Pennsylvania Federation of Labor

A Pennsylvania State Branch of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in 1890, but it failed four years later. The Pennsylvania Federation of Labor (PFL) was chartered as a state branch of the AFL in 1902 and achieved considerable strength under James H. Maurer, its president from 1912 to 1928. The organization was crippled by the establishment of the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) in the late 1930s, with most of its member unions leaving to join the CIO. Another prominent president, James L. McDevitt, rebuilt the PFL from 28 affiliates at his inauguration in 1938 to 1,438 affiliates in 1954, when McDevitt retired and Joseph McDonough assumed the presidency. The AFL and CIO merged nationally in 1955, but only in 1960, after five years of dispute, did the state organizations also merge, initially under the co-chairmanship of Joseph F. Burke, an AFL building trades leader, and Harry Boyer, a CIO steel worker official.

From the description of Pennsylvania Federation of Labor records, 1913-1965. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 432051516