GRANITE CITY HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 1946

George Becker, a second-generation steelworker, was raised within a few yards of the Granite City steel mill where he went to work at age fifteen. He lived and loved the life of a steelworker from the first day in an open-hearth labor gang to the last day he served as International President.

George’s service to the Union, as a leader at every level, spanned more than four decades. Twice, his service to the Union was interrupted by his duty to his country--first, by a stint in the Marines at the end of World War II and again during the Korean War as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army.

It was not long before the leadership skills that he had displayed in the military would be put to use as he rose through the ranks of the United Steelworkers of America, becoming the Union’s sixth International President in 1993 and being re-elected in 1997. Prior to his election as President, George served two terms as International Vice President for Administration, having been elected to that position in 1985 and re-elected in 1989. He previously served as Administrative Assistant to Lynn Williams after Williams became International Secretary in 1977 and International President in 1983.

George first became active in the USWA as a member of Local 4804 at Dow Chemical’s rolling mill in Madison, Illinois where he worked as an inspector and was elected as the Local’s Treasurer, Vice President, and President successively.

In 1965 George was appointed International Staff Representative in District 34 and came to the International headquarters in 1975. As a staff technician in the Safety and Health Department, he was instrumental in establishing some of the first national health standards adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workers exposed to lead, arsenic and other toxic substances.

As International Vice President, George Becker chaired the USWA’s Aluminum Industry Conference and led the Union’s collective bargaining in the aluminum industry. He headed the Steelworkers’ organizing program and led major corporate campaigns, including the world-wide campaign against the Ravenswood Aluminum Corporation that achieved the historic firing of 1,300 permanent scab replacement workers and the return of 1,600 steelworkers after a 20-month lockout.

During George Becker’s Presidency, his major accomplishments included the reorganization of the Union’s U.S. districts to increase efficiency and political strength, the merger of the United Rubber Workers with the USWA in 1995, and the merger of the Aluminum, Brick and Glass Workers’ Union with the USWA in 1997. He was influential in the historic world-wide campaign that achieved a contract for 6,000 Bridgestone/Firestone members and the victorious settlement of the 10-month Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel strike. His leadership was responsible for the creation of the Union’s pioneering Rapid Response Program to lobby Congress, giving workers a stronger voice in Washington.

As an AFL-CIO Vice President, George chaired the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s key Economic Policy Committee. He served as an executive member of the International Metalworkers’ Federation and chairman of the World Rubber Council of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions. In addition, he was appointed by former President Clinton to the President’s Export Council and the U.S. Trade and Environmental Policy Advisory Committee. He serves as the Chairman of the Labor Advisory Committee to the United States Trade Representative and the Department of Labor, a position he was originally appointed to by President Clinton and later re-appointed to by President Bush.

George was appointed by Congress to serve as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Deficit Review Commission, which reported to Congress in 2000. George is currently a member of the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission, chartered by Congress to study and report on issues, including trade, between China and the United States, as well as China’s military expansion, its threat to Taiwan and its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear proliferation to rogue nations and terrorist states.