
00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:10.000
Vravel: This contract we have now is a no strike clause. It's experiment
only. And it worked out all right. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: It worked out
all right. Because the other corporations and factories and mills, they're
following that pattern. Yeah, they're following that pattern now.
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Interviewer: You don't think it hurt to have the no strike clause? Vravel:
No.
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:28.000
You know how I know it? CIO President Abel said it doesn't. Interviewer:
Yeah. Yeah. Vravel: And he knows all about labor. Interviewer: Yeah.
00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:40.000
So before you went on the-- well, maybe even after when you-- when you
became a security officer then at the mill, were you in the union at that
time or wasn't the union--?
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:45.000
Vravel: There was no union until the late 30s.
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Interviewer: But did you say-- didn't you say you didn't become a security
man until 41? Vravel: 41. Interviewer: And before then you were actually
working in a mill?
00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:11.000
Vravel: They must have been organized in the early 40s. Because they a
picnic table in front of the gate and they were grabbing guys sign them up
and I was-- I had a uniform on. It must have been after 41.
00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:15.000
Interviewer: Maybe new people coming into the mill for war work or
something like that.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:41.000
Vravel: The way they have it now-- Say you were employed in US Steel. They
hand you a union card. If you don't sign it, I don't think they'll call you
in there. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: And they have a dues deduction.
Interviewer: Check off. Vravel: Check off. That's what this card is for.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: If you want to belong or not, you're a member.
Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: When you get your paycheck, it says only union
dues. Interviewer: Yeah.
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.000
It's a closed shop. Vravel: Yeah, it's
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:50.000
like Social Security. Same way. You can't tell me you don't want it. You'll
take it anyway.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:51.000
Interviewer: Yeah, that's right.
00:24:51.000 --> 00:25:39.000
Vravel: That's a good thing for the politicians. Interviewer: Yeah.
Vravel: They're going to work on that Social Security until they start a
new system. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: 10, 20 years from now, you know how
much the young kids will be getting from Social Security they pay into it.
They'll be getting a thousand a week to loaf. In other words, it's going to
creep in on-- a like now we have a-- Federal Pension Security. In other
words, if US Steel went bankrupt tomorrow I'll have to get my pension check
from the government. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Vravel: I'm protected. I got
a check yesterday. I'm making more money being off than working.
00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:42.000
Interviewer: That's a good deal. Vravel: Yeah. Interviewer: I think so.
Yeah.
00:25:42.000 --> 00:26:25.000
Vravel: Well, from 1938 till 1951, I checked it off on the-- You know how
much money I put in the Social Security? $320 in them years. Interviewer:
Yeah. Vravel: 1951 it would've started growing up. Interviewer: Yeah.
Vravel: Then, it started going up. Just like now. [Inaudible] and I are 62
when we started getting Social Security. Everything they took out of my
paycheck come out to $6,200 for Social Security. In the last two years, I
got 6000 back already. And I'll be-- I'll be riding it through, though.
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:30.000
Interviewer: Yeah.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:52.000
Vravel: That's same with the pensions. I'll show you what a pension check
looks like. [Crumpling paper] [Inaudible]. This I received through the mail
yesterday. That's a pension check. Do you know anybody can get one like
that for loafing?
00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:58.000
Interviewer: Not bad. No. This is for a month. Vravel: Yeah. Interviewer:
Yeah.
00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:01.000
Vravel: And he took out $20 income tax.
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.000
Interviewer: Yeah.
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:08.000
Vravel: That's for loafin. There's nothing wrong with working in the
Homestead steelworks.
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:11.000
Interviewer: Yeah, well, that's another change then
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:56.000
Interviewer: Because uhh-- Vravel: Each contract improved for the working
man. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: Each contract improves. And the next one
they're going to-- What they have in there now is, if you have 30 years in
there, regardless of age, you can leave. 30 years and you can leave when
you want to. Now they want for 20 or 25. They want a 20 year pension.
What'll happen there? They'll probably settle for 25 when it's all over.
Not to shut it down. That's how they do it. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: The
people are educated now. They're hard to handle. There's no-- no more
dummies.
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:03.000
Interviewer: So one difference maybe between now and the old days is that
people didn't realize what they could do before, but now-- Vravel: No.
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:15.000
I know a man who worked in the Homestead Steelworks, was called Carnegie
Illinois. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: He put 51 years and he had a $28 a
month pension.
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:17.000
Interviewer: Yeah, pretty bad.
00:28:17.000 --> 00:29:27.000
Vravel: Now for each your service starts at the first year is-- first 15
years is $12. Next 15 years is $13. And everything over 13 years is $14 for
each year of service, and no limit. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: One time
whenever you worked in the mill, they paid $2 for each year of service. And
when you're 35 years service, you quit. And quit. Now, if they quit on me
when I had 35 years, I'd have been losing all that time from from 35 to 46
years service. Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: I'd be losing close to a couple
hundred dollars right there. Union is a great thing. If we didn't have
organized labor, Why-- You'd go back 100 years ago. Interviewer: Yeah.
Yeah. Vravel: That's my opinion. I don't know how someone else feels about
it.
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:35.000
Interviewer: Well, was it hard for the union to get in here, do you think?
I mean, like you said, now the company realizes that they have to have the
union and they've got to work--.
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:43.000
Vravel: You mentioned joining union one time you were on a list. You're
undesirable for the corporation.
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:45.000
Interviewer: Did you know guys that that happened to.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:46.000
Vravel: Yeah, I worked with them.
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:47.000
Interviewer: Yeah.
00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:58.000
Vravel: They used to whisper. We're going to have a drive and this and
that. If you had a car, they were afraid to carry the work. They might
leave it in the locker and the boss would, finally, he's a union man.
Interviewer: Yeah.
00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:09.000
What seemed to like break this open? I mean, the guys seem so afraid, and
then after a while, they were able to just come out in the open and--.
Vravel: More education.
00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:11.000
Vravel: More education is what does it.
00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:15.000
Interviewer: What about when Roosevelt came in? Did that make any
difference when the government changed?
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:20.000
Vravel: That's when it start changing. He was in Homestead Steelworks.
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:21.000
Interviewer: He came here?
00:30:21.000 --> 00:31:21.000
Vravel: Yeah. And all the men in gentle labor. They all had white overalls
on and white gloves. You got caught throwing a match on the street you got
sent home? Interviewer: Yeah. Vravel: They're all hard. Hi, Rosie. Hi,
Rosie. They didn't have them mills built from. They call it [Inaudible].
Interviewer: Yeah. Down in Homestead district at, the government.
