United Office and Professional Workers of America

The United Office and Professional Workers of America (UOPWA), a union of clerical workers largely in the private sector, was formed in 1937 by the merger of fourteen American Federation of Labor (AFL) white collar unions (most prominently the New York City-based Bookkeepers, Stenographers, and Accountants Union Local 124646) and nine independent unions, totaling 8,600 members. It quickly secured a charter from the newly-organized Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). UOPWA, whose membership was largely female, had some organizing successes in the 1930s and 1940s, in sectors of the workplace few of which had any history of unionization, including the office forces of a variety of small manufacturers, the insurance industry, banks and finance, and the direct-mail industry. By 1948, the union claimed 75,000 members in more than 100 locals in cities all over the United States (although it was strongest in the New York City area). But postwar internal disputes and political pressures brought about its destruction. The union included a substantial group of leftwing activists and sympathizers, and its leadership refused to sign affidavits--required by the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act-swearing that they were not members of the Communist Party. In 1950, it was expelled the CIO, which accused it of Communist domination. Shortly after its departure from the CIO, UOPWA merged with two other unions to create the Distributive, Processing, and Office Workers of America, but that organization did not endure more than 4 years. It was not until the 1970s that office worker organizing in the U.S. revived in the private sector.

From the guide to the United Office and Professional Workers of America Records, 1934-1946, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)