Committee for Industrial Organizations Minutes on Microfilm
Collection Number: 5418 mf
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
Committee for Industrial
Organizations Minutes on Microfilm, 1935-1936
Collection Number:
5418 mf
Creator:
Committee for Industrial
Organizations (CIO)
Quantity:
2 microfilm reels
Forms of Material:
Microfilm, manuscripts (documents), records
(documents), minutes (administrative records) .
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Consist of minutes, reports, correspondence, statements, and
manuscripts relating to the early history of the Committee for Industrial
Organization (CIO) and to certain aspects of the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, its successor.
Language:
Collection material in English
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), proposed by John L. Lewis in 1928,
was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United
States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Committee for Industrial Organization was
formed by the presidents of eight international unions in 1935. The presidents of
these unions were dissatisfied with the American Federation of Labor's unwillingness
to commit itself to a program of organizing industrial unions. In 1936, the A.F. of
L. suspended the ten unions which proceeded to organize an independent federation,
the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The CIO subsequently became the A.F. of
L.'s chief rival for the leadership of American unions. The groups were reunited in
1955 as the AFL-CIO.
Specifically, this collection includes minutes of CIO meetings (1935-1936) covering
the following subjects and issues: the formation of the Committee for Industrial
Organization; the need to organize workers in mass-production industries on an
industrial basis; the naming of John Brophy as director of the CIO office in
Washington, D.C.; relations with the American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.); the
suggested need for modernization of A.F. of L. organizing policies to take into
consideration modern industrial conditions; the Radio and Allied Trades National
Labor Council rejection of the A.F. of L. Executive Council granting jurisdictional
rights over radio workers to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(1936); the state of organizing efforts in steel, auto, and rubber industries; the
1936 strike against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio by the United
Rubber Workers of America; invitations to bakery workers, brewery workers, hotel and
restaurant workers, flat glass workers, and brick and clay workers to join the CIO.
Other subjects include the settlement of the San Francisco shipyard strike (1936);
A.F. of L. Executive Council demands that the CIO disband (1936); United Rubber
Workers organizing in Gadsden, Ala.; anti-union activities in the Alabama industries
of textiles, steel, iron, mining and coal; United Rubber Workers organizing in
Detroit; referral to the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers of a
request for assistance in organizing in the cement industry; fear of craft
segregation in the cement industry; strife between the St. Louis Building Trades
Council and the Quarry Workers International Union of North America; and request for
aid by the Brotherhood of Brewery Workers in their struggle against the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen and Helpers of America
(1936).
Includes, as well, correspondence from Charles P. Howard to William Green (1935)
relating to the "paramount" importance of organizing unorganized workers;
correspondence regarding the rights of minorities within the A.F. of L.; and
discussions about the jurisdictional rights of extant unions and the question of
dual unionism. Other correspondence includes that of Howard and John L. Lewis (1936)
regarding suspension of CIO unions from the A.F. of L.; and of William J. Carney,
regional director, CIO, to Sidney Hillman (1939) on factionalism within the United
Automobile Workers and attempts by the Homer Martin faction to split the CIO.
Additionally, includes numerous statements and replies to the A.F. of L. Executive
Council by the CIO (1935-1936) relating to the following issues: charges by the A.F.
of L. Executive Council that the CIO was fostering dual unionism; the necessity of
organizing steelworkers along industrial lines; a request from the CIO to the A.F.
of L. Executive Council to grant the Radio and Allied Trades National Labor Council
a charter on an industrial basis (1936); and the necessity to hold an auto workers'
convention (1936).
Finally, includes a manuscript entitled "John L. Lewis and the C.I.O., July 11, 1941"
(no author) dealing with the following issues: differences between Sidney Hillman,
Jacob Potofsky and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) and John L.
Lewis regarding Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Office of Production Management (OPM),
the reality of a national emergency, and Lewis's support of Wendell Willkie in the
1940 presidential election; Lewis's animosity toward Franklin Roosevelt; Lewis's
opinions about "Hitlerism" and the Tories in Britain; the May anti-strike bill;
communists in the CIO; support by Potofsky and the ACWA for an anti-communist
resolution at the 1940 CIO convention; Philip Murray on communists in the CIO; and
allegations against Sidney Hillman, in his official capacity as a member of the OPM
and the A.F. of L. Building Trades Department, relating to his activities regarding
government contracts.
A negative copy is available upon request.
Names:
Brophy, John, 1883-1963.
Carney, W. J. (William J.)
Dillon, Francis.
Germer, Adolph.
Green, William, 1870-1952
Hapgood, William Powers
Hillman, Sidney, 1887-1946
Howard, Charles P., -1969
Lewis, John L. (John Llewellyn), 1880-1969.
Martin, Homer (Warren Homer), 1902-1968
Murray, Philip, 1886-1952
Potofsky, Jacob S. (Jacob Samuel), 1894-1979.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano),
1882-1945
Willkie, Wendell L. (Wendell Lewis), 1892-1944.
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin
Workers
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
American Federation of Labor
American Newspaper Guild
Committee of Industrial Organization
Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.)
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
International Association of Machinists
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter
Workers
International Union of United Brewery, Flour,
Cereal, Soft Drink, and Distillery Workers of America
International Union, United Automobile Aircraft,
and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
International Union, United Automobile Workers
of America (C.I.O.)
Kroger Company
Quarry Workers' International Union of North
America
Radio and Allied Trades National Labor Council
Radio Corporation of America
Retail Clerks International Protective
Association
St. Louis Building Trades Council
United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of
America
United Rubber Workers of America.
Subjects:
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Strike, 1936.
RCA Strike, 1936.
Shipyard Strike, San Francisco, Calif., 1936.
Labor unions -- United States -- Political
activity.
Labor unions and communism -- United States.
Labor unions and international relations --
United States.
Dual unionism. United States.
Trade-unions. Iron and steel workers. United
States. Organizing.
Trade-unions. Retail trade employees. United
States. Organizing.
Trade-unions. United States. Minority membership.
Trade-unions. United States. Recognition.
Workers' education. United States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Microfilm.
Manuscripts (documents)
Records (documents)
Minutes (administrative records).
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Committee for Industrial Organizations Minutes on Microfilm #5418 mf. Kheel
Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University
Library.
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