Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.). Files on the Committee for Industrial Organizations, 1935-1941, bulk 1935-1936. [microform].
Title:
Files on the Committee for Industrial Organizations, 1935-1941, bulk 1935-1936. [microform].
Consist of minutes, reports, correspondence, statements, and manuscripts relating to the early history of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) and to certain aspects of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, its successor. Specifically, this collection includes minutes of CIO meetings (1935-1936) covering the following subjects and issues: the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization; the need to organize workers in mass-production industries on an industrial basis; the naming of John Brophy as director of the CIO office in Washington, D.C.; relations with the American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.); the suggested need for modernization of A.F. of L. organizing policies to take into consideration modern industrial conditions; the Radio and Allied Trades National Labor Council rejection of the A.F. of L. Executive Council granting jurisdictional rights over radio workers to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (1936); the state of organizing efforts in steel, auto, and rubber industries; the 1936 strike against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio by the United Rubber Workers of America; invitations to bakery workers, brewery workers, hotel and restaurant workers, flat glass workers, and brick and clay workers to join the CIO. Other issues discussed in these minutes include central labor bodies and state labor organizations on industrial unionism; acceptance of the United Rubber Workers and the United Automobile Workers of America into the CIO; the condition of steel workers in processing and fabricating sectors of the industry; CIO organizers in auto, steel, and rubber industries; the efforts by the A.F. of L. to prevent CIO successfully organizing; the acceptance of the American Newspaper Guild into the CIO; refusal of the A.F. of L. Executive Council to accept CIO unions at the 1936 A.F. of L. convention at Tampa, Fla.; A.F. of L. President William Green's threats to suspend CIO unions from the A.F. of L. for allegedly fomenting dual unionism and John L. Lewis's response; and the settlement of the Camden, N.J. Radio Corporation of America Strike (1936). Also includes reports to the CIO by CIO Director John Brophy (1935-1936) covering the following subjects and issues: the educational activities of the CIO; requests for assistance from auto workers, rubber workers, steelworkers, radio and electrical workers, aluminum workers, and utility workers (1935); the state of organizing efforts in auto, steel, rubber and radio industries (1936); dissension within the United Auto Workers between A.F. of L. representative Francis Dillon and Homer Martin (1936); charges by Dillon that the CIO was attempting to split the A.F. of L. to satisfy a grudge of John L. Lewis; a demand by the International Association of Machinists for transfer of machinists in the auto industry; the 1936 United Rubber Workers' Strike at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio; growth of various local Committees for Industrial Organization, including those in Columbus, Ohio and Minneapolis, Minn.; and the question of soliciting support from central labor unions and state bodies. Other subjects include the role of CIO representatives Adolph Germer and Powers Hapgood in "follow-up" work in Akron after the Goodyear Strike (1936); plans for an organizing drive in the auto industry after the United Automobile Workers convention (1936); formation of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) (1936); William Green's revocation of charters of locals for having participated in the UE founding convention; the role of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers in steel organizing; the finances of the CIO; requests for assistance from maritime workers on the east and west coasts (1936); request for assistance from St. Louis retail workers, formerly members of the Retail Clerks International Protective Association, in response to anti-union activities of the Kroger Company and raiding by A.F. of L. craft unions. Other subjects include the settlement of the San Francisco shipyard strike (1936); A.F. of L. Executive Council demands that the CIO disband (1936); United Rubber Workers organizing in Gadsden, Ala.; anti-union activities in the Alabama industries of textiles, steel, iron, mining and coal; United Rubber Workers organizing in Detroit; referral to the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers of a request for assistance in organizing in the cement industry; fear of craft segregation in the cement industry; strife between the St. Louis Building Trades Council and the Quarry Workers International Union of North America; and request for aid by the Brotherhood of Brewery Workers in their struggle against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen and Helpers of America (1936). Includes, as well, correspondence from Charles P. Howard to William Green (1935) relating to the "paramount" importance of organizing unorganized workers; correspondence regarding the rights of minorities within the A.F. of L.; and discussions about the jurisdictional rights of extant unions and the question of dual unionism. Other correspondence includes that of Howard and John L. Lewis (1936) regarding suspension of CIO unions from the A.F. of L.; and of William J. Carney, regional director, CIO, to Sidney Hillman (1939) on factionalism within the United Automobile Workers and attempts by the Homer Martin faction to split the CIO. Additionally, includes numerous statements and replies to the A.F. of L. Executive Council by the CIO (1935-1936) relating to the following issues: charges by the A.F. of L. Executive Council that the CIO was fostering dual unionism; the necessity of organizing steelworkers along industrial lines; a request from the CIO to the A.F. of L. Executive Council to grant the Radio and Allied Trades National Labor Council a charter on an industrial basis (1936); and the necessity to hold an auto workers' convention (1936). Finally, includes a manuscript entitled "John L. Lewis and the C.I.O., July 11, 1941" (no author) dealing with the following issues: differences between Sidney Hillman, Jacob Potofsky and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) and John L. Lewis regarding Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Office of Production Management (OPM), the reality of a national emergency, and Lewis's support of Wendell Willkie in the 1940 presidential election; Lewis's animosity toward Franklin Roosevelt; Lewis's opinions about "Hitlerism" and the Tories in Britain; the May anti-strike bill; communists in the CIO; support by Potofsky and the ACWA for an anti-communist resolution at the 1940 CIO convention; Philip Murray on communists in the CIO; and allegations against Sidney Hillman, in his official capacity as a member of the OPM and the A.F. of L. Building Trades Department, relating to his activities regarding government contracts.
ArchivalResource:
1 partial microfilm reel : negative.
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