Israel Kugler (June 13, 1917 – October 1, 2007) was a noted American professor of sociology. In the 1960s, he helped organize faculty at a number of New York City-area colleges and universities into labor unions. He co-founded the Professional Staff Congress, a union of faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY) which now represents more than 20,000 faculty and staff members at the university.
Early life
Kugler was born on June 13, 1917, to Philip and Anna (Senitzer) Kugler. He and his sister were raised in a liberal Jewish home in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from City College in 1938. He took an active interest in socialist and Jewish politics, often spending entire days in "the counterpart of a floating crap game—only our dice were political arguments on all issues affecting the world."
He served in the United States Navy during World War II and returned to school to earn a doctorate in sociology at New York University.
Kugler married the former Helen Barkan in 1941. They had two children, Daniel and Philip.
Union career
Kugler became a professor of social science at New York City Community College, where he earned a reputation as a skilled classroom educator. He also became heavily involved in labor politics in the city, and supported organizing drives for many unions. Kugler joined the United Federation of College Teachers (UFCT), Local 1460 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Kugler eventually was elected president of the union, which had been founded in 1935.
Kugler was a leader among a group of AFT delegates who sought to force the national union to end its practice of chartering segregated locals. The union had amended its constitution in 1953 to bar segregated locals, but had done little to enforce the provision. In 1954, Kugler and others demanded that the union suspend the charters of locals that barred black teachers from membership. Although a resolution passed, president Carl J. Megel and other national union officers argued that the resolution and constitution provision did not "require" suspension. The following year, Kugler led the anti-segregation forces in yet another resolution battle, which led to passage of a policy which unequivocably required ejection of locals which discriminated on the basis of race. A number of locals in the Deep South withdrew from the union rather than be suspended, including Local 89 in Atlanta (the first AFT local where 100 percent of the teachers in the bargaining unit had joined the local). In all, the AFT lost close to 5 percent of its membership.