The United Textile Workers of America was chartered in 1901 as an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. It was a charter member of the Committee for Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1935, and in 1937 was also one of the founding unions of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Once in the CIO in 1937, the UTWA was renamed the Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC) and then the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). In 1939, a small dissident faction of TWUA sought for and was allowed to re-affiliate with the AFL under the original name of UTWA. By the late 1940's and early 1950's, the UTWA was again a member of the CIO. In October 1952 the union re-aligned for the last time with the AFL, remaining with that labor organization until the AFL and CIO merged in 1955. In 1995-1996, the UTWA merged with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCWIU) (http://www.ufcw.org/about_ufcw/where_we_come_from/index.cfm). UTWA-Local 257 represented textile workers at various Erwin Cotton Mills plants in North Carolina and Mississippi. During the late 1940's-early 1950's, when UTWA re-affiliated with the CIO, UTWA Local 257 became TWUA Local 246. By 1954, when the Local re-aligned themselves with the AFL, they reverted to the name of UTWA Local 257, remaining Local 257 until it dissolved in 1986 following the closing of the last Erwin Mills plant by J.P. Stevens. Now defunct, UTWA-Local 257 was also a member of the Durham Building and Construction Trades Council. Erwin Cotton Mills was founded in 1892 by Benjamin R. Duke and William Allen Erwin in West Durham, North Carolina. A second mill was built in Duke (now Erwin), in Harnett County in 1903. In the late 1940's and early 1950's, at the height of its success, Erwin Mills (the company's name was shortened in 1950) comprised eight separate mill sites. Seven of the mills were Seven of the mills were in North Carolina and the eighth was in Stonewall, Mississippi. Mills 1, 4, and 6 were located in Durham, North Carolina; mills 2 and 5 were in Erwin; mill 3 operated as a finishing plant in Cooleemee, North Carolina and mill 7 was in Neuse, North Carolina. Over the years, Erwin Mills came under the control of different textile companies. In the 1950's the mills were acquired by Abney Mills of South Carolina. Later, the North Carolina based Burlington Industries acquired control of the company. By 1986 Burlington sold the mills to the J.P. Stevens Company and shortly thereafter, the last operational plant in West Durham was closed.
From the description of United Textile Workers of America Local 257 records, 1900-1986 (bulk 1940-1960) (Georgia State University). WorldCat record id: 191823410
