Jesse Prosten was born in 1912 in Brooklyn, New York, of a working-class family. After completing grammar school, he went to work to supplement the family income. He held several different jobs, eventually landing in Boston at a sausage plant which he helped organize in 1937. Chartered as Local 11 of the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee (PWOC), the local hired Prosten as its organizer. When PWOC became the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) in 1943, Prosten went to work for the International Union's Grievance Department. For many years, he served as Director of the Grievance and Contract Department and as a close advisor to UPWA President Ralph Helstein. He played a key role in the UPWA merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America (AMC&BW) in 1968 and was also on the AMC&BW/Retail Clerks International Union (RCIU) Merger Committee which formed the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). After UPWA merged with the AMC&BW, Prosten served as Co-director and then Director of the Packinghouse Division, a post he retained upon the creation of the UFCW. Prosten never held elective office in the UPWA but became a vice-president of the AMC&BW in 1972. He retired August 1, 1980.
