AFL-CIO. Joint Minimum Wage Committee

The AFL-CIO Joint Minimum Wage Committee was created on January 8, 1959, as a special committee of the AFL-CIO, operating under the general supervision of AFL-CIO president George Meany and charged with improving the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Twenty unions formed the committee; Andrew J. Biemiller, director of the AFL-CIO Legislative Department, and Arthur J. Goldberg, special counsel of the AFL-CIO, served as co-chairs. The committee was financed by its member unions, the AFL-CIO, and the Industrial Union Department. The staffs of the Public Relations, Research, Education, Legislative, and Publications Departments of the AFL-CIO provided support and the committee employed a small staff to coordinate support for the FLSA measure (the Kennedy-Morse-Roosevelt bill, S. 1046 and H.R. 4488, which proposed extending coverage of the federal minimum wage to 7.5 million new workers and raising it to $1.25 per hour).

The committee supported the production and distribution of educational and public relations materials among international unions and state and local central bodies. The committee also assisted member unions and central bodies with petitions and letter-writing campaigns and with arranging visits with U.S. Senators and Representatives.

Like the AFL-CIO Joint Minimum Wage Committee, the earlier Joint Minimum Wage Committee (AFL, CIO, 1955) also worked to extend coverage of and increase the minimum wage. This committee was under the directorship of Goldberg, who at the time was general counsel of the CIO. Also in leadership roles in the committee were Jacob S. Potofsky (president, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, CIO); David Dubinsky (president, International Ladies Garment Workers Union, AFL}; Emil Rieve (president, Textile Workers Union of America, CIO); and Alex Rose (president, United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, AFL). Working closely with the committee were the CIO's Fair Labor Standards Committee, chaired by the CIO's director of research, Solomon Barkin, and the Citizens Committee on the Fair Labor Standards Act, chaired by Mary Anderson and under the directorship of Wilbur H. Baldinger.