United Steelworkers (USW). (2005-)

Variant names

Dates:

Active 1906

Active 1984

History notes:

The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, more commonly called United Steelworkers (USW) is a general trade union with members across North America. USW was established May 22, 1942 in Cleveland, OH with Philip Murray as founder and first president.

Between 1944 and 2004, ten other unions would join USW: the Aluminum Workers of America (June 1944); the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (1967); the United Stone and Allied Product Workers of America (1971); the International Union of District 50, Allied and Technical Workers of the United States and Canada (1972); the Upholsterers International Union of North America (1985); the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America (URW) (1995); the Aluminum, Brick and Glass Workers Union (ABG) (1996); the Canadian Division of the Transportation Communications International Union (1999); the American Flint Glass Workers' Union (AFGWU) (2003); and the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA Canada) (2004).

In 2005, USW announced its merger with the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE).

PACE had formed in 1999 through the merger of the United Paperworkers' International Union (UPIU) (1972-1999) and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW) (1918-1999). OCAW got its name on March 4, 1955 through the merger of the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) and the United Gas, Coke, and Chemical Workers of America (UGCCWA) [UGCCWA was formerly the United Mine Workers of America]. OCAW was founded in 1918 as the International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well, and Refinery Workers of America before changing its name in 1937 to the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU). Similarly, the UPIU got its name on August 9, 1972 through the merger of the United Papermakers and Paperworkers (UPP) (1957-1972) and the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (IBPSPMW) (1906-1972). IBPSPMW had spun off from the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers (IBPM) in 1906. In 1958 it abosrbed the United Wall Paper Craftsmen of North America and in 1964 many of the West Coast members left to form the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers.

The United Papermakers and Paperworkers (UPP) was established on March 6, 1957 from a merger between the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers (IBPM) (1893-1957) and the United Paperworkers of America (UPA) (1947-1957). UPA was initially part of the United Paper, Novelty, and Toy Workers' International Union, but was spun off on January 1, 1944 as the Paper Workers' Organizing Committee before being re-charted on October 27, 1947 and becoming the UPA. IBPM began in Holyoke, Massachusetts as a social club in 1884 before being charted by the American Federaion of Labor on May 19, 1893 under the name United Brotherhood of Papermakers. In 1897 it added "of America" to its name and in 1898, the machine tenders left to form the International Paper Machine Tenders' Union (IPMTU), but rejoined in 1902 when the union renamed itself as the IBPM.

Since the merger with PACE in 2005, USW has also become affiliated with the Independent Oil Workers Union of Aruba (September 2006) and in April 2007 USW merged with the Independent Steelworks Union. On July 2, 2008 the USW merged with the UK union Unite (which resulted from the merger of the United Kingdom's second-largest trade union, Amicus, and the British Transport and General Workers Union).

USW also has alliances with several unions including the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the United Transportation Union (UTU), and the Canadian Region of the Communications Workers of America. It also has a "Blue-Green Alliance" with the Sierra Club to pursue a joint public policy agenda.