Interview: UE General President Carl Rosen on the legacy of UE Hall.

Labor Express Radio

This is a special Labor Express Radio Interview: UE General President Carl Rosen on the legacy of UE Hall.

A few months ago UE General President Carl Rosen informed me that the union has decided to sell historic UE Hall at 37 S. Ashland. It was certainly not surprising. As Carl explains in the the interview, the Hall had begun its life in the early 20th century as a club for Chicago’s wealthy westside elite. As that elite abandoned the city mid century and South Ashland Ave. became a working class area, the union purchased the building in the 1940’s. But by the early 21st century the elite had returned and regentrification has transformed the area around UE Hall into a neighborhood of high priced condos and skyrocketing property taxes. It therefore only makes sense for the union, rather than pouring money into the ailing structure, sell it and re-invest those funds into building the union. It also makes sense to find a new home in one of Chicago’s remaining working class communities.

UE Hall has a place in the heart of anyone who has spent any time active in Chicago’s labor movement. It has been an organizing center for so many labor struggles in this city in the past seven decades; and not just those of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Few places have opened themselves up to hosting labor militants, radicals, social movement activists and others the way UE Hall has. There is also very much a personal history here as UE Hall has been home to both Labor Beat TV and Labor Express radio for our entire 30 year plus existence.

In this interview Carl Rosen discusses the history of the hall and describes the murals that decorate the buildings interior.