Michael Karpa,
Local 1114 Business
Manager for 25 Years
CHICAGO
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| Michael Karpa |
Michael Karpa, who served the members of amalgamated UE Local 1114 as business manager for 25 years, died in April 2001 at
age 84.
Born in Pittsburgh, Karpa worked in construction, as a member of the Laborers Union, and for the Rochester Motor Coach
Co., as Teamster. He was secretary-treasurer of his local for four years prior to military service. Karpa served in the U.S. Army Air
Corps in North Africa during World War II. Following the war, he moved to Chicago, where he found work in the maintenance department of
the Brunswick Radio Corp., and membership in UE Local 1119.
He was president of Local 1119 in 1949 when he applied for a job as field organizer. He was on the national union staff
briefly in the early 1950s. Karpa became Local 1114 business manager in 1955, a position he held until 1980.
As business manager, he led negotiations with a number of companies, including Coach and Car, Goodman Equipment and
Honeywell. Karpa represented Local 1114 at numerous UE national conventions over the course of three decades. At the 1969 convention, he
spoke up in favor of training programs that assisted black workers moving into better-paid, highly skilled classifications.
UE News - 6/02
