Germer left school at the age of eleven to work in the coal mines in Illinois, at a wage of sixty cents for ten hours; and in 1894, at the age of thirteen, he participated in his first strike with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).He took part in the Colorado mine strike of 1913-14, which culminated in the Ludlow massacre. During the 1920s and early 1930s he was a bitter opponent of John L. Lewis, and was a leader of rival faction within the UMWA. However, with the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO, later renamed the Congress of Industrial Organizations) in 1935, Germer joined Lewis,
and was one of Lewis's chief lieutenants in the organization of the rubber and automobile industries, contributing much to the extablishment of the infant CIO. In 1946-47 he represented the CIO in Paris as assistant secretary-generall of the World Federation of Trade Unions, in charge of colonial affairs. As CIO national representative for the West, Germer directed CIO activities for the states west of the Mississippi, was one of the CIO's top trouble-shooters in areas of Communist disruption, and often took over the office of CIO vice-president and director of organization when Allan S. Haywood was absent. Even after his retirement in 1955, Adolph Germer continued to serve the CIO on special assignments.
From the description of Adolf Germer. Papers, 1900-1966. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 122405361
