22 Facts About Herman Benson

Herman William Benson was an American union reformer and machinist, who founded and led the Association for Union Democracy, based in Brooklyn, New York.

Herman Benson fought corruption and racketeering within unions, defended rank-and-file union members' rights, and advocated union democracy for over 60 years.

Herman Benson's parents were Lilian and Samuel Benson, who owned a showroom for Studebaker automobiles in Washington Heights.

At the age of fifteen, Herman Benson joined the Young People's Socialist League.

In 1933, Herman Benson was one of 20 students expelled from the City College of New York, for participating in an anti-war protest against the campus ROTC during his sophomore year.

Herman Benson went on to have a 20-year career as a skilled toolmaker, and worked in Detroit and New York.

Herman Benson became a party organizer and was an associate editor of its newspaper, Labor Action.

From 1962 to 1980, Herman Benson worked part-time for the American ORT Federation, a Jewish vocational organization, as a machinery consultant, purchasing director, and contract administrator for its federally funded programs.

Herman Benson spent over 60 years as a leader in the union democracy movement, serving as its "chief spokesman".

Herman Benson first got involved in union reform issues in 1958, when he tried unsuccessfully to help two dissident Machinist Union members get reinstated, after they were expelled for having distributed handbills questioning the financial practices of their local union business agent.

In early 1960, Herman Benson recruited Yale law professor Clyde Summers to help organize the legal committee for the two dissident machinists in one of the first cases to be filed under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, which Summers had helped to draft.

Legal scholar Michael J Goldberg wrote, "Clyde Summers and Herman Benson spent the rest of their careers working together as the leading figures in the union democracy movement, with Summers providing the legal expertise and Benson providing the street smarts, organizing and fundraising skills, and willingness to work for a pittance".

From 1960 to 1972, Herman Benson published his newsletter Union Democracy in Action to encourage reform-minded union members and build support among union activists and intellectuals.

Herman Benson independently confirmed the allegations, and organized support for Schonfeld as he ran for union president, lost, and was expelled, until his expulsion was overturned in court.

Herman Benson chronicled the efforts of Dow Wilson, a local union secretary in the Painters Union in San Francisco, who was assassinated in 1966 after defeating union officials who had attempted to sabotage a painters' strike the previous year and accused Wilson of slander.

In 1969, Herman Benson founded the Association for Union Democracy, a non-profit organization, and asked Summers to join as an active member of its Board of Directors.

Controversially, Herman Benson supported government intervention in the form of lawsuits against the Teamsters and other organizations, filed under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

From 1972 onward, Herman Benson's newsletter was known as Union Democracy Review.

Herman Benson continued editing the newsletter, even after stepping down as executive director of the AUD in 1996.

In 2004, Herman Benson published Rebels, Reformers, and Racketeers: How Insurgents Transformed the Labor Movement, his account of AUD history, including its work with dissidents and reformers in fighting corruption across multiple unions.

Herman Benson was married to his wife Revella for 50 years, and had two children.

Herman Benson died in Brooklyn on July 2,2020, at the age of 104.