AFT Executive Council Transcript of Hearing of Local 537, 1941
Collection Number: 5020
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
AFT Executive Council Transcript of Hearing of Local 537, 1941
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5020
Abstract:
Hearing of Local 537, the New York College Teachers Union, on notice by the Executive
Council re revocation of its charter: transcript of record.
Creator:
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Quanitities:
0.33 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was started in Chicago, with eight locals
signing on as AFL president Samuel Gompers welcomed the union into its fold in 1916.
AFT grew quickly in the beginning, chartering 174 locals in its first four years.
The years following World War I saw school boards pressuring and intimidating teachers
to resign from the union.
As membership dropped in the 1920s, the union continued to fight for tenure laws
and academic freedom of the teachers whose beliefs were being investigated by political
committees during the 'Red scare" hysteria following WWI.
The Depression years were not much better, low salaries and economic insecurity were
issues needing attention. Female teachers found themselves faced with "contracts which
still stipulated that an employed teacher must wear skirts of certain lengths, keep
her galoshes buckled, not receive gentleman callers more than three times a week and
teach a Sunday School class," said the American Teacher magazine. In some cases teachers
were dismissed for joining the AFT or for working on school board election campaigns.
By 1932, the Norris-La Guardia Act outlawed yellow dog contracts, which made teachers
promise not to join the union.
Starting with WWII the AFT worked hard to push war bond sales, war relief and air
raid programs in schools. After the war the AFT continued to fight to improve the
conditions of the schools and their teachers.
In the 1950s, loyalty oaths started up again. The AFT continued work on the civil
rights movement, filing an amicus curiae brief in the historic 1954 Supreme Court
desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and expelling locals that
had not followed an earlier mandate to desegregate.
During the 1960s, besides fighting for civil rights, the AFT and its affiliates worked
at getting collective bargaining agreements with stubborn school boards. Also the
first major strike by university professors in the United States and a one-day walkout
by the United Federation of Teachers in New York City took place. Over 300 teacher
strikes occurred throughout the country during the 10 years following the UFT's walkout.
The national AFT grew from less than 60,000 members in 1960 to over 200,000 by the
end of the decade.
Hearing of Local 537, the New York College Teachers Union, on notice by the Executive
Council re revocation of its charter: transcript of record.
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INFORMATION FOR USERS
AFT Executive Council Transcript of Hearing of Local 537 #5020. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Names:
American Federation of Teachers
American Federation of Teachers. Local 537 (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
Teachers' unions -- New York (State) -- New York
Teachers -- New York (State) -- New York
Labor unions and communism -- New York (State) -- New York
CONTAINER LIST
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Container
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Description
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Date
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| Box 1 |
Transcript of Record
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1941 | |
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Scope and Contents
February 16, 1941
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