Minutes ofthe Executive Council of the

American Federation of Labor,1893–1955

Part 2. 1925–1955(with Vote Books, 1925–1954)

Research Collections in Labor StudiesGeneral Editor: Melvyn Dubofsky

A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of

A microfilm project ofUNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA

An Imprint of CIS4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389

Project Coordinator and Guide compiled byRandolph Boehm

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Copyright © 1996 by University Publications of America.All rights reserved.ISBN 1-55655-378-1.

Minutes of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor[microform].

microfilm reels. — (Research collections in labor studies)“Microfilmed from the holdings of the George Meany Memorial

Archives.”Accompanied by printed guide, compiled by Randolph H. Boehm,

entitled: A guide to the microfilm edition of Minutes of theExecutive Council of the American Federation of Labor.

Contents: pt. 1. 1893–1924 (with vote books, 1892–1924).pt. 2. 1925–1955 (with vote books, 1925–1954).

1. American Federation of Labor. Executive Council—Archives.2. Labor movement—United States—History—20th century—Sources.3. Trade-unions—United States—Political activity—History—20thcentury—Sources. I. Boehm, Randolph. II. American Federation ofLabor. Executive Council. III. George Meany Memorial Archives.IV. University Publications of America (Firm) V. Title: Guide tothe microfilm edition of Minutes of the Executive Council of theAmerican Federation of Labor. VI. Series.[HD8055.A5]331.88'32'0973—dc20 95-11377ISBN 1-55655-377-3 (microfilm : pt. 1) CIPISBN 1-55655-378-1 (microfilm : pt. 2)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... vScope and Content Note .................................................................................................................... xxiiiEditorial Note ....................................................................................................................................... xxviiSource Note ........................................................................................................................................... xxviiAbbreviations ....................................................................................................................................... xxix

Reel IndexMinutes of the Executive Council

Reel 1February 4, 1925–May 10–17, 1927 ...................................................................................... 1

Reel 2May 10–17, 1927 cont.–October 18, 1929 ............................................................................ 3

Reel 3January 8, 1930–February 12, 1932 ...................................................................................... 6

Reel 4July 12, 1932–January 29–February 14, 1935 ...................................................................... 8

Reel 5January 29–February 14, 1935 cont.–January 29, 1936 ..................................................... 10

Reel 6May 5–November 29, 1936 ................................................................................................... 11

Reel 7February 8, 1937–February 8, 1938 ...................................................................................... 13

Reel 8April 25, 1938–March 23, 1939 ............................................................................................. 14

Reel 9May 10, 1939–September 30–October 10, 1940 .................................................................. 16

Reel 10September 30–October 10, 1940 cont.–May 13–22, 1942 .................................................. 17

Reel 11May 13–22, 1942 cont.–January 17–27, 1944 ...................................................................... 19

Reel 12January 17–27, 1944 cont.–October 15–24, 1945 ................................................................ 20

Reel 13October 15–24, 1945 cont.–September 13, 1947 ................................................................. 22

Reel 14January 26 , 1948–January 30–February 7, 1950 ................................................................ 25

Reel 15January 30–February 7, 1950 cont.–November 25, 1952 .................................................. 27

Reel 16February 2, 1953–May 2–4, 1955 .......................................................................................... 29

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Reel 17May 2–4, 1955 cont.–December 1, 1955 .............................................................................. 31

Executive Council Vote BooksReel 17 cont.

January 1925–July 1929 ......................................................................................................... 32Reel 18

July 1929–September 1935 .................................................................................................... 32Reel 19

September 1935–September 1954 ........................................................................................ 32

Subject Index ........................................................................................................................................ 33

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INTRODUCTION

In 1886, the founding convention of the American Federation of Labor (AFL)elected five men to lead an organization of fewer than two hundred thousandmembers. Sixty-nine years later, on the eve of another convention, nineteen men—seventeen vice presidents, a secretary treasurer, and President George Meany—studied the proposed constitution of the unified American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and discussed whether it met theneeds of the federation membership, now numbering well over nine million. TheAFL had grown from a weak and financially strapped organization, whose prospectsof surviving its first year seemed dim, to a large, well-funded bureaucracy andinfluential political lobby.

During the period in which the United States became the world’s leadingindustrial power, home to the international economy’s leading megacorporations,and the globe’s dominant power, the AFL alone claimed to speak for and representAmerican workers. Despite recurrent challenges from more radical and revolutionaryorganizations on its left, only the AFL survived the periodic economic depressionsand spasms of political repression to embody the broader interests of Americanlabor. Even after another national labor center, the Congress of IndustrialOrganizations (CIO), emerged in 1935 as a competitor, the AFL withstood this newchallenge to its hegemony in the labor movement.

From 1886 to 1955, the AFL discussed and acted on virtually all the majorproblems confronting American labor, most often through its Executive Council.The council directed the process by which labor’s agenda was set, and it led the driveto overcome legal and legislative obstacles to union success. As the centralcoordinating body for the federation, the Executive Council interpreted the AFLconstitution and implemented convention decisions. In the minutes of councilmeetings and in its vote books (which contain the decisions of council members onmatters arising between meetings, along with related correspondence and supportingdocuments), the researcher finds unique and important insights into the growth,transformation, successes, and failures of the modern American labor movement.1

The survival of the AFL in its difficult first years resulted in large part from thework of the Executive Council, in particular the diligent and committed efforts of itspresident, Samuel Gompers. Those who served on the council found themselvesdivided between service to the particularistic needs and interests of their own craftand service to an organization that asked them to put aside narrower concerns. Thistension, clearly evident in council records, persisted from the founding conventionof the federation to the 1955 merger with the CIO.

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In the late nineteenth century, skilled workers who formed craft unions enjoyedthe greatest success of those building labor organizations. Whether printers, plumbers,glassblowers, machinists, or of other skilled trades, they possessed abilities theiremployers could not do without. Their relative scarcity in the labor market and theirirreplaceability gave them bargaining power. The unions that they formed admittedmembers based on their skill, not on who employed them or in which industry theytoiled. Such realities prompted the craft unions to seek firmer control of the labormarket in order to maintain wages, set the pace of work, and regulate mechanization.While the separate crafts had common interests (such as reducing the hours oflabor), protection of its own trade was each craft’s most basic concern. Sectionalismundermined the ability of the various crafts to cooperate and had even caused thedisintegration of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, immediatepredecessor to the AFL. The rise of the Knights of Labor in the 1880s constituted afundamental challenge to craft beliefs and trade union organization. Opposition tothe Knights of Labor was a cause around which trade unionists could rally. Leadingthe fight against the Knights was, indeed, the most immediate and important taskfor the Executive Council during the AFL’s first decade.

By December 1892, when the official records of the Executive Council begin, thefederation had established itself as a forum for coordinating national drives toreduce the hours of labor and other such union activities. It used its limited financialresources to organize workers who lacked a national craft union into directlyaffiliated local unions and to assist national unions in their labor struggles. Thefederation advised new national unions on how to become self-sustaining. Itpublicized the names of firms that discriminated against union labor and urgedworkers to boycott those companies.

Centralizing authority and establishing routine procedures soon occupied thecouncil’s attention. The effects of this process are perhaps most clearly evident in thepolicies adopted for the directly affiliated federal labor unions (FLUs), over whichthe council had direct control.2 By the mid 1890s, the council had set up proceduresby which it investigated boycott requests from its directly affiliated unions, offeringthe firm accused of unfair practices a chance to present its case or correct thedifficulty. FLUs sent their negotiated wage scales to the Executive Council forapproval. Local unions also had to follow specified steps to receive strike support.Prior to authorizing benefits, council members would investigate the situation anddetermine if a strike was justified and if the demands were reasonable. This sort ofpolicing prevented what federation leaders saw as ill-advised job actions so commonamong the newly organized and less-skilled workers. Without such controls, theExecutive Council feared that its unions would gain a reputation for reckless actionsand extravagant demands. The Executive Council’s persistent monitoring of theFLUs provides a wealth of information on wages and hours in different trades andlocalities, specific labor conditions and job descriptions, and the numbers of unskilledworkers organized in unions.3

The process of centralizing control and professionalizing labor leadership grewapace. As stability and security became their primary concerns, many nationalunions also reduced the autonomy of local branches. Formal written contracts

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became more common, and efforts to achieve national trade agreements proliferated.Gompers and other Executive Council members participated in the National CivicFederation and worked to convince businessmen that unionization would benefitthem, since organized workers would be more responsible. The tendency of theExecutive Council to portray unions as a stabilizing factor and “marketing unionismto business,” often associated with William Green’s presidency of the AFL, actuallybegan years before Gompers’ death in 1924.4

Finances were always a sore point for the Executive Council. Most unions werereluctant to aid other organizations in their strikes or organizing drives. Althoughthe council had the power to call mandatory assessments to support specificobjectives, it rarely did so because such assessments were unpopular. Calls forvoluntary contributions were less unpopular, primarily because they could beevaded. When a union was in serious financial trouble and could not pay its percapita dues to the federation, it risked losing its representation at the convention. Insuch instances, the Executive Council could forgive the debt or donate funds, as itdid for the coal miners in 1894, 1922, and 1928, the ladies’ garment workers in 1904and 1905, and the textile workers in 1924. The council sometimes denied aid requestson financial grounds, but refusal might also be a subtle but effective way to conveyits disapproval of an affiliate’s strategy or stance on a particular issue. When turningdown the aid requests of unions with low membership dues, for instance, Gompersurged the organizations to raise their dues and set up a defense fund as a means ofbecoming financially self-supporting.5

As part of its efforts to maintain unity within the labor movement, the ExecutiveCouncil urged affiliates to settle amicably their disagreements about where theauthority of one union ended and that of another began. These jurisdictionalconflicts were most common in closely related crafts or after technological innovationaltered the work process. Rapid growth in an industry controlled by a weak unionmight also lead to conflict, as more powerful unions tried to seize control of the field.Likewise, in times of contraction, unions fought each other to keep their ownmembership employed in a shrinking economy. Conflicts over jurisdiction werecommon; they were also among the most intractable of the problems faced by theExecutive Council.

One early clash came between the printers and the machinists, over who wouldcontrol the linotype machine. The typographical union used its members’ skill andleverage in the industry to force machinists to join the printers’ union or lose theirjobs. The printers challenged the Executive Council’s authority to intervene, andthey refused to obey any decision that went against them.6 This instance was notunique. The power of the council to regulate jurisdictional conflicts was limited. Itcould merely arrange and mediate conferences between disputants. When itsuggested compromises, it always tried to avoid infringing on the highly valuedautonomy of national affiliates. Solutions to jurisdictional disputes were frequentlyshort-lived, with one or both of the contending parties ignoring or reinterpretingagreements reached after months or years of discussion. If negotiations failed, theExecutive Council could do little to compel a powerful union to respect thejurisdiction of a weaker one.

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In some cases, the council determined that the best solution to a serious andpersistent jurisdictional conflict was amalgamation of the contending parties. As thework done by the plumbers’ and steamfitters’ unions became more similar after1900, both the council and the AFL convention decided that amalgamation was theonly answer. The steamfitters resisted, insisting on the distinctiveness of their craft.In this case, the AFL resorted to drastic action, expelling the steamfitters for refusalto amalgamate and for organizing general pipe fitters who rightly belonged to theplumbers.7

One of the longest and most convoluted of the many jurisdictional disputes thatcame before the council occurred in the brewing industry. When the brewers’ unionentered the federation in 1887, it did so as an industrial organization that claimedjurisdiction over all workers in breweries, regardless of their skills or occupationaltitles. This caused conflicts with various craft unions. In 1898, the Executive Councilmade the first in a long series of decisions against the brewers’ union, and in 1900it instructed the union to cease organizing operating engineers and stationaryfiremen in breweries. The brewers tenaciously defended their jurisdiction. Theirunion was powerful and influential, especially in the Midwest, and was able topressure employers to hire only its members. By 1904, both the engineers’ andfiremen’s unions demanded the revocation of the brewers’ charter. At first theExecutive Council opposed such action, but gradually a majority shifted its position.Comments in the vote books in early 1907 reveal deep divisions within the councilover the proposed suspension. The council revoked the brewers’ charter in June1907. Gompers, however, had consistently opposed such a measure and led asuccessful drive to restore the charter at the next convention.

After a few years of relative calm, a new conflict arose in the brewing industry.This time the contest concerned the teamsters’ union, which sought control overbrewery drivers. The Executive Council, in an ambiguous 1913 decision, stated thatmost brewery drivers wanted to stay in the brewers’ union, and it saw “nojustification for the transfer of these men.” A showdown seemed likely, had notProhibition intervened. Although given jurisdiction over soft drink and yeastworkers in an effort to save their organization, the brewers’ union dwindled duringthe 1920s. With the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933, the fight with theteamsters resumed. The brewers pleaded with the Executive Council to sustain the1913 decision. But times had changed; the brewers were weaker, the teamstersstronger. The Executive Council awarded jurisdiction to the teamsters, and theconvention upheld its decision. The brewery workers not only refused to abide bythe ruling but also got a court injunction to prevent the council from suspendingthem for noncompliance. As soon as the injunction was lifted and the brewers’appeal to the Supreme Court had failed, the Executive Council suspended the union.The brewers remained outside the AFL, eventually joining the CIO in 1946.8

Involvement in international activities was limited in the first decades of federationhistory. In 1903, the Executive Council financed a trip by leading West Coastunionist Ed Rosenberg to Hawaii, China, Japan, and the Philippines. Rosenberg’slengthy reports provide an interesting look into labor conditions and union activity,particularly in the Philippines.9 Other than exchanging fraternal convention delegateswith the British Trades Union Congress, the AFL did not regularly attend European

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labor conferences until 1909. In that year, it joined the International Secretariat,which in 1913 became the International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). At theconclusion of World War I, which had torn the old IFTU apart, European unionistsreconstituted it. Although the AFL attended the new IFTU’s first convention, itwithdrew from participation within a year, charging it with forcing members tosupport a “revolutionary viewpoint.”10 Despite repeated entreaties and assurancesof their noncommunism by IFTU leaders, the AFL did not rejoin until the late 1930s.Federation involvement with Latin American trade unionists was also sporadic.Santiago Iglesias became the first AFL organizer in the region, sent to Puerto Ricoin 1900. The federation helped organize Puerto Rican agricultural laborers andfinancially aided their strikes.11 In early 1917, the AFL led the formation of a PanAmerican Federation of Labor, which for several years functioned as an investigativebody, exposing labor abuse throughout Latin America. After Gompers’ death,however, it quietly disappeared from the scene. Not until 1948 did the AFL helpfound a successor organization, the Inter-American Confederation of Workers.

The Executive Council had little patience with organizations that distractedworkers from day-to-day struggles or promised alternatives to “business unionism.”Irritation turned to confrontation when more radical organizations sought toinfluence AFL unions. Although socialists inside the federation sought to winconverts, the Executive Council remained skeptical of radicalism. The councilseemed to have even less tolerance for syndicalism, seeing it as the absurd notion ofa few intellectuals without experience in the labor movement or the machinationsof discredited former unionists seeking new power bases. It dispatched anobserver-spy to the founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World(IWW) in June 1905. This observer sent in reports of the week-long gathering,including a list of all the federation affiliates and other unionists present. His colorfulaccount of the proceedings detailed the multiple divisions that tore the IWW apart.From the standpoint of the Executive Council, which had no interest in seeing therival organization succeed, it was just as well that their observer was able to reportthat the IWW convention saw the “fantastical” schemes of men who knew nothingof union organization win out over more practical and constructive ideas.12

Most members of the Executive Council believed that partisan political involvementwould divide and weaken the federation. Nonpartisanship, however, did not meanpolitical inaction; the AFL persistently lobbied for specific pieces of legislation. Inthe 1890s, the federation supported the passage of an eight-hour law for governmentemployees and enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act. After the AFL headquartersmoved to Washington, D.C., in 1897, federation activity in support of legislation andof politicians favorable to labor increased and became formalized. The federationestablished a legislative committee. By the turn of the century, Executive Councilmembers met regularly with political leaders. In the election of 1906, the AFLmanaged a coordinated drive to defeat enemies of labor. As a general rule, councilmembers primarily sought legislation that liberated labor from judicial regulation.For instance, the federation lobbied for legislative relief from the use of injunctionsagainst labor unions, centering its efforts on revising the antitrust law. MostExecutive Council members, along with many federation affiliates, preferred tonegotiate with employers directly and desired minimal government intervention in

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labor-management relations. This approach to politics, which came to be known andcharacterized as “voluntarism,” asserted that unions needed neither paternalisticintervention to protect them nor interference in their ability to negotiate freely.

Organized labor’s preoccupation with judicial intervention against unions wasrooted in its own experience. Two cases in particular took up a considerable amountof the time, energy, and financial resources of the federation. In 1902 the UnitedHatters of North America began a boycott of Loewe and Company in an effort topressure the firm into unionizing. This boycott was declared illegal under theSherman Anti-Trust Act, and the union was ordered to pay treble damages to thefirm. The case was not finally disposed of until 1915, when the Supreme Courtupheld the judgment. The Executive Council lent money from the recently createdlegal defense fund and ordered assessments on the affiliated unions to aid the unionin its costly legal fight. The 1915 AFL convention issued an urgent appeal for fundswhen it became evident that the union was unable to pay the damages and itsmembers faced seizure of their homes.

In 1907, the federation itself became party to a suit when the AFL put the Buck’sStove and Range Company on its published boycott list. When an injunction orderedthe federation to remove the firm’s name, the official journal of the AFL criticized thejudge’s decision. As a result, federation President Samuel Gompers, Secretary FrankMorrison, and Vice President John Mitchell were charged with contempt of court.The AFL officers chose to defend their action from the high ground of freedom ofspeech. The case was never decided on its merits. The Supreme Court eventuallyvacated the jail sentences of Gompers, Morrison, and Mitchell due to technical errorsin the proceedings. These two cases depleted the federation’s treasury, led theExecutive Council to adopt a more cautious attitude on boycotts, and caused it tostop publication of the “We don’t patronize” list.

The trend toward more favorable consideration of labor’s needs gatheredmomentum in the Democrat-controlled 62nd Congress and continued with theelection of Woodrow Wilson. President Wilson created a Department of Labor andput former United Mine Workers’ official William Wilson at its head. ExecutiveCouncil members found access to the president much easier. The Clayton Anti-TrustBill became law in 1914, as did a long-sought act regulating the conditions ofemployment for seamen. The council pinned great hopes on the Clayton Act, whichproved unable to protect labor from court injunctions.

At the beginning of World War I, the Executive Council did its best to distance theAFL from the European conflict. This became increasingly difficult as the Americangovernment moved toward war with Germany. At a special Executive Councilmeeting in March 1917, which Secretary of Labor Wilson attended, Gompersannounced that organized labor must cooperate with defense preparedness efforts“in order that we may exercise a beneficent guidance rather than be forced to submitto emergency measures.”13 Although federation leaders worried that enemies oforganized labor might take advantage of the war to pass hostile legislation, mostcouncil members were satisfied by government policy. Most wartime governmentboards established policies favorable to the AFL’s affiliates and to the principle ofcollective bargaining. Federation membership increased from 2.3 million just before

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American entry into the war to 3 million in the fall of 1918, and to 3.7 million inOctober 1919. Reservations about the justness of the war disappeared with thesegains. As the Executive Council announced in a 1918 statement, “Either the principlesof free democracy or of Prussian militaristic autocracy will prevail. There can be nocompromises.... This is labor’s war....”14

The AFL did not hold the membership gains it had made during the war into theimmediate postwar period. The government-sponsored Red Scare, the continueduse of injunctions against labor, and the prosperity and so-called normalcy of the1920s all contributed to an anti-union atmosphere. The Executive Council respondedto the new realities ineffectively. It did not sponsor or encourage worker militancyand grassroots activism. Rather than attempting to mobilize radical impulsesamong workers with an aggressive and well-funded organizing drive, the councilreduced expenses and organizing efforts.15 It refused to support the Plumb Plan,which called for government purchase and ownership of railroads, despite the factthat AFL railroad unions strongly backed the plan, as did the nonaffiliated railroadbrotherhoods. Yet the Executive Council did support the coal miners in 1919 whenit appeared that union President John L. Lewis would defy a federal injunction in thebituminous coal strike. The council seriously considered calling a general strike toprotest the injunctions issued during the 1922 railroad shopmen’s strike, althoughultimately it rejected the idea.16

Because the Republican Party controlled the presidency, Congress, and thecourts, the 1920s witnessed a decline in the impact and importance of the federation’slobbying activities. One success was the passage of a law greatly restricting convictlabor. A law limiting child labor, however, was overturned by the Supreme Court.In 1924, the Executive Council rejected both the Republican and Democraticpresidential candidates, throwing its support behind the third-party effort of RobertLaFollette. In 1930, the council led a successful fight to block the appointment ofJustice John Parker to the Supreme Court. Parker had authored the Red JacketConsolidated Coal decision upholding yellow-dog contracts. After this success, thefederation used its revived political clout to support passage of the Norris-LaGuardiaBill, which, after its enactment in 1932, curtailed the use of injunctions by federalcourts against labor unions.

The Executive Council led the fight against Communists in the labor movement,showing its antagonism from the moment of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.Reports generated by the American government and by Russian expatriates seem tohave been the chief sources of information on which the council based itscondemnation of Soviet policies. The intransigent anticommunism of the ExecutiveCouncil diluted rank-and-file radicalism, stifled debate, and counteracted theinfluence of those who differed with policies favored by federation leadership. Thecouncil’s intransigence was such that it even condemned trips to investigateconditions in the Soviet Union as being pro-Communist. The council denounced atrip that Timothy Healy, president of the firemen and oilers union, and leaders of theunaffiliated railroad brotherhoods planned in 1926. It also ordered the tradeassemblies in Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit, Butte, and Tacoma to either disavowsupport for Communist-promoted policies or lose their AFL charters.

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Throughout much of the 1920s, the Communist party followed a strategy ofworking within existing unions and trying to convince workers of their sincerecommitment to bread-and-butter issues. This strategy enabled Communists tomaintain a real, if limited, following within the labor movement and caused theExecutive Council endless worry. In 1927, the council sent federation Vice PresidentMatthew Woll to New York to reorganize the fur workers local there and to excludefrom power the Communists then controlling it. Woll arranged with employers toreplace Communist strikers with AFL men. Since the council did not considerCommunists to be legitimate trade unionists, it maintained that such action—normally anathema in the labor movement—was justified. In 1928, the CommunistParty abandoned its policy of working within existing unions and entered themilitant “third period,” during which it attacked existing unions at every opportunityand set up dual organizations. Thereafter, the Executive Council relaxed itsanticommunism fight somewhat since the new Communist policy effectively endedparty influence among most trade unionists.17

The onset of the Great Depression forced the Executive Council to reconsider itsopposition to legislative remedies for economic problems. The Executive Councilwas seriously divided on how best to meet the economic crisis. A majority of thecouncil continued to view shorter hours without wage cuts as the best solution tounemployment. When, in 1932, employers continued to cut wages, however, thecouncil reluctantly concluded that redress would have to come from the government.

The passage in 1933 of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), with itsSection 7a that protected the rights of workers to select representatives of their ownchoosing, raised hopes for great membership gains. But, as it happened, fewnational unions made large gains, and federation-directed efforts to unionize massproduction workers proved ineffective. The willingness of government boards toaccept company unions as legitimate representatives of workers were partly toblame for this failure, as were serious problems in creating and enforcing industrialcodes. The internal problems of the AFL were also real stumbling blocks. The councilrecords graphically portray the inability of the AFL to capitalize on the initialreforms of the New Deal.

A series of jurisdictional disputes coincided with the first years of the New Deal,impairing the federation’s ability to respond effectively to new opportunities fororganization. The brewers/teamsters jurisdictional dispute revived at this time.More important, a long-standing quarrel over erecting machinery between thecarpenters’ and machinists’ unions flared anew. The 1914 AFL convention hadawarded the work to the machinists, but subsequent conventions had failed toenforce this decision. After a long series of failed conferences, the machinists insistedthat the Executive Council take action. The carpenters argued that the refusal ofconventions to enforce the decision had annulled it. When the council began tocomply with the machinists’ request, the carpenters withheld per capita paymentsto the federation. The Executive Council, bowing to the power of the carpenters’union, ceased efforts to implement the decision. Exasperated, in 1943 the machinistsfinally decided to withdraw from the AFL, and took their complaints about thecarpenters to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The machinists did not

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reaffiliate until 1951.18 Thus, two of the largest unions in the AFL, instead of devotingthemselves to organizing the unorganized, expended their resources fighting eachother.

Another problem occupying the attention of the Executive Council during theearly 1930s was conflict within the Building Trades Department of the AFL. Thisdepartment had been controversial since its founding in 1907, when several councilmembers opposed its formation, thinking it a rival to central federation authority.In its first years, the department acted independently of council controls, issuingdecrees on jurisdictional disputes, unseating unions that refused to abide by itsdecisions, and calling for general strikes. In 1914, the AFL convention restricteddepartment authority, but problems persisted. The carpenters’ union complainedthat the department’s efforts to force compliance with its jurisdictional decisionsviolated union autonomy; consequently, the union spent much of the years between1914 and 1933 refusing to participate in the department. Electrical workers andbricklayers also disagreed with department decisions and withdrew. In 1934, at theurgent request of federation President Green, the three unions applied forreadmission. At this point, several of the smaller building trades’ unions blockedtheir reentry, arguing that the method of apportioning representation in thedepartment be changed to reduce the power of large unions like the carpenters. Themajority of Executive Council members backed the excluded unions, and a courtfight ensued. Not until early 1936 was Vice President George Harrison able toarrange a settlement that mollified both factions.19 Again, selfish jurisdictionaldisputes, which can be followed in the council’s records, hampered the ability of theAFL to respond to the cry for organization from an angry and militant working class.

During the same year, a bitter clash developed within the federation over howbest to organize nonunion workers. At the core of the fight was a struggle betweencraft-union traditionalists and those who wanted to organize those workers in themass-production industries without clearly delineated craft identities or whose jobsdid not fall within the jurisdiction of existing unions. In its first decades, the AFLtolerated all-crafts industrial unionism only in certain industries where it had a longhistory or where certain exceptional conditions prevailed. The most importantfederation union with the jurisdiction to organize all workers in an industryregardless of skill or job classification was the United Mine Workers. As technologicalchange eradicated old skills, several craft unions sought to make their jurisdictionsmore flexible, and the 1911 convention voted to allow crafts to redefine theirjurisdictions to include both craftsmen in various related fields and less-skilledproduction workers.

In practice, however, most craft unions rarely undertook organization drivesamong less-skilled workers, who composed between 75 and 85 percent of the laborforce. Consequently, the percentage of workers belonging to trade unions fell froma high point of 15 to 20 percent in 1919–1920 to 10 percent in the era of the GreatDepression and the New Deal. The unions especially lacked a presence in suchmass-production industries as automobiles, steel, rubber, electrical goods, andpetrochemicals. Few of the workers in those industries fell clearly within thejurisdictions of existing AFL unions. Owing to a combination of employer hostility,

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worker indifference, and craft-union lethargy, mass production industries remainednonunion. With the passage of the NIRA in 1933, however, workers in steel, auto,rubber, and other mass production industries flooded into unions. Despite WilliamGreen’s plea that the AFL must “organize them or lose them,” the federation failedto act decisively. Questions of jurisdiction hampered organizing efforts. TheInternational Association of Machinists (IAM), for instance, refused to waivejurisdiction over tool-and-die workers, general machinists, and maintenance workersin auto plants. Green’s proposal that these workers temporarily join inclusive FLUs,with jurisdictional decisions tabled provisionally, proved unsatisfactory to both thenewly organized autoworkers and to the IAM.20 The Amalgamated Association ofIron, Steel and Tin Workers retained jurisdiction over all workers in the steelindustry, although since the failed steel strike of 1919, it had virtually no presencein steel mills. By the early 1930s, this national union was only a shadow of its formerself—weak, fearful of militant action, and burdened with backward-lookingleadership. Its response to union locals that called for aggressive action in organizingsteelworkers was to suspend the locals.

At the 1934 AFL convention, the Metal Trades Department attacked the new massproduction FLUs, charging them with incursions into the jurisdictions of existingcraft unions. In an effort to engineer a compromise, the Resolutions Committeesubmitted a proposal that defended the craft unions’ jurisdictions in most areas, butalso proposed the creation of industry-wide unions where no clear demarcationsamong crafts existed. The convention instructed the Executive Council to issuenational charters in certain mass production industries. Intentionally kept ambiguousto avert open conflict on the convention floor, this compromise gave wide scope forExecutive Council interpretation.

The 1934 convention also increased the number of federation vice presidents fromeight to fifteen. Among those who joined the council was John L. Lewis, presidentof the United Mine Workers, one of the few unions that had taken advantage ofSection 7a to increase its membership. Lewis persistently argued that, in themass-production industries, questions of jurisdiction must be subordinated to theissue of organization. First, unionize the workers, demanded Lewis; only thenworry about which AFL unions had jurisdiction over the workers. A great majorityof the Executive Council repeatedly rejected Lewis’s approach to organizing,preferring instead to defend their jurisdictional claims prior to unionizing theunorganized.21

By May 1935, it was clear that the Executive Council would not act to organizemass-production workers. Lewis became so impatient and angry that he refused toattend council meetings. By the summer of 1935, he was convinced that theorganization of mass-production workers would have to be accomplished withoutthe approval or participation of the Executive Council. When the 1935 conventiondefeated a minority report favoring industrial organization, Lewis established theCommittee for Industrial Organization (which later became the Congress of IndustrialOrganizations, or CIO). Lewis’s committee, while proclaiming its members’ loyaltyto the AFL, proceeded with its own plans to organize mass-production workers intoindustry-wide unions regardless of the craft unions’ jurisdictional claims. The

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struggle between Lewis and the Executive Council over how best to unionize theunorganized can be followed in detail in the records of the Executive Council.22

By the spring of 1936, a solid majority of Executive Council members favoredsuspension of those unions associated with the CIO. John Frey, head of the MetalTrades Department, presented the case against the CIO unions, spiking his chargesof dual unionism with insinuations of Communist domination. The evidence Freyintroduced did demonstrate that unions being organized by the CIO intruded on thetheoretical jurisdiction of existing craft unions. What Frey left unsaid was that thecraft unions’ jurisdictions existed largely on paper and that those unions had failedin practice to organize the mass-production workers. That reality notwithstanding,the Executive Council suspended ten affiliated unions associated with the CIO,effective September 5, 1936.23

Executive Council members were astonished and unsettled by the amazingsuccess of the CIO in the year that followed. Green reported his amazement that “thecountry seems to be filled with C.I.O. organizers.” The AFL declared war against itsdissenters, pressing state and local bodies to exclude the suspended unions. Aspecial conference of national unions in May 1937 ordered a one cent per month percapita assessment to raise funds to fight the CIO. Council leaders decried the CIO’suse of mass pickets and sit-down strikes. Ironically, competition with the CIO forcedthe federation to act more forcefully. Unions that had shown no interest in theunskilled now funded organizing drives. The AFL’s membership figures tell thestory. The first few years of the New Deal saw no major increase in federationmembership, but once the AFL committed itself to fighting the CIO, its membershipclimbed steadily and rapidly: from just over 2.5 million in early 1937, to 3.9 millionin early 1940, to nearly 6 million as the United States entered World War II.24

The Wagner Act, which had been enacted after the Supreme Court struck downthe NIRA, had passed almost unnoticed by federation leaders, distracted as theywere by internal conflicts. A few officials had noted with alarm the NLRB power tomake jurisdictional decisions. After the rise of the CIO, however, nearly everymeeting of the Executive Council contained a report on alleged CIO manipulationsof the NLRB. Council records provide insight into AFL clashes with the CIO over theright to represent workers at such places as Allis Chalmers, Kaiser Shipbuilding, andAmerican Can Company, and also detail the fight for NLRB certification betweenAFL and CIO longshoremen’s unions on the Pacific Coast. Council members felt thatNLRB decisions treated the AFL as if it was “in the same status as companyunions.”25 While the Roosevelt administration remained highly popular amongunion rank and file, federation leadership, as disclosed in Executive Councilrecords, grew increasingly critical of it as the 1930s drew to a close.

During the World War II years, the federation experienced not only growth butalso changes in its leadership. In 1940 Frank Morrison, secretary for more than fortyyears and secretary treasurer since 1930, retired. George Meany took his place.Almost immediately, Meany made his presence felt, quickly becoming one of themost active and influential council members. Over the next decade, William Green,already somewhat of a figurehead on a council dominated by a few powerful craftunions, grew increasingly incapacitated by age. Meany took on more and more ofthe investigative and political duties that had previously fallen to the president.

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As the United States drew closer to war in 1941, AFL leaders cooperated with thedefense preparedness effort. With American entry into World War II, Rooseveltcreated the National War Labor Board (NWLB) to regulate wartime industrialrelations. Inflation became a serious national problem. Controls over wages tightenedin the summer of 1942, when the NWLB began applying the “Little Steel formula,”which curtailed wage increases and subjected labor-management negotiations tojudicial settlement. In April 1943, Roosevelt issued an order to “hold-the-line” onwages, effectively stripping the NWLB of its powers to grant wage increases. UnlikeLewis and the miners, the AFL did not use the wage freeze as a justification forending the no-strike pledge, although it opposed the president’s order and remainedconvinced that economic stabilization could be best maintained by collectivebargaining. Roosevelt’s plan to control price increases did not work, and theExecutive Council repeatedly petitioned the NWLB for a relaxation of wage controls,but without success.26

The struggle of labor to restrain employers and their congressional allies fromusing the war emergency as a pretext to dilute union standards and also enactantilabor legislation can be followed in the discussions of the Executive Council. Therecords show the rising apprehension among labor leaders about antilabor politicaltrends.

At the end of the war, the federation faced its biggest challenge in the form of theTaft-Hartley Act. Taft-Hartley shifted the direction and attitude of governmentintervention toward labor relations. The Wagner Act had introduced systematicgovernment intervention into the collective bargaining process for the first time, andalthough the AFL had frequently faulted decisions of the NLRB under the WagnerAct, it based its complaints not on the law itself but on what it saw as faulty andbiased administration. After Taft-Hartley, the law itself became the problem.Taft-Hartley attempted to control and limit unions by redefining unfair laborpractices to include union activities as well as those of employers. Among therestrictions it placed on labor were the prohibition of the closed shop in federaljurisdictions, a ban on the organization of supervisors, a ban on union politicalcontributions, and a restoration of the government’s power to use injunctionsagainst unions. Its provisions prevented unions from ordering members not to workwith nonunion men and from striking to extend jurisdiction over newly introducedprocesses.27 One provision required union officers to sign non-Communist affidavitsor lose their right to have their cases heard by the NLRB. John L. Lewis, whose unionhad rejoined the federation in January 1946, attempted to convince the ExecutiveCouncil not to comply, stating the requirement “makes second class citizens out ofevery man around the Council table and every man he represents.”28 Lewis failed topersuade either the council or the convention of his position and led the miners backout of the federation in late 1947.

AFL unions, with good reason, dreaded the impact that Taft-Hartley provisionswould have on their activities. The AFL counsel warned that “this punitive andprohibitive legislation was designed to destroy, and will be used exhaustively in anattempt to destroy, the trade labor movement of this country.”29 In an effort tocounter antilabor propaganda and the Taft-Hartley Bill, the Executive Councillaunched an extensive public relations and lobbying campaign. When Congress

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passed the legislation over Truman’s veto, the federation made its repeal andTruman’s reelection its foremost goals. Initially the Executive Council committeditself to an outright repeal of Taft-Hartley, but by the early 1950s it was clear thatrepeal was unlikely in the near future. At the urging of several unions, the councilcollected suggestions for amendments that would mitigate the worst effects of theact. Although the federation never gave up its hope that Taft-Hartley wouldsomeday be repealed, the council pragmatically determined that, in the interim,organized labor would have to learn to live with the law.30

Charges that its rival was Communist-dominated were among the weapons withwhich the AFL attacked the CIO. Executive Council records illustrate how the AFL’shardline anticommunism antedated the postwar Red Scare. During its struggle withthe CIO in the 1930s, John Frey, representing the Executive Council, appeared beforethe House Un-American Activities Committee and provided it with the names offive hundred Communist leaders of the CIO. He reported to the Executive Councilthat his testimony would “give the CIO a blow.” The council commended Frey’scooperation and praised the House committee for its “excellent beginning” inrooting out subversives, stating further, “The fact that charges presented againstindividuals and groups...have remained unanswered by those so charged, isconvincing of the truth of the allegations made.”31 The AFL’s anticommunismefforts, in effect, fueled the postwar antilabor drive.

Its commitment to anticommunism also characterized AFL international policy.Federation leaders saw the wartime alliance with the Soviet Union as only atemporary necessity. Walter Citrine of the British Trades Union Congress failed toget the Executive Council to participate in an Anglo-Soviet-American Trade UnionAdvisory Committee.32 The Executive Council also refused to participate in thecreation of a new World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). The CIO joined thenew organization, as did the Soviet Union. As the cold war developed, this sort offederation became increasingly difficult to maintain. Communist unions in theWFTU opposed American postwar recovery plans for Europe. When the WFTUrefused to support the Marshall Plan, the CIO, along with the trade unions of severalother western countries, withdrew from it and joined the AFL in forming a non-Communist organization, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.33

Differences over strategy for dealing with Communists in the labor movementput a strain on AFL relations with the Canadian Trades and Labor Congress. Thelabor movements of the two nations had long been intertwined because U.S.–basedunions had Canadian members. The president of the Canadian congress at the endof World War II, Percy Bengough, believed his organization should assert itsindependence from U.S. domination. Canadians participated in the WFTU. Thewartime secretary of the Canadian organization was a Communist, and AFL leaderscharged that its postwar secretary also made “Communist comforting” statements.Bengough denied that his organization supported communism, but he stated thatit did not require its members to swear they were not Communists and that it hadno power to set membership policies of its affiliated bodies.34

Council records also disclose the AFL’s sad history concerning race relations inthe labor movement. In the first years after the founding of the AFL, SamuelGompers endorsed a racially integrated labor movement. By the late 1890s, this

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standard had quietly been dropped. Many of the major affiliates excluded AfricanAmericans in practice, even if their constitutions made no mention of race. Othersallowed African Americans only second class or nonvoting membership. The AFLdirectly chartered locals of African American workers in crafts where the existingnational union refused to admit them.35 In 1928 the African American sleeping carporters began to press the AFL to charter them as a federal labor union.36

At the 1934 convention, the insistent voices of African American delegates,combined with demonstrations outside the convention hall, forced the AFL toappoint a committee to investigate racial discrimination in unions. The ExecutiveCouncil enraged African American unionists when it declined to present the reportof this committee at the 1935 convention. At this same convention, the Brotherhoodof Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) received a national charter. The granting of a charterto one all–African American union hardly solved the problem of race discriminationin the federation. The persistent efforts of A. Philip Randolph, president of the BSCP,to gain equality for African American unionists were not always appreciated by AFLleadership. Bill Hutcheson, president of the carpenters’ union, told a group ofAfrican American unionists in 1945 that their followers would benefit if Randolphended his “antagonistic attitude” at federation conventions. Summing up the viewof many council members, Hutcheson said, “If Brother Randolph would justconsider what he is doing and talk about the good things that have been done by theorganizations for the Negro membership he would do the Negro groups a great dealof good.”37 Not until the merger with the CIO did organized labor have a permanentCommittee on Civil Rights.

The AFL faced other difficulties in the years after World War II. Jurisdictionalconflicts continued to hinder federation unity. In 1954 the Executive Council set upa plan by which affiliates would enter into binding agreements on jurisdiction, yetleft the decision about whether to participate in this plan up to each union.Racketeering and corruption proved an even more serious concern for the ExecutiveCouncil. Charges of dishonest behavior among union officials were nothing new. Inthe past, the council had generally tried to remain uninvolved in the internalproblems of its affiliates. In a few instances, where corruption had become publicknowledge, the council had urged the affiliated union to take action itself. In 1952,long-standing problems on the New York waterfront involving the InternationalLongshoremen’s Association (ILA) were publicized by the New York State CrimeCommission. At the heart of the problem was the “shape up,” a process by which dayworkers were selected by the dock foremen, a system that lent itself to creativeabuse. The Executive Council took a far more active role than in past cases anddirected the ILA to correct the situation, warning “no one should make the mistakeof concluding that the AFL will sit by and allow abuse of autonomy on the part ofany of its affiliates to bring injury to the entire movement.” The ILA respondedevasively, removing only a few individuals from leadership positions. Upon therecommendation of the Executive Council, the 1953 AFL convention revoked theILA charter. The council quickly set up a new union on the docks, which, however,failed to win in NLRB elections.38

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Problems with the teamsters’ union complicated the situation on the docks. In1955, the teamsters claimed jurisdiction over the longshoremen, against the statedpolicy of the Executive Council. This defiant action was only one of severaldisagreements between federation leadership and the teamsters. The teamstersfollowed a policy of extending their jurisdiction into areas not sanctioned by theExecutive Council. When George Meany investigated abuses in the administrationof health and welfare funds by affiliates in the early 1950s, the teamsters protested,believing such action was aimed at them. These disagreements, combined with acongressional probe into corrupt practices in the union, culminated in a confrontation,leading eventually to the expulsion of the teamsters from the AFL-CIO in 1957.39

Almost as soon as the CIO unions had been suspended in 1936, a few individualson both sides began searching for a way to reunite the labor movement. Unityproved difficult to achieve. Each side distrusted the other. The CIO wanted all itsunions, including those created since the split, admitted at once, with any jurisdictionalconflicts to be worked out later. The federation wanted the newly created unions tobe considered for admission on a case-by-case basis. Although the AFL movedslowly toward conceding the validity of industrial organization, it insisted that theCIO disband before its affiliates would be readmitted. The federation would noteven agree to coordinate labor opposition to Taft-Hartley with the CIO.40 As CIOleadership became increasingly anti-Communist, however, a rapproachment began.In 1949 the CIO left the WFTU and joined the AFL in founding the ICFTU. The CIOmade a major concession in agreeing to link its voting in the ICFTU to the size of itsmembership, making it weaker than the AFL. Once the CIO completed the painfulprocess of purging itself of Communist-dominated unions, the AFL ExecutiveCouncil became far more receptive to negotiations. Serious discussions about amerger opened in early 1953, almost immediately after Meany assumed the federationpresidency. Within a few months, the majority of CIO unions approved a no-raidingagreement with the AFL.41 Differences that had seemed irreconcilable for overfifteen years were settled amicably. The AFL conceded equality for industrial unionsand created an industrial union department. Committees on ethical practices andcivil rights, albeit with limited powers, were also established. Even the name of themerged federation was a concession. These were real compromises; the CIO hadweakened considerably in the postwar years; it needed to merge with the AFL.Meany was strongly committed to reunification of the labor movement. A far moreassertive and powerful figure than William Green, Meany overcame the objectionsand delaying tactics of some AFL affiliates. Just as the early years of the AFL arevirtually unimaginable without Samuel Gompers, so, as these records disclose,George Meany put his own imprint on the postwar period and played a crucial rolein engineering the merger of the AFL and CIO in December 1955.42

Marla J. Hughes

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Notes1Philip Taft’s two-volume history of the AFL (The A.F. of L. in the Time of Gompers and The A. F. of

L. from the Death of Gompers to the Merger), written in the 1950s, is still the best secondary source onExecutive Council activities. Taft had access to all federation records, including the council minutesand vote books. Although historians have reevaluated and overturned many of his interpretations,Taft’s meticulous examination of the records is beyond reproach.

2The AFL distinguished between two types of direct affiliates. Directly affiliated local unionscontained workers of a single trade who had no national union. FLUs were directly chartered unionsthat organized workers, often from a variety of trades, in a locality where no single trade hadsufficient numbers to constitute a local union. FLUs also organized workers who lacked eitherrecognized skills or failed to fall into a clearly designated craft. The term FLU came to be appliedto both types of local unions by the early twentieth century, however, and here will be applied toboth types of AFL-controlled local unions.

3This data is found in the vote books and is most prevalent for the years 1900–1912.4The expression “marketing unionism to business” is taken from chapter 2 of Craig Phelan’s

William Green: Biography of a Labor Leader (Albany, 1989). The view of the evolution of AFL policy inthis paragraph is consistent with that of Christopher L. Tomlins, The State and the Unions: LaborRelations, Law, and the Organized Labor Movement in America, 1990–1960 (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 68–92.

5An example of such action is found in the Executive Council minutes for December 17, 1903.6For the printers-machinists dispute, see Executive Council minutes for October 19, 1899, and July

19, 1900, and vote books for July 13, 1899; August 17, 1899; April 16, 1900; May 12, 1900; and August28, 1900. Please note that dates of vote book material refer to the cover letter from the ExecutiveCouncil member (usually the president) circulating the document, not to the dates on the enclosedmaterial.

7For the efforts to amalgamate the plumbers and steamfitters, see Executive Council minutes forJuly 17, 1900; April 15, 1902; April 23, 1902; September 13, 1904; November 9, 1904; March 14, 1905;June 21, 1906; June 15, 1908; January 12, 1912; and May 11–12, 1912.

8The Executive Council’s consideration of the jurisdictional conflicts of the brewing industry arefar too numerous to list here. For a few of the more important instances, see Executive Councilminutes for March 23, 1906; September 18–19, 1906; July 23, 1913; April 24, 1933; and October 14,1941; and vote books for May 19, 1906, and November 22, 1934.

9See Executive Council vote books for July 25, 1903, and October 24, 1903.10Executive Council minutes for March 3, 1921.11Executive Council minutes for June 18, 1906, and March 17, 1915, and vote books for June 2, 1906.12For the reports from the IWW convention, see Executive Council vote books for June 30–July 17,

1905.13Executive Council minutes for March 9, 1917.14Executive Council minutes for February 16, 1918. Membership figures are from the reports of

the AFL secretary to the Executive Council, included as part of most Executive Council meetingminutes.

15On Executive Council efforts to reduce expenditures and cut back on the number of organizers,see Executive Council minutes for August 11, 1920, and November 18, 1920.

16On the 1919 miners’ strike, see Executive Council minutes for November 9–12, 1919; on therailroad shopmen’s strike, see Executive Council minutes for September 16, 1922.

17On the anti-Communist activities of the Executive Council in the 1920s, see, for example,Executive Council minutes for September 29–30, 1923; November 24, 1924; June 25 and 28, 1926; May13, 1927; and January 23, 1928; and vote books for April 12, 1923; May 28, 1923; September 20, 1924;and July 23, 1926.

18For some highlights of the dispute between the carpenters and the machinists, see ExecutiveCouncil minutes for September 4–5, 1930; July 19, 1932; May 2, 1933; January 17, 1942; October 15,1942; May 21–22, 1943; and January 23, 1946.

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19Executive Council minutes for September 28 and 30, 1934; October 4, 1934; November 13, 1934;February 14, 1935; June 7, 1935; and August 14, 1935; and vote books for May 26, 1935, and July 24,1935.

20William Green on need for response to NIRA, Executive Council minutes for September 8, 1933.21Executive Council minutes for February 12–13, 1935; April 30, 1935; October 20, 1935; and

January 27, 1936.22Executive Council minutes for October 20, 1935; January 21, 1936; and May 5–6, 1936; and vote

books for November 23, 1935; December 11, 1935; February 24, 1936; and June 8–9, 1936.23The Executive Council proceedings on charges against CIO unions, August 3–5, 1935, are

included with the Executive Council minutes for August 1935.24Green quoted from Executive Council minutes for April 20, 1937. See also minutes for February

9–10, 1937, and May 23, 1937.25Quote is from Executive Council letter to President Roosevelt, August 29, 1938. See also

Executive Council minutes for April 29, 1938; August 22–31, 1938; January 18 and 20, 1943; andAugust 7, 1945; and vote books for December 21, 1942.

26Executive Council minutes for August 4, 1942; May 21, 1943; August 14, 1943; and November19, 1943.

27For the effects of Taft-Hartley on the painters’ union, see Executive Council minutes forFebruary 1, 1950, and February 5, 1952. Also see Tomlins, Supra note 4, at 10–13.

28Lewis quoted in Executive Council minutes for September 19, 1947.29AFL legal counsel J. Albert Woll, quoted in Executive Council minutes for May 12, 1948.30For the fight against Taft-Hartley, see Executive Council minutes for April 22–23, 1947; February

2, 1948; and November 14, 1948. On the decision to work for amendments to the law, see ExecutiveCouncil minutes for February 1, 1952; May 22, 1952; and February 9, 1953.

31Frey is quoted in Executive Council minutes for August 23, 1938. Executive Council praise forthe House Un-American Activities Committee is from Executive Council minutes for September 1,1938.

32Executive Council minutes for May 20–23, 1942, and January 19 and 27, 1943.33Executive Council minutes for January 17 and 25, 1944; December 1, 1944; May 4, 1945; May 16,

1949; and February 3, 1950; and vote books for April 21, 1949.34Executive Council minutes for May 1, 1945; May 17, 1946; October 6, 1946; November 15 and 19,

1948; February 7–8, 1949; and May 19, 1949.35FLUs did not receive equal treatment in the AFL. Their dues were low, but they were ineligible

for sickness and death benefits. They could be parceled out to national unions without their consent.Their voting power at conventions was not linked to their size.

36Executive Council minutes for January 20, 1928; April 25, 1928; October 19, 1928; and February19, 1929.

37Executive Council minutes for May 4, 1945.38Quote is from Executive Council letter to longshoremen’s union, authorized in Executive

Council minutes for February 2, 1953. See Executive Council minutes for May 21 and 25, 1953;August 10, 1953; September 20–21, 1953; October 14, 1953; and August 9, 1954; and addenda toFebruary 1954 and May 1954 minutes.

39For Executive Council conflicts with the teamsters, see Executive Council minutes for May 3,1945; February 9, 1954; May 17, 1954; and August 9, 1954.

40On pre-1950 efforts to reunify the labor movement, see Executive Council minutes for October13–16, 1937; February 3, 1938; March 23, 1939; June 25, 1943; January 30, 1947; and September 9, 1947;and vote books for February 27, 1947, and March 18, 1947.

41Executive Council minutes for February 2, 1953; May 21, 1953; and February 9, 1954.42Executive Council minutes for February 10, 1955; May 3, 1955; August 10–12, 1955; October 24–

25, 1955; and November 30, 1955.

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SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection contains two separate but closely related series of AmericanFederation of Labor (AFL) records. Reels 1 through 17 comprise minutes of themeetings of the Executive Council of the AFL between February 1925 and December1955. Supplementing the minutes is a series of letterbooks called vote books. Thesebegin at frame 0274 of Reel 17 and continue through Reel 19.

The minutes of the Executive Council provide a comprehensive record of theAFL’s evolution between 1925 and the 1955 merger with the Congress of IndustrialOrganizations (CIO). Membership and financial reports usually accompany theminutes for each meeting. The membership reports indicate the size of eachinternational union affiliated with the AFL. Financial reports detail dues paymentsand delinquencies of the international unions as well as expenses for strike funds,legal defenses, and organizers’ salaries.

The AFL Legal Department reports are a less frequent component of the minutesthan the financial reports, until the late 1940s. These detail the litigation thatembroiled the labor movement during this period. The legal cases involve injunctionrelief, defense of labor leaders cited with contempt of court, defense of unionsagainst antitrust actions, fending off challenges to the closed union shop andpicketing activities, contesting state legislation aimed at harassing labor unions, andmany other legal issues. Some litigation concerns the interpretation and applicationof federal labor laws, including the Norris-LaGuardia Act, National Labor RelationsAct (the Wagner Act), the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Taft-Hartley Act. Alongwith reporting on the disposition of the various cases, the AFL Counsel typicallydetails the legal reasoning involved in the dispute. There are often observationsmade on the significance of the case for the future of the labor movement. Casesinclude state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as theNational Labor Relations Board and state administrative agencies. The LegalDepartment Reports provide both an authoritative chronicle of American labor lawand a revealing portrait of the reactions of AFL leaders to legal changes.

One of the most important duties of the Executive Council was settling disputesbetween the member unions. Usually these take the form of jurisdiction disputes. Insome cases the disputes involved factional battles within a union. The jurisdictionaldisputes often shed light on technological and occupational change in Americanindustries. It was in large part as a result of AFL deadlock in jurisdictional disputesover mass production industries that the insurgent CIO movement developed.

Researchers can chart the evolution of the CIO insurgency through both theminutes and vote books. Claims and counterclaims for jurisdiction over the workersin such mass production industries as auto and steel making date to the early 1930s

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and continue into the rupture of the rival federations in 1935. Reconciliation effortsbeginning in the late 1930s often floundered over questions of jurisdiction.Competitive (and later cooperative) organizing drives were organized. And theeventual reconciliation and merger of the AFL and CIO is well documented.

The AFL’s long-standing involvement in politics became even more pronouncedduring the period covered by this edition. The AFL defended unions against hostileantilabor legislation at both state and national levels. It supported the pro-laborlegislation of the Depression era in part through active involvement in congressionaland presidential campaigns. It typically tried to influence major party platformswith pro-labor agendas. Immigration remained a persistent political issue as didantiradicalism. One of the most vigorous political causes the AFL joined was theopposition to the Taft-Hartley Act, an opposition that began as antilabor legislationcame up in Congress in the mid-1940s and continued with efforts to rescind oramend the Taft-Hartley legislation in the 1950s.

Foreign affairs were always a matter of concern for the AFL and the interest in thesubject is well documented in the minutes. The federation took an interest in foreignlabor movements in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Especially keen interest wasmanifest in the labor movements of neighboring Mexico and Canada. The AFLjoined in international labor federations, such as the International Labor Office, theWorld Trade Union Conference, and the International Confederation of Free TradeUnions. Reports on activities of these organizations can be found throughout theminutes. The AFL condemned the racism and aggressive behavior of Germany andJapan that led to World War II, and it played a vital—and controversial—role inmobilizing manpower for the war effort. The AFL was also active in postwarrecovery programs in both Europe and Asia.

The internal affairs of the AFL are also a regular topic in Executive Councilmeetings. Along with the jurisdiction disputes, membership and financial reports,and litigation (mentioned above), the minutes document the evolution of the AFLbureaucracy and the promulgation of internal policies. Departments such as BuildingTrades and Metal Trades often exercised great influence over the constituent unionsof the AFL. The authority of these departments and their relationship with theinternational unions is a recurrent topic. The definition of bona fide unions is alsoa significant topic in the minutes. Deliberations on requests for AFL charters,especially in the matter of the so-called Federal Labor Unions, touch directly on thisissue. The Federal Labor Union designation created a second-class affiliation statuswithin the AFL. Originally, it was a status that enabled a local union to be recognizedand pay dues to the AFL in the absence of an existing international union of theparticular trade in question. It also came to be used as a catch-all for locals that weredenied affiliation with an International Union for reasons, for instance, of race. Thewisdom of this second-class status was challenged when the Federal Labor Uniondesignation was applied to the large units of mass production workers in the early1930s. Other internal matters covered by the minutes include race relations insidethe federation and internal discipline and expulsions in wake of racketeeringcharges.

The minutes provide a continuous record of the statements and decisions of manyof the most important labor leaders in America from the 1920s through 1955. The

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political perspectives, leadership styles, and personalities of many American laborleaders are revealed in these records. William Green, John L. Lewis, Sidney Hillman,A. Philip Randolph, Philip Murray, and many others are documented in the record,addressing a wide range of matters from politics to union policies and making theseminutes an essential source for studies of American leadership from the 1920sthrough the 1950s.

The Vote Book correspondence was used extensively under the Samuel Gompersadministration, which is covered in Part 1. It continues but ultimately diminishesunder the William Green administration, which is covered in this part. Thecorrespondence sent to Executive Council members requested decisions on issuesthat arose between the Council meetings. The “yea” or “nea” responses of theindividual board members are usually recorded on the copy of the letter. Under theadministration of William Green, however, the Vote Books were used not only tosolicit answers to interim matters of business but also to provide circular letters fromthe president’s office to the Council members. Often these circulars were copies ofimportant letters Green wrote in his capacity as president of the AFL.

The Vote Books are a rich source of documentation on the administration andhistory of the AFL. For example, in 1935 and 1936, there are many exchangesbetween Green and the breakaway CIO leaders that Green wanted to share withCouncil members. In 1939, there is correspondence with President Roosevelt on thequestion of reuniting the labor movement, and there is correspondence with theUnited States Attorney General protesting the application of antitrust law to laborunions. Green also adopted the practice of reproducing quotations from letters ofCouncil members when there were votes to be taken through the mail. This makesit possible to ascertain the reasoning for the votes that the Council members cast. Bythe early 1940s the Vote Books become entirely circular correspondence from AFLheadquarters to Council members. Frequently after then, the letters are lists ofsubjects scheduled for consideration at upcoming Executive Council meetings,including supporting documents. In addition to letters from William Green, thereare also letters from Secretary-Treasurers Frank Morrison and George Meany.

Unlike the minutes, the Vote Books have not been indexed. However the majortopics raised parallel the issues that were under consideration at the ExecutiveCouncil meetings. The contents of the Executive Council minutes provide a reasonablyaccurate mirror of the contents of the Vote Books for the same period. Researchersshould consult the Vote Books for potential documentation on any subject found inthe minutes.

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EDITORIAL NOTE

The minutes and vote books of the Executive Council of the American Federationof Labor have been microfilmed in their entirety for the years 1925–1955 (1925–1944for the vote books). A companion edition of AFL Executive Council minutes from1893–1924 (1892–1924 for the vote books) is available from UPA as Part 1 of thispublication.

SOURCE NOTE

The Executive Council Minutes and Vote Books of the American Federation ofLabor are held by the George Meany Memorial Archives, 10000 New HampshireAvenue, Silver Spring, Maryland. This edition was microfilmed from the originalmanuscripts at the Meany Archives.

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ABBREVIATIONS

AFL American Federation of Labor

CIO Congress of Industrial Organizations

CLU Central Labor Union

EC Executive Council

NLRB National Labor Relations Board

NWLB National Wartime Labor Board

UMW United Mine Workers

WPA Works Progress Administration

1

REEL INDEX

Entries in this index refer to specific folders within the Minutes of the Executive Council of the AmericanFederation of Labor, 1893–1955, Part 2. 1925–1955. In the interest of accessing the materials within the folders,this index denotes significant issues, events, actions, and policy decisions under the heading Major Topics. Thefour-digit number on the far left is the frame number at which the file folder begins.

Reel 1Frame No.

Minutes of the Executive Council0001 Meetings of February 4–11, 1925. 118pp.

Major Topics: AFL departments consolidation; Iron Workers dispute withPhiladelphia [Pennsylvania] Athletics baseball club; Bricklayers and Plasterersjurisdiction dispute; immigration restriction quotas; Carpenters Union dual nationalorganization; Child Labor Amendment; AFL visit to President Coolidge; privatedetective agencies and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, unions; resignation of VicePresident James Duncan; German Federation of Trade Unions; Mine Workersdispute with Locomotive Engineers; prison labor model legislation; FranklinRoosevelt; Street Railway Employees dispute with Metal Trades Department;Teamsters disputes with Railway Clerks and Street Railway Employees; UnionLabel campaign; AFL finances and membership statistics; organization driveamong women office workers; organizing drive in southern states; boycotts;civilian military training.

0119 Meetings of May 5–9, 1925. 60pp.Major Topics: Recreation; Marine Engineers jurisdiction dispute with Steam

Engineers; military training camps; ship subsidy bill; clerical workers,Stenographers, Book Keepers, and Accountants Union; Textile Workers Uniondispute with American Thread Company; antipicketing decision by WashingtonState Supreme Court.

Frame No.

2

0179 Meetings of July 29–August 4, 1925. 106pp.Major Topics: Conference among Machinists, Blacksmiths, and Street and Electric

Railway Employees; AFL tribute to William Jennings Bryan; Chicago garmentmakers unions, United Garment Workers, Amalgamated Clothing workers; UMWdispute with Coal River Collieries; federal restrictions on aliens; Child LaborAmendment; farmers relations with AFL; labor banks; Railway shop crafts strike;Teamsters disputes with Railway Clerks and Street and Electric RailwayEmployees; Ladies Garment Workers Union application for prosanis [sanitary]label; workmen’s compensation legislation in Massachusetts and Missouri;Mexican immigration; citizen military camps; Pan American Federation of Labor;strike against Pennsylvania Railroad; People’s Legislative Service; Textile Workerswage reduction; organizing drive among women in industry; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0285 Meetings of October 4, 10, and 16, 1925. 39pp.Major Topics: Federal restriction of aliens; Asian exclusion; antilabor bills defeated in

68th Congress; Book Keepers, Stenographers, and Accountants Union disputewith Ladies Garment Workers Union; UMW dispute with Coal River Collieries;immigration law violation by merchant seamen; workmen’s compensationlegislation for longshoremen; Machinists jurisdiction dispute with Fire Fighters;mothers pensions; Oil Field Workers organization; sales taxes; Equal RightsAmendment.

0324 Meetings of November 17–20, 1925. 106pp.Major Topics: AFL opposition to conscription bill; convict labor; Fascist movement;

Canadian and Mexican immigration; federal injunction bill; federal antilaborlegislation; Machinists dispute with Fire Fighters; Mexican Federation of Labor;Machinists agreement with Plumbers; World Court; AFL financial and membershipstatistics.

0430 Meetings of March 23–29, 1926. 126pp.Major Topics: Actors union; Australian Labor Party; British Labor Mission to the

United States; Carpenters affiliation with Wood Workers Union; Western Unionsuit against Chicago Building Trades; Steam Engineers disputes with ElectricalWorkers and with Marine Firemen; immigration restriction; deportation of alienseamen; delegation from Mexican Federation of Labor; organizing drive amongAfrican American workers; Watson-Parker railroad bill; Textile Workers strike inPassaic, New Jersey; workmen’s compensation legislation in District of Columbiaand Massachusetts; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0556 Meetings of June 25–30, 1926. 95pp.Major Topics: American Bar Association endorsement of voluntarism in industrial

relations; British Miners financial assistance; Fur Workers Union investigation;Machinists dispute with Street Railway Employees; workmen’s compensationlegislation in Missouri; radicalism; National Crime Commission; organizing driveamong African American workers; Textile Workers strike in Passaic, New Jersey;Railway Labor Act; labor conditions in Russia; AFL financial and membershipstatistics.

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0651 Meetings of August 24–30, 1926. 62pp.Major Topics: British Miners relief; Electrical Workers dispute with Railroad

Signalmen; anti-union shop movement; citizens military training; employee stockownership; voluntarism in industrial relations; Communist activities in Fur WorkersUnion; Russian labor commission; Textile Workers strike in Passaic, New Jersey;William B. Wilson’s U.S. Senate candidacy; AFL finances and membershipstatistics.

0713 Meetings of October 3 and 15, 1926. 24pp.Major Topics: Automobile, Aircraft, and Vehicle Workers application for

reaffiliation; investigation of Communist influence in Fur Workers Union; AFLconference with Mexican and European labor representatives; Eugene Debscitizenship restoration; federal immigration laws; Muscle Shoals power project;night work wage differentials; farmers cooperation with labor; Sacco-Vanzetticase; Richard T. Ely lecture on taxation; Stone Cutters Union complaints aboutpneumatic hammer; yellow-dog contracts; Textile Workers strike in Passaic, NewJersey.

0737 Meetings of January 11–19, 1927. 123pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organizing drive; Communist activity in

Canadian labor movement; company unions; causes-of-crime study endorsed; AFLEducation Committee; Communist activities in Fur Workers Union; Italian tradeunion movement; Communist activity in Ladies Garment Workers Union; MexicanFederation of Labor; restriction of Mexican immigration; reorganization of Mine,Mill, and Smelter Workers Union; Navy Yard employees; Stone Cutters Unioncomplaints about pneumatic hammer; Textile Workers strike in Passaic, NewJersey; Union Label campaign; workmen’s compensation legislation inMassachusetts and Missouri; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0860 Meetings of May 10–17, 1927. 116pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers protest of Volstead Act; Bricklayers and Plasterers

Unions agreement; suppression of union activities in Cuba; Communists expelledfrom Fur Workers Union; Indiana State Federation of Labor; Japanese WorkersUnion; Jewelry Workers organizing drive; Alexander Kerensky visit; John L. Lewisvisit to EC; Mexican Federation of Labor; Mooney-Billings case; labor delegationto Russia; Supreme Court decision on Stone Cutters Union request of antitrustexemption; Workers Education Bureau convention.

Reel 2Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of May 10–17, 1927 cont. 54pp.Major Topics: Street and Electrical Railway Employees injunction case in

Indianapolis, Indiana; AFL finances and membership statistics; Pan AmericanCommercial Conference; AFL meeting with American Bar Association on federallabor legislation and court interpretations of federal antitrust law; MexicanFederation of Labor; Sacco-Vanzetti case; Canadian and Mexican immigrationrestrictions.

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0055 Meetings of September 7–13, 1927. 45pp.Major Topics: AFL ban on Communist delegates; Electrical Workers jurisdiction

controversy with Railroad Signalmen; indebtedness of Ladies Garment WorkersUnion; AFL educational motion picture.

0100 Meetings of October 1 and 15, 1927. 35pp.Major Topics: Communist activities in Los Angeles labor movement; Carpenters

reaffiliation with AFL Building Trades Department; Mine, Mill, and SmelterWorkers organizing drive; restriction of aliens; legislative reform of antitrust law;Canadian immigration restriction; Civil War veterans pensions; organization ofAfrican American workers; farmers cooperation with the labor movement;restriction of immigrant seamen, artists, and Latin Americans; Ladies GarmentWorkers struggle with Communists; Mississippi flood catastrophe; Muscle Shoalspower project and labor standards; old age pensions; pacifism denounced; PanAmerican Financial Conference; aid to Puerto Rico; federal government employeeprotections; United Textile Workers organizing drive in the south.

0135 Meeting of November 21, 1927. 30pp.Major Topics: AFL conference with President Coolidge; AFL conference with

Pennsylvania Governor Fisher; UMW strike.

0165 Meetings of January 17–25, 1928. 104pp.Major Topics: Federal anticonspiracy bill; Shipstead anti-injunction bill; Boulder

Dam project; Mexican immigration restriction; Tom Mooney case; UMW strike;Communist activity in Seattle and Los Angeles labor movements; Teamstersagreement with Railway Clerks; Sleeping Car Porters organization; Street andElectric Railways Union New York injunction suit; AFL petition for modificationof Volstead Act; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0269 Meetings of April 24–May 2, 1928. 139pp.Major Topics: Airplane Workers organization; Automobile Workers organizing

drive; Boilermakers jurisdiction dispute with Bridge and Structural Iron Workers;Electrical Workers jurisdiction dispute with Railroad Signalmen; AFL legislativeproposals; labor exemption from antitrust laws; anti-injunction legislation;protection for union organizing; Child Labor Amendment; convict labor; five-dayworkweek; workmen’s compensation for District of Columbia UMW strike;Pocketbook Workers Union, New York, New York, charter denied; AFL platformto political parties conventions; Sleeping Car Porters charter denied; TobaccoWorkers Union controversy with R. J. Reynolds; John H. Walker, labor delegateto foreign countries; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0408 Meetings of July 31–August 7, 1928. 98pp.Major Topics: AFL disaffiliation from Brookwood Labor College; Communist

activity in Canton, Ohio, labor movement; indebtedness of Ladies GarmentWorkers Union; Leather Workers amalgamation with New York, New York,Pocket Book Workers; Mexican Federation of Labor; UMW strike; AFL NationalNon-Partisan Political Committee report; Republican and Democratic party repliesto AFL political program; Sleeping Car Porters charter application; yellow-dogcontracts among Seattle teachers; Tobacco Workers controversy with R. J.Reynolds; AFL delegate to League of Nations conference; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

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0506 Meetings of October 18–25, 1928. 63pp.Major Topics: AFL disaffiliation from Brookwood Labor College; expulsion of

Communists from Carpenters Union; indebtedness of Ladies Garment WorkersUnion; Mexican labor movement; Mexican immigration restriction; Machinistsagreement with Street Railway Employees; Sleeping Car Porters application;Textile Workers Union strike in New Bedford, Massachusetts; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0569 Meetings of November 18 and 25, 1928. 44pp.Major Topics: Audit of AFL finances; federal employees labor relations; Ladies

Garment Workers; Shipstead anti-injunction bill; Mexican, Canadian, andCaribbean immigration restriction; federal farm relief bill; federal mine workersbills; Molders Union boycotts; narcotics addiction treatment bill; navalappropriations bill; ban on Chinese-made shingles; southern states organizingdrive; yellow-dog contracts among Seattle teachers; Sleeping Car Porters charterapplication.

0613 Meetings of February 18–25, 1929. 110pp.Major Topics: Anheuser-Busch Company dispute with AFL building trades; boycott

policies; Brookwood Labor College; Cigar Makers and Tobacco Workersamalgamation; convict labor legislation; AFL declaration of economic principles;immigration legislation; Shipstead anti-injunction bill; Ladies Garment Workersrequest for bond endorsement; narcotics treatment farms; Hoover commission toinvestigate prohibition; AFL finances and membership statistics; Sleeping CarPorters issued federal labor union charter; AFL Unemployment Committee;unemployment insurance legislation; Equal Rights Amendment.

0723 Meetings of May 21–28, 1929. 134pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organizing drive; conscription legislation;

convict labor legislation; immigration restriction policies and legislation; LadiesGarment Workers request for bargaining assistance; Hoover Commission on LawEnforcement; AFL draft of anti-injunction legislation; discrimination againstmiddle-aged workers; Mooney-Billings case; Pan American Federation of Labor;Sleeping Car Porters charter applications; unemployment programs endorsed byAFL; “Progressive” faction in AFL.

0857 Meetings of August 8–20, 1929. 102pp.Major Topics: Increased compensation bill for Army officers and enlisted men; Cigar

Makers strike, New Brunswick, New Jersey; Communist activities in Fur WorkersUnion; anti-injunction legislation; loans to Ladies Garment Workers Union; UMWfinances; Mooney case; Oil Field Workers organizing drive; New Orleans StreetRailway Employees strike; Textile Workers Union strike in southern states; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

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0959 Meetings of October 6, 12, and 18, 1929. 32pp.Major Topics: Cuba; Cigar Makers amalgamation with Tobacco Workers; Bridge

and Structural Iron Workers dispute with Shell Oil Company; Automobile andVehicle Workers organizing; immigration restriction; Mexican immigration;government employment conditions; coal industry legislation; forty-four-hourworkweek; discrimination against older workers; southern states organizingcampaign; Equal Rights Amendment; Teamsters dispute with Railway Clerks;Textile Workers southern organizing campaign.

Reel 3Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of January 8–17, 1930. 103pp.Major Topics: AFL organizers retirement plans; prevailing wages in government

contracts; Catholic unions in Quebec, Canada; convict labor; AFL conference withPresident Hoover; UMW internal politics; Pan American Federation of Labor;southern states organizing campaign; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0104 Meetings of May 5–12, 1930. 152pp.Major Topics: Bridge and Structural Iron Workers dispute with Tarrett Bros.

Company; injunction relief legislation; coal industry legislation; Mexicanimmigration restriction; conscription legislation; convict labor; Filipino immigrationrestriction; Longshoremen’s compensation; forty-four-hour workweek;unemployment policies; UMW internal politics; unemployment at Navy Yards;Judge John J. Parker Supreme Court nomination; Owen J. Roberts Supreme Courtappointment; Sleeping Car Porters international charter application; southern statesorganizing campaign; Textile Workers southern organizing; World Court; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0256 Meetings of September 4–12, 1930. 127pp.Major Topics: Dissension in Alabama State Federation of Labor; American Legion

relations with AFL; request for modification of Volstead Act; Building TradesDepartment policy on jurisdiction disputes; Catholic unions in Canada; CigarMakers and Tobacco Workers amalgamation; AFL involvement in congressionalelections; UMW and Progressive Mine Workers; Pan American Federation ofLabor; southern organizing campaign; Sugar Beet Workers charter application;Teamsters dispute with Railway Clerks; Textile Workers negotiation in Danville,Virginia; unemployment insurance; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0383 Meetings of October 5, 12, 18, and 21, 1930. 39pp.Major Topics: Equal Rights Amendment; prevailing wages in government contracts;

five-day workweek; Sleeping Car Porters campaign to organize Pullman Company;southern organizing campaign; unemployment insurance; women’s auxiliaries inAFL.

Frame No.

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0422 Meetings of January 13–23, 1931. 180pp.Major Topics: AFL Building Trades Department relations with Carpenters Union;

Catholic unions in Quebec; convict labor; Hod Carriers jurisdiction dispute withMarble Polishers; prevailing wages on government contracts; injunction relief bills;Mexican and Canadian immigration restriction; immigration restriction; five-dayworkweek; Navy Yards unemployment; workmen’s compensation; militarytraining in public schools; railroad consolidations; Sleeping Car Porters; southernorganizing campaign; Teamsters dispute with Railway Clerks; Textile Workersstrike in Danville, Virginia; Volstead Act modification; women’s auxiliaries inAFL; World Court; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0602 Meetings of May 5–13, 1931. 115pp.Major Topics: Workers education; Hod Carriers jurisdiction dispute with Marble

Polishers; UMW internal politics; old age pension model legislation; industrialconditions in Puerto Rico; Railroad Trainmen reaffiliation; wage reductions; warmobilization of labor legislation; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0717 Meetings of August 6–19, 1931. 142pp.Major Topics: Boulder Dam labor conditions; repression of labor unions in Cuba;

Engineers jurisdiction dispute with Firemen; model injunction relief bill; Mooneycase; National Civic Federation; old age pension bill; Pan American Federation ofLabor; Teamsters dispute with Railway Clerks; United Textile Workers strike atPaterson, New Jersey, silk mills; unemployment insurance; wage reductionsopposed by AFL; World Court; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0859 Meetings of October 4 and 16, 1931. 23pp.Major Topics: Convict labor; five-day workweek; immigration restriction; motion

picture industry, directly affiliated unions; bill on illegal immigrant seamen;unemployment policies.

0882 Meetings of February 2–12, 1932. 136pp.Major Topics: American Legion relations with AFL; political parties national

conventions; federal employee unions; injunction relief legislation; Machinistsdispute with Street Railway Employees; UMW strike in Harlan County, Kentucky;Mooney-Billings case; motion picture industry and union recognition; old agesecurity bill; prevailing wage rate on government contracts; U.S. Supreme Courtappointments; industrial preparedness war legislation; Chicago World’s Fair; AFLfinancial and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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Reel 4Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of July 12–22, 1932. 120pp.Major Topics: Bridge and Structural Iron Workers internal corruption charges;

cotton legislation breach of labor standards; Federal Employees Union charterapplication; five-day workweek; Machinists jurisdiction dispute with Carpenters;eight-hour day in motion picture industry; AFL nonpartisan political actioncommittee; AFL proposals to national party conventions; racketeering in laborunions; AFL charges against Steam Engineers; Theatrical Stage Employeescharges against Motion Picture Operators; unemployment conference;unemployment policies; unemployment insurance; women’s auxiliaries in AFL;AFL finances and membership statistics.

0121 Meetings of October 18–27, 1932. 93pp.Major Topics: Carpenters agreement with Machinists; Communist conference stumps

AFL convention; child labor; convict labor; five-day workweek; immigrationrestriction; injunction relief legislation; Kellogg-Briand Pact; old age securitylegislation; Pan American Federation of Labor; depression relief principles;unemployment; unemployment insurance; unemployment policies; Volstead Actmodification; workmen’s compensation; AFL finances and membership statistics;American Federation of Government Employees; AFL requests unemploymentconference with Herbert Hoover; railroad workers pension legislation; TheatricalStage Employees and Motion Picture Machine Operators protection against dualunionism.

0214 Meetings of November 20 and December 3, 1932. 34pp.Major Topics: Convict labor; Sleeping Car Porters injunction fight; shorter workday

and workweek legislation; Daniel Tobin candidacy for secretary of labor; womenand children in industry; bill to prohibit federal purchase of sweatshop products;women’s auxiliaries in AFL; workmen’s compensation.

0248 Meetings of April 20–May 2, 1933. 114pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers jurisdiction dispute with Engineers and Teamsters;

Bridge and Structural Iron Workers corruption case; Chain Store Employeesorganization drive; Commercial Telegraphers organizing drive among postalemployees; five-day workweek; six-hour day legislation; Nazi treatment of Germantrade unions; Marine Engineers Beneficial Association charter application;National Association of Master Mechanics and Foremen of Navy Yards charterapplication; AFL opposition to minimum wage legislation; Federated MotionPicture Studio Crafts recognition battle; naval appropriations; railroad legislation;EC visit to President Roosevelt; recognition of Russia; Sleeping Car Portersinjunction case; women’s auxiliaries.

0362 Meetings of September 6–15, 1933. 96pp.Major Topics: AFL organizing campaign in federal labor unions; Federal Bankruptcy

Act; Firemen and Oilers jurisdiction award over Brewery Firemen; Machinistsjurisdiction dispute with Carpenters Union; EC visit with President Roosevelt; six-hour day legislation; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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0458 Meetings of October 1, 8, and 11, 1933. 36pp.Major Topics: Amalgamated Clothing Workers charter issued; nationalization of

banks; Communist interference with AFL convention; resolution on Father CharlesE. Coughlin; policies regarding federal labor unions; Panama Canal Commission;National Recovery Act; discrimination against older workers; organizing driveamong African Americans.

0494 Meetings of January 23–February 1934. 118pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers jurisdiction dispute with Teamsters, Engineers, and

Firemen; cigar making industry code; company unions amendment to Section 7-ANational Recovery Act; resolution on Father Charles E. Coughlin; Fur Workersrepresentation dispute; Ladies Garment Workers jurisdiction dispute with TextileWorkers; unemployment relief in New York, New York; Steel Workers protestagainst Weirton Steel Company; Theatrical Stage Employees jurisdiction overmotion picture machine operators; unemployment insurance; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0612 Meetings of May 2–11, 1934. 104pp.Major Topics: AFL organizing drive; Automobile Workers organizing campaign;

Firemen dispute with Engineers; Garment Workers jurisdiction dispute withTextile Workers; paper industry organizing campaign; resolution on George W.Perkins; Wagner-Connery Labor Disputes Act; women’s auxiliaries; AFL financesand membership statistics.

0716 Meetings of August 6–17, 1934. 81pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers Federal Labor Unions; Sleeping Car Porters

charter application; women’s auxiliaries; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0797 Meetings of September 28–October 14, 1934. 121pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters; appeals of Carpenters,

Bricklayers, and Electrical Workers to Building Trades Department; Agriculturaland Cannery Workers Union reduction in dues; anti-union laws; Boulder Damlabor conditions; company unions; convict labor; employment agencies; FederalEmergency Relief Administration employment requirements; labor standards ongovernment contracts; Federal Housing Act; immigration law modification;African American organizers; racketeering resolution; rubber workersunemployment; Sleeping Car Porters application; thirty-hour workweek; TimberWorkers organizing; Textile Workers strike.

0918 Meetings of January 29–February 14, 1935. 116pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organizing drive; Blacksmiths protest AFL

organizing infringements; Firemen jurisdiction dispute with engineers; GasWorkers charter application; Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers protest AnacondaCompany agreement with Metal Trades Department; Carpenters jurisdiction overSaw Mill and Timber Workers; Textile Workers program; Tobacco Trades Councilpetition regarding codes; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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Reel 5Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of January 29–February 14, 1935 cont. 226pp.Major Topics: EC meeting with Colonel Daniel McCormack, Commissioner of

Immigration and Naturalization; radicalism in the labor movement; AutomobileWorkers organizing drive; Blacksmiths protest AFL organizing infringements;Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters; Building Trades controversy; ChildLabor Amendment; Fascist movement activities in United States; Sidney Hillmanand National Recovery Administration administration; immigration legislationamendments; International Labor Office; prevailing wages in federal reliefemployment; Marine Shipbuilders charter application; Mine, Mill, and SmelterWorkers protest Anaconda Company agreement with Metal Trades Department;Amalgamated Clothing Workers; EC meeting with President Roosevelt; RadioWorkers charter application; Sleeping Car Porters jurisdiction dispute withSleeping Car Conductors; Steel Workers organizing campaign; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0227 Meetings of April 30–May 7, 1935. 189pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organization; Brewery Workers dispute with

Teamsters; Building Service Employees jurisdictional applications; CatholicUniversity of America chair in social economics; Father Charles E. Coughlininvites AFL to participate in National Union for Social Justice; Firemen and Oilersdispute with Textile Workers; Dubinsky report on International Labor Office;industrial organization in mass production industries; Mine, Mill, and SmelterWorkers protest Metal Trades Department agreement with Anaconda Company;Molders amalgamation with Foundry Workers; AFL conference with PresidentRoosevelt; Rubber Workers charter application; Steel Workers insurgentmovement; Wagner labor disputes bill; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0416 Meetings of June 6–7, 1935. 47pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters; Building Trades

Department, internal controversy; Father Charles E. Coughlin communication;Supreme Court decision invalidating National Recovery Act; Robert F. Wagnermeeting with EC.

0463 Meetings of August 5–16, 1935. 128pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters; Building Trades

Department, internal controversy; anti-Communist amendment to AFL convention;injunction relief laws; Child Labor Amendment; industrial organization in massproduction industries; NLRB; National Recovery Act invalidation; unemploymentrelief; National Youth Administration; International Labor Office; racketeeringinvestigation in New York; Sleeping Car Porters jurisdiction; AFL SpecialCommittee on Colored Workers; Social Security Board; Theatrical StageEmployees jurisdiction extension; Workers Education Bureau; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

Frame No.

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0591 Meetings of October 5–6, 12, and 20–21, 1935. 150pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organization; AFL resolution regarding

Communists; Thomas E. Dewey racketeering investigation; AFL resolution oninjunctions; labor and depression relief legislation; antilynching bill; Communistactivity in Minneapolis labor movement; Mooney case expenses; SpecialCommittee Report on Negro Workers; organizing drive among African Americans;Scottsboro case; organizing drive in southern states; Steel Workers organizingdrive; AFL legislative activities; Seattle, Washington, Labor Council suspension ofBrewery Workers; American Federation of Teachers investigation; National YouthAdministration.

0741 Meetings of January 15–29, 1936. 238pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organization; International Labor Office; British

Trades Union Congress; Child Labor Amendment; CIO; amendment to U.S.Constitution to limit judicial review of legislation; Arkansas Tenant Farmersorganization; immigration legislation; Iron and Steel Workers organization; AFLresolution on Kohler Company; resignation of John L. Lewis from EC; MetalTrades Department dispute with Oil Field Workers; organization of LumberWorkers; AFL critical report on National Civic Federation; Radio Workers charterapplication denied; Rubber Workers constitution; Sleeping Car Porters charter;Tampa, Florida, floggings of labor organizers reported by Norman Thomas;women’s auxiliaries; Workers Education Bureau; AFL finances and membershipstatistics.

Reel 6Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of May 5–20, 1936. 297pp.Major Topics: Sheet Metal Workers jurisdiction dispute with Machinists;

Automobile Workers organization; Brewery Workers dispute with Seattle CLU;civil service qualifications; CIO; convict labor legislation; Flat Glass Workersjurisdiction; AFL opposition to Frazier-Lemke Act; International Federation ofTrade Unions; AFL Legal Defense Department; AFL legislative program; PanAmerican Federation of Labor; Social Security Act administration; Steel Workersorganizing campaign; American Federation of Teachers; AFL finances andmembership statistics; unemployment; immigration restriction; injunction relief tosupplement National Labor Relations Act; subversive activities.

0298 Meetings of July 8–15, 1936. 272pp.Major Topics: Building Service Employees jurisdiction extension; CIO; Metal Trades

Department charges against CIO; Ladies Garment Workers affiliation with CIO;Mooney-Billings Defense Fund; Seamen’s International Union and Pacific Coastmaritime dispute; Textile Workers affiliation with CIO; AFL suspension of CIOunions.

Frame No.

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0570 Meetings of August 3–5, 1936. 84pp.Major Topics: CIO; Electrical Workers charges against CIO; Hatters, Cap, and

Millinery Workers relationship to CIO; International Typographical Unionrelationship with CIO; Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen jurisdiction expansion;Metal Trades Department charges against CIO; Printing Trades dispute withLithographers; AFL suspension of CIO unions; Wisconsin Federation of Laborresolution regarding CIO.

0654 Meetings of October 8–21, 1936. 233pp.Major Topics: American Newspaper Guild strike at Seattle Post-Intelligencer;

Amalgamated Clothing Workers disputes with United Garment Workers; ClothHat, Cap, and Millinery Workers resolution on CIO; Machinists resolution on CIO;CIO activities in Toledo, Ohio; Dubinsky resignation as vice president of AFL;Building Service Employees jurisdiction expansion; AFL relations with FederalLabor Unions; Automobile Workers and AFL; convict labor; civil service; healthinsurance; housing; European labor; NLRB; Pan American Federation of Labor;public education; Puerto Rico; depression relief; Social Security Act; SteelWorkers organizing campaign; unemployment; American Federation of Teachers;technological change; Hutcheson resignation as vice president of AFL; IndianaState Federation of Labor endorsement of Farmer-Labor Party; InternationalFederation of Trade Unions; International Typographical Union relations withCIO; Lithographers dispute with Printing Trades Unions; U.S. Supreme Courtdecision on National Recovery Administration; American Federation of State,County, and Municipal Employees charter; Walsh-Healey minimum wage bill; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0887 Meetings of November 14–15 and 28–29, 1936. 64pp.Major Topics: Butte, Montana, CLU charter application; CIO; Brewery Workers

resolution on CIO; company unions; convict labor; housing; immigrationlegislation; International Federation of Trade Unions; Marine Engineers BeneficialAssociation; motion picture industry labor agreement; American Newspaper Guildstrike in Seattle; Puerto Rico and Wagner Labor Relations Act; depression reliefqualifications; labor espionage; limitation of power of U.S. Supreme Court;vigilante violence; Walsh-Healey minimum wage bill; Filipino exclusion; seamen’slegislation; occupational disease; workmen’s compensation.

Frame No.

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Reel 7Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of February 8–19, 1937. 247pp.Major Topics: Agricultural, Packing House, and Cannery Workers union; Butte,

Montana, CLU application; CIO; CIO relations with CLUs; Communist activitiesin labor movement; Gallup, Mexico, Miners situation; General Motors strike;federal (Guffey) coal bill; Hotel and Restaurant Workers jurisdiction expansion;General Hugh S. Johnson attack on AFL; Machinists dispute with TobaccoWorkers; Masters, Mates, and Pilots dispute with Longshoremen; Meat Cuttersand Butcher Workmen jurisdiction expansion; Metal Trades Department hearingon CIO activities; minimum wage legislation; motion picture industry agreement;African American labor organizers; Ladies Pocketbook and Novelty Workerscharter; white collar workers organization; WPA workers organization; Seamen’sInternational Union insurgent challenge; U.S. Supreme Court, president’sreorganization plan; Teamsters jurisdiction expansion; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0248 Meetings of April 19–22, 1937. 51pp.Major Topics: CIO; Cleveland Federation of Labor report on CIO; Georgia

Federation of Labor resolution on AFL and CIO; Massachusetts Federation ofLabor organization drive; minimum wage legislation; International Textileconference.

0299 Meetings of May 23 and 26–30, 1937. 156pp.Major Topics: Agricultural, Packing House, and Cannery Workers charter

application; Aluminum Workers affiliation with CIO; Chicago Federation of Labor;CIO; Georgia Federation of Labor relations with CIO; AFL Marine TradesDepartment; Progressive Miners charter application; Street and Electric RailwayEmployees dispute with Transit Workers Union in New York, New York;International Typographical Union relations with CIO; Teamsters jurisdictionextension to warehousemen; Welders charter application denied; Pacific CoastLongshoremen dispute with Teamsters over warehousemen; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0455 Meetings of August 21–September 2, 1937. 216pp.Major Topics: Brewery Workers suit against AFL and Teamsters; Canadian Trades

and Labor Congress; Constitutional amendments; Building Service Employeesjurisdiction extension; exclusion of alien workers; age discrimination; injunctionrelief legislation; child labor; CIO; convict labor; hours of work for women andminors; housing legislation; industrial homework; antilynching bill; ProgressiveMiners Union; Pan American Federation of Labor; Puerto Rico Free Federation ofWorkingmen; Railroad Employees Retirement Law; sit-down strikes; socialsecurity; wages and hours legislation; International Federation of Trade Unions;International Labor Office; CIO organization in lumber industry; maritimeorganizations; CIO activity in Minneapolis CLU; Quarry Workers jurisdictiondispute with Teamsters, and Hod Carriers and Engineers; Seamen’s InternationalUnion reorganization; West Virginia State Federation of Labor; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

Frame No.

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0671 Meetings of October 3–4, 9, and 13–16, 1937. 109pp.Major Topics: Building Service employees jurisdiction dispute with Hotel and

Restaurant Employees; cannery industry organizing campaign; CIO activities innorthwest lumber industry and Pacific Coast maritime industry; AFL “peaceconference” with CIO; AFL Defense Fund; Federal Labor Unions tax reductionsand suspensions; housing; antilynching bill; Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workerscharter application; NLRB; African American organizers; old age pensions;Progressive Miners charter application; Puerto Rico political situation; wages andhours legislation.

0780 Meetings of December 3–4, 1937. 18pp.Major Topics: Marine Engineers Beneficial Association jurisdiction dispute with

Operating Engineers; wages and hours legislation.

0798 Meetings of January 24–February 8, 1938. 263pp.Major Topics: AFL tax assessments; Blacksmiths jurisdiction dispute with

Machinists; Building Service Employees dispute with Hotel and RestaurantEmployees; Bridge and Structural Iron Workers dispute with Teamsters andEngineers; report on CIO; organizing drive at Ford Motor Company; WagnerHousing Bill provision for prevailing wage rates; Japanese aggression in China;wages and hours legislation; Building Trades agreement with Maintenance of WayEmployees; Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers charter revocation; ProgressiveMiners of America; UMW charter revocation; social security legislation;unemployment; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Reel 8Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of April 25–May 5, 1938. 211pp.Major Topics: Public works and appropriations bills; Bakery and Confectionery

Workers jurisdiction expansion; Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters;Building Trades dispute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; CIO in Canadian Trades andLabor Congress; Seattle labor movement; wages and hours legislation; NLRBdecisions; Painters and Decorators jurisdiction expansion; Pan AmericanFederation of Labor; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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0212 Meetings of August 22–September 2, 1938. 217pp.Major Topics: Auto Workers charter; Building and Construction Trades Department

agreement with Carpenters; CIO; CIO status in Canadian Trades and LaborCongress; joint AFL-CIO Labor Day proceedings; Dies Committee investigations;AFL organizing drive among industrial workers; housing; Hod Carriers disputewith Quarry Workers; Hotel and Restaurant Employees dispute with BuildingService Employees; report on International Federation of Trade Unions;Machinists controversy with Pittsburgh Plumbers Union; Machinists dispute withSheet Metal Workers; Marine Engineers Beneficial Association; ProgressiveMiners Union organizing drive; National Labor Relations Act, survey of decisionsand administration; Packinghouse workers organizing drive; Sailors Union of thePacific; Seamen organizing drive; Street and Electric Railway Employeesjurisdiction disputes; Upholsterers jurisdiction disputes; wages and hourslegislation; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0429 Meetings of October 2, 4, 8, 12, and 14, 1938. 71pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO reconciliation proposals; CIO representation in Canadian

Trades and Labor Congress; Upholsterers Union jurisdiction disputes; MetalTrades Department organizing among shipyard workers; Seafarers InternationalUnion charter; International Seamen’s Union charter revocation.

0500 Meetings of January 30–February 14, 1939. 420pp.Major Topics: American Federation of Actors jurisdiction extension; Canadian

Trades and Labor Congress appeal for assistance; Oregon antilabor law; NationalYouth Administration apprentice training; Associated Farmers antilabor activities;Automobile Workers organization; Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters;boycott of German-made goods; Building Service Employees dispute andagreement with Hotel and Restaurant Employees; CIO dissociated from CanadianTrades and Labor Congress; Carpenters Union jurisdiction disputes; CIO-AFLpeace negotiations; CIO activities in Butte, Montana; Dies Committee; AFLHousing Committee; NLRB appointments; Labor’s Non-Partisan League; NationalLabor Relations Act amendments; refugee legislation; wages and hours act (Walsh-Healey Fair Labor Standards Act); seniority rights of African American railroadmaids; African American voting rights in the south; African American membershipin AFL; Longshoremen dispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots; labor relations inMexico; Progressive Mine Workers of America; National Youth Administrationand national defense; neon sign industry jurisdiction; Pan American Federation ofLabor; Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters jurisdiction expansion; SeafarersInternational Union report; State, County, and Municipal Employees jurisdiction;Teamsters dispute with Brewery Workers in Detroit; Textile Workers of Americareaffiliation with AFL; AFL finances and membership statistics; Fort Wayne,Indiana, Housing Plan.

0920 Meetings of March 22–23, 1939. 45pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Associated Farmers; Mine, Mill, and

Smelter Workers; UMW; Oil Field, Gas Well, and Refinery Workers; WesternFederation of Miners; Textile Workers of America; Amalgamated ClothingWorkers of America; Automobile Workers.

Frame No.

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Reel 9Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of May 10–19, 1939. 180pp.Major Topics: American Federation of Actors jurisdiction extension; AFL-CIO peace

negotiations; Automobile Workers jurisdiction; Balfour Declaration on Palestine;Brewery Workers dispute with Teamsters; Canadian Trades and Labor Congress;Operating Engineers jurisdiction matters; Laborers jurisdiction dispute withOperating Engineers; Longshoremen’s dispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots;AFL Maritime Department proposed; Progressive Miners Union of America;Street and Electric Railway Employees dispute with Teamsters over Bus Operatorsorganizing; AFL organizing report; Pan American Federation of Labor; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0181 Meetings of August 7–18, 1939. 258pp.Major Topics: American Actors and Artists of America jurisdiction dispute with

American Federation of Actors and Theatrical Stage Employees; CIO activities;AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Canadian Trades and Labor Congress dissociationfrom CIO; Carpenters jurisdiction disputes; Japanese aggression in China; AFLlegislative program; Longshoremen’s dispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots;Molders Union dispute with Stove Mounters Union and Foundry Workers Union;discrimination against African Americans by AFL unions; Upholsterers disputewith Carpenters; women’s auxiliaries representation in State Federations of Labor;prevailing wages in WPA work; AFL finances and membership statistics; Summaryof Legal Activities of AFL.

0439 Meetings of October 1, 9, and 14–15, 1939. 96pp.Major Topics: Injunction case in New Orleans; Canadian Trades and Labor

Congress; Carpenters jurisdiction dispute with Machinists over Millwrights;resolution for judicial recall; Longshoremen’s dispute with Masters, Mates, andPilots; discrimination against African American workers by AFL unions; NationalLabor Relations Act amendments; Oregon antilabor law; Upholsterers agreementwith Painters disapproved; Textile Workers organizing campaign; Upholsterersdispute with Carpenters; federal labor unions for warehousemen; WPA workingconditions; WPA Minneapolis strike and prevailing wage controversy; anti-Communist resolutions.

0535 Meetings of January 29–February 9, 1940. 206pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Oregon antilabor law; Brewery

Workers dispute with Teamsters; Building Service Employees jurisdictionexpansion; U.S. Department of Justice indictments of Building Trades unions forantitrust violations; Painters Union agreement with Stove Mounters; proposedfederal health security legislation; Conference on War Mobilization of Industry;U.S. Housing Authority; National Labor Relations Act amendments;Longshoremen’s dispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots; indictments of strikingWPA workers in Minneapolis; Newspaper Guild in Chicago; Labor’s Non-PartisanLeague; Westbrook Pegler attacks on AFL leaders; picketing rights; Sleeping CarPorters jurisdiction expansion; AFL Committee on Taxation; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

Frame No.

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0741 Meetings of May 13–21, 1940. 162pp.Major Topics: AFL building; American Federationist business; British Trades Union

Congress; Carpenters dispute with Machinists; Circus, Carnival, Fairs, and RodeoInternational Union charter application and request for assistance; ImmigrationService transfer from Labor to Justice Department; AFL planks to political partiesconventions; injunction relief legislation and antitrust relief legislation; housing;immigration; Ladies Garment Workers reaffiliation with AFL; Longshoremen’sdispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots; Machinists jurisdiction disputes; warmobilization of industry; Tobacco Workers International Union internalcontroversy; Virginia State Federation of Labor; indictments of Minneapolis WPAstrikers; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0903 Meetings of September 30–October 10, 1940. 122pp.Major Topics: Theatrical Agents and Managers Union jurisdiction extension;

Southern Tenant Farmers Union charter application; Building and ConstructionTrades Department disputes with Machinists; Carpenters dispute with Machinists;Brotherhood of Railway Clerks jurisdiction matters; conscription exemption fromunion taxes; CIO-AFL peace negotiations; Workers Education Bureau; socialsecurity; AFL opposition to appointment of Sidney Hillman to National DefenseCommission; Longshoremen’s dispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots; NationalLabor Relations Act amendments; nonpartisan political policies; presidentialcampaign; AFL policies on suspension of international unions; Virginia StateFederation of Labor.

Reel 10Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of September 30–October 10, 1940 cont. 84pp.Major Topics: Building and Construction Trades Department disputes with State,

County, and Municipal Employees; postwar economic planning; workerseducation; application of antitrust to labor unions; AFL organizing drives; AFLpolicies on suspension of international unions; proposed AFL libel suit againstWestbrook Pegler; labor racketeering; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0085 Meetings of November 17–29, 1940. 28pp.Major Topics: AFL legal fees; AFL policies on suspension of international unions;

Stove Mounters and Molders protests.

Frame No.

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0113 Meetings of February 10–20, 1941. 202pp.Major Topics: Alien migration to the United States; Oregon antilabor law; protest

application of antitrust law to labor unions by Thurman Arnold; AutomobileWorkers organizing; Carpenters dispute with Machinists; opposition to youthreplacement of adult Civilian Conservation Corps workers; AFL anti-Communistresolution; collective bargaining in national defense industries; Detroit and WayneCounty Federation of Labor; Operating Engineers jurisdiction dispute withTeamsters; Grain Processors application for charter application; antistrike andcompulsory arbitration legislation; compulsory work legislation; Longshoremensettlement with Masters, Mates, and Pilots; Montgomery Ward unfair laborpractices case; racketeering charges in Painters Union; Pan American Federation ofLabor rehabilitation; Pegler libel suit; Sleeping Car Porters legislation regardingconductors; shipbuilding industry; wage rates in defense construction; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0315 Meetings of May 19–28, 1941. 159pp.Major Topics: Variety Actors Betterment committee and American Federation of

Actors; AFL opposition to antistrike legislation; Brewery Workers dispute withTeamsters; Sleeping Car Porters dispute with Conductors; Carpenters dispute withMachinists; Ice Pullers jurisdiction dispute among Teamsters, Operating Engineersand Firemen, and Oilers; Kohler Company strike; Machinists strike at SanFrancisco shipyards; racketeering in Painters Union; AFL per capita taxes; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0474 Meetings of August 4–13, 1941. 107pp.Major Topics: Automobile Workers organizing conflict with Machinists at Allis

Chalmers Company; Boiler Makers agreement with Plumbers; Carpenters disputewith Machinists; antilabor legislation; Communist activity in American Federationof Teachers; housing; application of antitrust law to unions; AFL-CIO peacenegotiations; postwar reconstruction; labor standards in public contracts; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0581 Meetings of October 5, 14, and 17, 1941. 36pp.Major Topics: Alaskan defense workers; antilabor legislation; Brewery Workers

dispute with Teamsters; embargo of Japan; migrant labor; investigation ofMinneapolis CLU; NLRB.

0617 Meetings of December 16 and 18, 1941. 21pp.Major Topics: Antilabor legislation, Smith Bill; President’s Conference of Employers

and Employees in War Production Industries.

0638 Meetings of January 12–17, 1942. 130pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO peace negotiations; antilabor legislation; Civilian

Conservation Corps merger with National Youth Association; Carpenters disputewith Machinists; AFL purchase of Defense Bonds; Distillery Workers dispute withSeagram Company; Machinists dispute with Building Trades Department andCarpenters over Tennessee Valley Authority; office employees unionsorganization; price controls; AFL finances and membership statistics; War LaborBoard established.

Frame No.

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0768 Meetings of May 13–22, 1942. 141pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Anglo-Soviet-American Trade Union

committee proposed; Boys Town, Nebraska; William H. Davis, chair of War LaborBoard, anti-union attitude; Engineers dispute with Machinists and Building TradesDepartment; application of antitrust to labor unions; antilabor legislation; chargesof bias against NLRB; Pan American Labor Conference; prison labor in warproduction; wage stabilization; War Bond salary deduction.

Reel 11Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of May 13–22, 1942 cont. 36pp.Major Topics: AFL finances and membership statistics; Special Report on AFL:

Present Financial Status.

0037 Meetings of August 4–13, 1942. 143pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Anglo-American Trade Union

Committee; arbitration; Carpenters dispute with Machinists; collective bargainingin defense industries; labor relations in U.S. Navy; antilabor legislation;antiracketeering legislation; Dies Committee; housing; application of antitrust tolabor unions; maritime labor legislation; Nationality Acts; War ManpowerCommission; subversive activities; women and children in war production; WarProduction Board; strikes, communication from Under Secretary of War RobertPatterson; wartime wage policies; war prisoners relief; AFL finances andmembership statistics.

0180 Meetings of October 4–6 and 15, 1942. 47pp.Major Topics: Anglo-American Trade Union Committee, inclusion of CIO and

Railroad Brotherhoods; antilabor legislation in California, “Hot Cargo” legislation;Machinists disputes with Carpenters and Building and Construction TradesDepartment; National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peopletelegram to AFL regarding African American workers; Anglo-Soviet Trades UnionCouncil; collective bargaining in war industries; housing for war workers;immigration; antitrust; maritime legislation; NWLB; wages and benefits ofgovernment employees; Executive Order on overtime pay.

0227 Meetings of January 18–27, 1943. 200pp.Major Topics: Absenteeism in war industries; AFL-CIO peace negotiations; AFL

representation on government boards and committees in war production; Anglo-American-Soviet Trade Union Association; Anglo-American Trade UnionCommittee; antilabor legislation; anti–closed shop litigation in Florida; housing forwar workers; inter-American affairs; Kaiser Shipbuilding case; Los AngelesCentral Labor Council; Pan American Federation of Labor; wage and pricestabilization; WPA liquidated; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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0427 Meetings of May 17–22, 1943. 141pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Machinists jurisdiction dispute with

Carpenters over aircraft plants; antilabor legislation, Smith-Connally bill, antitrust;Kaiser shipyards case; investigation of Los Angeles Central Labor Council; UMWapplication for reaffiliation with AFL; NLRB and Kaiser shipyard case; NationalWar Labor Board; no-strike pledge; Oil Refinery Workers jurisdiction; report onAFL legal cases; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0568 Meetings of August 9–16, 1943. 135pp.Major Topics: Anglo-American Trade Union Committee; proposed repeal of Chinese

Exclusion Act; cigarettes for servicemen campaign; European relief, aid tounderground movements; AFL legal report; antitrust; Machinists withdrawal fromAFL; NLRB; NWLB; AFL-CIO peace negotiations; price controls and rationing;UMW reaffiliation; United Nations Relief Committee; American Legion LaborPosts; prisoners of war used for war labor; Connally-Smith Act threat to no-strikepledge; AFL political activities; Progressive Miners of America reaffiliation withUMW; Women’s Trade Union League; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0703 Meetings of October 3, 5–6, 13, and 15, 1943. 48pp.Major Topics: Brotherhood of Railway Car Men jurisdiction; Los Angeles CLU;

Machinists reinstatement in AFL; UMW reaffiliation with AFL.

0751 Meetings of January 17–27, 1944. 236pp.Major Topics: Antilabor legislation in general and in Florida; Chemical Workers

charter application; book on closed shop; centralization of U.S. Department ofLabor; Operating Engineers dispute with Machinists; AFL Housing CommitteeReport; Bernardo Ibanez, Chilean Labor delegation; International Federation ofTrade Unions; International Labor Office; Progressive Mine Workers of Americaprotest UMW reaffiliation with AFL; NLRB amendment to authority; AFLopposition to National Service Act; NWLB powers protested; AFL legal actionsreport; AFL political activity; prisoners of war labor; postwar economic planning;Paul Robeson membership in CIO; Eleanor Roosevelt; soldiers voting rightslegislation; World Trade Union Conference; AFL finances and membershipstatistics.

Reel 12Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of January 17–27, 1944 cont. 34pp.Major Topic: International Council of Office Employees Unions.

Frame No.

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0035 Meetings of May 1–9, 1944. 179pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO political collaboration disapproved; antilabor legislation;

Brotherhood of Railway Clerks jurisdiction matters; Operating Engineersbargaining agency in oil refineries and jurisdiction dispute with Machinists;George-Murray bill on war contracts; AFL Housing Committee; immigration andnationalization of Indians; labor conscription; UMW reaffiliation with AFL;Montgomery Ward labor dispute; NWLB; discrimination against African Americanworkers; AFL political platforms sent to major parties; Railway Clerks controversywith Railroad Telegraphers; Philadelphia Transportation Workers; Conference ofOffice Employees Unions; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0214 Meetings of August 21–29, 1944. 111pp.Major Topics: British Trades Unions Congress; Chemical Workers charter

application; Operating Engineers dispute with Machinists; AFL litigation; FairLabor Standards Act; AFL-CIO peace negotiations; Ladies Handbag and NoveltyWorkers controversy; AFL Housing Committee; AFL representative visit to Italy;Office Employees charter application; AFL litigation against antilabor laws; AFLfinances and membership statistics.

0325 Meetings of November 19, 22, 28, and December 1, 1944. 46pp.Major Topics: British Trades Union Congress; NWLB; Confederation of Workers of

Latin America; Machinists dispute with Operating Engineers; UMW reaffiliation;World Trade Union Conference.

0371 Meetings of February 5–15, 1945. 171pp.Major Topics: Antilabor laws in Florida; Cannery Workers jurisdiction dispute with

Teamsters over warehousemen; CLUs as collective bargaining agencies; AFL-CIOpeace initiative; Detroit and Wayne County Federation of Labor organizing;Operating Engineers dispute with Machinists; Federal Labor Unions; InternationalFederation of Trade Unions; discrimination against Japanese Americans; AFLlitigation; federal aid to education bill; work-or-fight bill; universal militarytraining; Progressive Mine Workers of America protest reaffiliation of UMW;United Nations San Francisco convention; veterans aid; white-only democraticprimary elections; World Trade Union Conference; AFL finances and membershipstatistics.

0542 Meetings of April 30–May 8, 1945. 164pp.Major Topics: AFL collaboration with CIO in Canada; Aluminum Workers charter

application; World Trade Union Conference; Code of Principles for Labor andManagement by AFL, CIO, and Chamber of Commerce; CIO influence on postwarplanning; Grain Processors charter application; AFL meeting with farmers’organizations; amendments to National Labor Relations Act suggested by MetalTrades Department; African Americans relationship to AFL; AFL organizingpolicies; Theatrical Stage Employees dispute with Painters; postwar reconversionprogram; EC meeting with President Truman; United Nations Conference in SanFrancisco; AFL proposed amendments to Dumbarton Oaks Proposals; WorldTrade Union Conference; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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0706 Meetings of August 6–14, 1945. 175pp.Major Topics: Associated Actors and Artists; Code of Principles of AFL, U.S.

Chamber of Commerce, and CIO; Aluminum Workers charter application; veteransseniority issues; Building Trades Department disputes with Brotherhood ofMaintenance of Way Employees; Canadian Seamen’s Union; Brotherhood ofSleeping Car Porters dispute with Car Men, Railway, and Shop CraftsBrotherhoods; strike and jurisdiction controversy among Hollywood studio unions;Communist activity in southern California; Federal Industrial Relations Act; HodCarriers dispute with Building Trades Department; AFL litigation against stateantilabor legislation; amendments to National Labor Relations Act; organizing ofwomen in industry; NLRB; no-strike pledge discontinued; World Trade UnionConference; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0881 Meetings of October 15–24, 1945. 100pp.Major Topics: Anglo-American Trade Union Committee; antilabor legislation in

Massachusetts; British Trades Union Congress; Hollywood studio unionsjurisdiction dispute between Carpenters, Painters, and Theatrical Stage Employees;withdrawal of Montreal, Canada, Trades and Labor Council; jurisdictioncontroversy between Operating Engineers and Firemen and Oilers in Louisville,Kentucky, strike; Farmers Cooperative meeting with AFL; AFL foreign policystatement; Ladies Handbag and Novelty Workers jurisdiction dispute; Mexicanimmigration; Government Employees Council formed; housing legislation; AFLstatements of housing, taxes, wages, and wage and price controls; Teamstersprotest NLRB ruling on California Cannery Workers jurisdiction to CIO; WorldTrade Union Congress; AFL finances and membership statistics.

Reel 13Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of October 15–24, 1945 cont. 62pp.Major Topics: Anglo-American Trade Union Committee; British Trades Union

Congress; jurisdiction controversy between Operating Engineers and Firemen andOilers in Louisville, Kentucky, hotel strike; Farmers Cooperative meeting withAFL; Ladies Handbag and Novelty Workers jurisdiction dispute; Labor-Management Conference; League for Human Rights; jurisdiction controversy inHollywood studios between Painters, Carpenters, and Theatrical Stage Employees;AFL finances and membership statistics.

Frame No.

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0063 Meetings of January 21–31, 1946. 202pp.Major Topics: United Nations; Air Force adequacy; Brewery and Soft Drink

Workers reaffiliation; Hollywood studios strike and jurisdiction dispute amongOperating Engineers, Carpenters, and Theatrical Stage Employees; federal laborlegislation; Cuban labor situation; federal aid to education; jurisdiction disputebetween Operating Engineers and Firemen and Oilers in Louisville, Kentucky,hotels; conditions in Germany; housing shortage; inflation and price controls; LatinAmerican labor movement; antilabor law in Florida; John L. Lewis elected vicepresident; Machinists jurisdiction controversies; Progressive Mine Workers ofAmerica oppose UMW reaffiliation; Japan and Philippines organization of laborunions; postwar reconversion employment policies; AFL resolution on Spain;State, County, and Municipal Employees competition with CIO; AFL statementson federal labor legislation; housing in Germany; inflation; postwar reconversion;Spain and taxation; World Federation of Trade Unions; AFL finances andmembership statistics; super-seniority litigation.

0265 Meetings of May 15–22, 1946. 133pp.Major Topics: AFL Financial Committee Report; federal antilabor legislation, Case

bill; Automobile Workers loan refinance and jurisdiction competition withMachinists; Brewery and Soft Drink Workers reaffiliation; Carpenters protestdecision in Hollywood studio jurisdiction dispute; Teamsters activities inCalifornia; Cannery Workers on Pacific Coast protest NLRB ruling; Communistactivities in southern California; trade unions in Germany; Government EmployeesCouncil; UMW Health and Welfare Fund; Building Service Employees disputewith Hod Carriers and Laborers in Hollywood Studio jurisdiction; U.S. Senateinvestigation of industrial unrest; Latin American labor movements; MaritimeTrades Council; Machinists affiliation status; Maritime Trades Council proposed;southern states organizing campaign; Pan American Labor Movement; union labelapplication to grain products; Wisconsin State Federation of Labor competitionwith CIO; AFL membership statistics.

0398 Meetings of August 12–20, 1946. 184pp.Major Topics: AFL Financial Committee Report; Hollywood studios jurisdiction

settlement; Cannery Workers in California; Commercial Telegraphers jurisdictionextension and dispute with Communications Workers; Operating Engineers disputewith Machinists; policies for CLUs and State Federations of Labor; federal aid toeducation; housing legislation; formation of Maritime Trades Council; Machinistsdissociation from AFL; National Farm Labor Union jurisdiction request; pricecontrols; farmers cooperatives; Auto Workers jurisdiction over Farm ImplementManufacturers; labor conditions in Germany; AFL housing program; InternationalLabor Organization; Musicians Union opposition to Lea Bill amending FederalCommunications Act; Minneapolis CLU and CIO; Memphis CLU and TeamstersUnion; southern states organizing campaign; United Textile Workers of America;AFL membership statistics.

Frame No.

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0582 Meetings of October 6 and 18, 1946. 40pp.Major Topics: Alaska organizing efforts among Seafarers and Mine Workers; right-

to-work legislation in Nebraska; Canadian Trades and Labor Congress; southernorganizing campaign; Germany; Hollywood studios jurisdiction controversy;American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees jurisdictionextension to nurses; reinstatement of Railroad Signalmen; Railroad Brotherhoods;United Nations.

0622 Meetings of January 29–February 5, 1947. 145pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity negotiations; Watch Workers Union charter

application; antilabor legislation; AFL mission to Argentina; Metal Trades unionscomplaints about Automobile Workers Union; British Trades Union Congress;International Labor Office; agricultural workers wage ceiling; Firemen and Oilersmerger negotiations with Operating Engineers; Auto Workers jurisdiction requestover Farm Implement Workers; AFL mission to Germany; AFL HousingCommittee report; Hollywood studio jurisdiction dispute between Carpenters andTheatrical and Stage Employees; AFL jurisdiction policies in amusement industry;Moscow Peace Conference; salaries of AFL organizers; slave labor; southernorganizing campaign; AFL resolution on Spain; AFL statement on universalmilitary training; right-to-work law in Nebraska; United Nations Security Council;AFL finances and membership statistics.

0767 Meetings of April 21–25, 1947. 104pp.Major Topics: Antilabor legislation (Taft-Hartley Bill); Hollywood studio unions

jurisdiction dispute; Metal Trades dispute with Automobile Workers; Firemen andOiler merger with Operating Engineers; Carpenters dispute with Theatrical StageEmployees in Hollywood; Latin American labor movement; Machinistsreaffiliation; southern organizing campaign; AFL financial report and membershipstatistics.

0871 Meetings of September 8–13, 1947. 141pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity negotiations; AFL policy against collaboration with

CIO; antilabor legislation (Taft-Hartley Act); Canadian labor movement;Carpenters dispute with Theatrical Stage Employees over Hollywood jurisdiction;British Trades Union Congress; Germany conditions; inflation and price controls;report on Japan; non-Communist affidavits; Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Portersdispute with Railway Shop Craft Unions; Railroad Brotherhoods opposition toTaft-Hartley legislation; United Nations children’s aid; women’s commission.

Frame No.

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Reel 14Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of January 26–February 3, 1948. 165pp.Major Topics: AFL cooperation with CIO against Taft-Hartley; AFL litigation;

Carpenters dispute with Upholsterers; anticommunism; southern organizingcampaign; slave labor; American Heritage Foundation; Hollywood jurisdictioncontroversy; inflation and price control; jurisdiction dispute machinery; Labor’sLeague for Political Education; AFL-sponsored labor-management legislation;Latin American Confederation of Labor; equal pay of women; Fair EmploymentPractices bill; Marshall Plan; Minneapolis CLU collaboration with CIO; NationalFarm Labor Union; contract with AFL counsel Joseph Padway; Sleeping CarPorters dispute with Railroad Shop Craft Unions; migrant labor; Taft-Hartley Act;universal military training; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0166 Meetings of May 10–14, 1948. 132pp.Major Topics: AFL consultants to United Nations; Building and Construction Trades

Department dispute with Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers; Carpentersdispute with Upholsterers Union; Chinese Federation of Labor; Department ofFederal Labor Unions proposed; AFL representation in European Recovery(Marshall) Plan; Grain Millers petition for charter; Jewelry Workers protest charterto Watch Workers; Inter-American Confederation of Labor; AFL litigation; laborplanks in political party platforms; Progressive Mine Workers of America; SleepingCar Porters dispute with Railway Shop Crafts; AFL finances and membershipstatistics; AFL International Labor Relations Department Report.

0298 Meetings of August 23–27, 1948. 105pp.Major Topics: AFL nonpartisan political policy in 1948 elections; Building and

Construction Trades Department jurisdiction problems; Carpenters dispute withUpholsterers; Chemical Workers jurisdiction problems; AFL representation onMarshall Plan; Defense Fund to defend unions against antilabor laws; AFLactivities in Hawaii; Machinists dispute with Teamsters and Retail Clerks in strikeat Boeing Corporation, Seattle; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0403 Meetings of November 13–15, 19, and 23, 1948. 59pp.Major Topics: AFL attitude toward Taft-Hartley Act; Canadian Trades and Labor

Congress dispute with Railway Clerks; Cigar Makers merger with TobaccoWorkers; AFL organizing in Hawaii; Labor’s League for Political Education;Seafarers International Union organizing on west coast; Carpenters dispute withUpholsterers Union; AFL legislative agenda.

Frame No.

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0462 Meetings of January 31–February 8, 1949. 167pp.Major Topics: Amendments to National Labor Act; housing; World Federation of

Trade Unions; AFL statement on social justice; international affairs; Panama;repeal of Taft-Hartley Act; Building and Construction Trades Departmentjurisdiction matters; Canadian Trades and Labor Congress relations with AFL;Bridge and Structural Iron Workers jurisdiction matters; Carpenters dispute withUpholsterers; CIO proposal for conference with AFL and Railroad Brotherhoods;Communications Workers of America possible affiliation discussed; federal aid toeducation; labor in Hawaii; Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union organization inMiami, Florida; AFL legislation agenda; Thomas amendments to National LaborAct; equal pay for women; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0629 Meetings of May 16–20, 1949. 174pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity report; Air Line Pilots Association charter protested

by Flight Engineers; Aluminum Workers charter application; U.S. foreign policytoward China; Bridge and Structural Iron Workers jurisdiction matters; Buildingand Construction Trades Department jurisdiction matters; Carpenters dispute withUpholstery Workers; AFL organization in Alaska; policies toward Federal LaborUnions; rent control; Workers Education Bureau; Hawaiian labor situation report;AFL litigation report; repeal of Taft-Hartley Act; National Security Program; AFLorganization campaign; social security legislation; Textile Workers of Americajurisdiction matters; AFL consultants to United Nations; World Federation of FreeDemocratic Unions; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0803 Meetings of August 15–19, 1949. 136pp.Major Topics: Aluminum Workers charter application; Bridge and Structural Iron

Workers jurisdiction matters; Building and Construction Trades Departmentjurisdiction matters; Canadian Trades and Labor Congress suspension of Seamen’sUnion; federal aid to education; Federal Labor Unions, strike benefits; laborsituation in Hawaii; AFL legislative program; Machinists reaffiliation with AFL;National Association for the Advancement of Colored People request for financialassistance; Seafarers International Union charter application; Marine Engineerscharter application; Textile Workers of America jurisdiction matters; AFL financesand membership statistics.

0939 Meetings of October 2, 5, and 11, 1949. 46pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO noncooperation in political matters; Building and

Construction Trades Department jurisdiction matters; Carpenters dispute withUpholsterers; age discrimination; government employees; Hawaii organizing drive;Israel labor movement; Labor’s League for Political Education; Maintenance ofWay Employees jurisdiction matters.

0985 Meetings of January 30–February 7, 1950. 105pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity; AFL financial obligations to International

Confederation of Free Trade Unions; displaced persons; Grain Millers dispute withBuilding and Construction Trades Department; housing; AFL litigation report;Machinists reaffiliation negotiations; national defense; AFL position on Point-FourProgram; AFL statement on genocide; public housing; repeal of Taft-Hartley Act;social security legislation; State, County, and Municipal Employees.

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Reel 15Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of January 30–February 7, 1950 cont. 25pp.Major Topics: AFL finances and membership statistics; report of AFL Committee on

Social Security.

0026 Meetings of May 8–11, 1950. 108pp.Major Topics: Building and Construction Trades Department complaint about

raiding by UMW District 50; Carpenters-Upholsterers; AFL-CIO politicalcooperation; AFL litigation; Machinists reaffiliation with AFL; State, County, andMunicipal Employees in Pennsylvania and Montana; AFL study on pension andwelfare funds; fair labor standards in Puerto Rico; NLRB reorganization; agediscrimination; U.S. foreign policy; Federal Labor Union strike benefits; Sugar Actof 1948; Swedish labor movement, invitation to AFL delegation; white collarworkers; Workers Education Bureau; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0134 Meetings of August 8–11, 1950. 84pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity committee and political cooperation; Building and

Construction Trades Department jurisdiction dispute with Brotherhood ofMaintenance of Way Employees; national wage and price controls and rationing;housing policy; Machinists reaffiliation; State, County, and Municipal EmployeesUnion in Montana; printing trades unions dispute with Pulp, Sulphite, and PaperMill Workers; Schumann Plan for joint French-German control of steel and coal;Workers Education Bureau; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0218 Meetings of September 17 and 24, 1950. 19pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity negotiations; Arizona State Federation of Labor on

Central Arizona Project; British Trades Union Congress; social security legislation.

0237 Meetings of January 22–29, 1951. 116pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity negotiations; Florida citrus workers strike; New York

State Defense Emergency Act; Hawaiian labor movement; Labor’s League forPolitical Education; National Security Training Act of 1950; AFL organizingactivities; AFL message to Russian people; St. Lawrence Seaway Project; AFLpolicy on strike benefits; amendments to Taft-Hartley Act; universal militarytraining; Virginia right to work legislation; International Ladies Garment WorkersUnion dispute with New York City CLU; AFL litigation.

0353 Meetings of May 14–18, 1951. 132pp.Major Topics: AFL legislative program; report on AFL finances; AFL litigation;

baseball players organization; Blacksmiths amalgamation with Boilermakers;Building and Construction Trades Department jurisdiction dispute withBrotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees; National Farm Labor Union;Defense Housing Program; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions;Leather Workers amalgamation with Butcher Workmen; Machinists jurisdictiondispute and raiding charges; wartime economic controls, wages, prices, andrationing; St. Lawrence Seaway Project; amendments to Taft-Hartley Act;Veterans Preference Act; AFL finances and membership statistics.

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0485 Meetings of August 7–10, 1951. 79pp.Major Topics: AFL withdrawal from unity negotiations with CIO; AFL finances

studied; Canadian Trades and Labor Congress; agricultural organizations hostilitytoward organized labor; Building and Construction Trades Department disputewith Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees; National Farm Labor Unionorganization of dairy farmers; Soviet aggression in Europe; International LaborOrganization; Federal Labor Unions strike benefits; International Confederation ofFree Trade Unions; Spanish fascism; NLRB unfavorable decisions on Taft-Hartley;AFL finances and membership statistics.

0564 Meetings of September 16, 23, and 25, 1951. 19pp.Major Topics: Textile Workers jurisdiction dispute with Hosiery Workers; non-

Communist affidavits signed by EC members; United Labor Policy Committee.

0583 Meetings of January 28–February 5, 1952. 146pp.Major Topics: Inflation; colonial undeveloped countries; Japan; AFL litigation; AFL-

CIO unity negotiations; Australian Council of Trade Unions; Building andConstruction Trades Department dispute with Maintenance of Way Employees;Compulsory Military Training legislation; Communist-dominated labor unions;National Farm Labor Union; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions;AFL endorsement of Israeli bonds; Japanese Peace Treaty; Korea; NLRB casesinvolving Machinists and Carpenters; AFL cooperation with Mexican labormovement; mining disasters legislation; moral rearmament; AFL organizingprogram; Longshoremen dispute with Teamsters and Printing Pressmen; racialviolence in Florida; social security; subversive activities; Taft-Hartley repealefforts; wage stabilization; AFL finances and membership statistics; federal taxpolicy.

0729 Meetings of May 19–22, 1952. 137pp.Major Topics: AFL legislative agenda; antilabor bills; wage and price controls;

displaced persons legislation; amendments to National Labor Relations Act; St.Lawrence Seaway Project; National Agricultural Workers Union; Building andConstruction Trades Department jurisdiction disputes; NLRB cases involvingCarpenters and Machinists; wage and price controls; National Council ofGovernment Employees; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; AFLreport on immigration and naturalization; National Defense Program; Taft-Hartleyamendments; social security benefit liberalization; moral rearmament; Puerto Ricanconstitution and labor movement; racketeering in labor unions; AFL finances andmembership; Teamsters jurisdiction disputes with Plumbers and Printing Pressmen;Texas State Federation of Labor; Ohio State Federation of Labor on labor unity;Federal Wage Stabilization Board.

0866 Meetings of August 11–15, 1952. 93pp.Major Topics: United Automobile Workers of America; Building and Construction

Trades Department report; Carpenters dispute with Machinists; inflation and costof living; G.I. Bill of Rights for Veterans of Korean War; Native Americansemployment; Jewelry Workers charter controversy; racketeering among New YorkLongshoremen; AFL organizing program in Michigan; political party conventions;Puerto Rico labor movement; women’s auxiliaries; AFL finances and membershipstatistics.

Frame No.

29

0959 Meetings of September 14, 22, and 24, 1952. 46pp.Major Topics: Building and Construction Trades Department jurisdiction dispute

with Chemical Workers; presidential endorsements by AFL; AFL-CIO unityproposal by John L. Lewis; Justice Department ruling on television producersrights to motion picture productions; Puerto Rico labor movement; non-Communist affidavits signed by AFL EC in compliance with Taft-Hartley Act;television; Textile Workers of America financial investigation.

1005 Meeting of November 25, 1952. 17pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity negotiations; death of William Green; election of

George Meany as president of AFL; election of William Schnitzler as secretary-treasurer of AFL.

Reel 16Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of February 2–9, 1953. 141pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity negotiations; AFL litigation; International Automobile

Workers Union charter controversy; AFL Civil Rights Department established;racketeering among New York Longshoremen; moral rearmament movement;Justice Department ruling on motion picture industry condemned; Postal Workers;Puerto Rico; assistance to Democrats in Congress; AFL public relations program;Seafarers International Union dispute with Canadian Seamen’s Union; anti-Semitism in Soviet Russia; Taft-Hartley Act amendments; United Textile Workersof America; undulant fever as an occupational disease; AFL Report on Wages andEconomic Stability; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0142 Meetings of May 20–25, 1953. 153pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO Unity Committee; AFL organization; International Union of

United Automobile Workers charter controversy; Building Service Employeesdispute with Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People financial appeal to AFL;investigation of Detroit and Wayne County Federation of Labor; Marine EngineersBeneficial Association merger with Masters, Mates, and Pilots; British TradesUnion Congress; Gas Workers Federal Labor Union jurisdiction dispute withBuilding Trades Unions; National Council of Government Employees protestcontracts to private industry; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions;racketeering in New York Longshoremen's Unions; Machinists jurisdiction disputewith Building and Construction Trades Department; Brotherhood of Maintenanceof Way Employees jurisdiction dispute with Building and Construction TradesDepartment; AFL no-raiding agreement with CIO; housing and rent control; unionsecurity in Railroad Labor Unions; Taft-Hartley Act amendments; AFL financesand membership statistics.

Frame No.

30

0295 Meetings of August 10–14, 1953. 136pp.Major Topics: International Union of United Automobile Workers charter revoked;

Building and Construction Trades Department report on jurisdiction disputes;Carpenters opposition to no-raiding agreement with CIO; factionalism in Detroitand Wayne County Federation of Labor; relief fund for East Berlin workers;International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; New York Longshoremen'sracketeering; International Longshoremen’s Association abolition of “shape-up”system; State, County, and Municipal Employees jurisdiction dispute with Buildingand Construction Trades Department; Teamsters organization of New York, NewYork, taxi drivers; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0431 Meetings of September 20–21, 23, 26, and October 14, 1953. 53pp.Major Topics: Building and Construction Trades Department jurisdiction disputes

recommendations; Building Service Employees dispute with State, County, andMunicipal Employees; International Longshoremen’s Association charterrevocation; AFL-CIO unity negotiations; AFL-CIO no-raiding agreement; PuertoRico organizing campaign.

0484 Meetings of February 1–9, 1954. 126pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO unity conference; Airline Pilots Association jurisdiction

dispute with Machinists; Bricker Amendment; Equal Rights Amendment; Hattersstrike in Norwalk, Connecticut; housing; International Confederation of FreeTrade Unions; Italian labor movement; AFL-CIO no-raiding agreement;congressional hearings on labor racketeering; Mexican migrant agriculturalworkers; Spanish fascism; German economic situation; NLRB; Russia; Taft-Hartley Act amendments; Postal Employees; social security; AFL litigation; unionhealth and welfare funds; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0610 Meetings of May 13 and 17–19, 1954. 129pp.Major Topics: AFL litigation; AFL constitution recodification; Railway Clerks

dispute with Teamsters; unemployment and national economic outlook; housingpolicy; racial integration, AFL statement on Brown v. Board of Educationdecision; Indochina; Israel; AFL jurisdiction dispute plan; AFL finances andmembership statistics; Sugar Workers charter application and dispute withTeamsters.

0739 Meetings of August 9–12, 1954. 64pp.Major Topics: AFL policy on internal disputes; Beet Sugar Workers charter

application; AFL statement on communism; Marine Engineers jurisdiction disputewith Seafarers International Union over Masters, Mates, and Pilots; Federal LaborUnions policies; Airline Pilots Association dispute with Flight Engineers;International Longshoremen’s Association; racial discrimination in employment inthe South; National Urban League; AFL finances; AFL condemnation of 83rdCongress.

0803 Meetings of September 19, 24, and 27, 1954. 31pp.Major Topics: Associated Actors and Artists of America dispute with American

Federation of Musicians; Marine Engineers dispute with Seafarers InternationalUnion; organization of Los Angeles “News” Company; Teamsters jurisdiction overSugar Workers investigated.

Frame No.

31

0834 Meeting of December 15, 1954. 32pp.Major Topics: Amalgamated Meat Cutters merger with Fur and Leather Workers;

Handbag and Novelty Workers merger with Butcher Workmen; AFL-CIO mergeragreement.

0866 Meetings of February 1–10, 1955. 128pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO merger agreement; AFL litigation; Berlin, Germany,

workers revolt; AFL defense of Davis-Bacon Act; Building Service EmployeesInternational Union; Defense Mobilization manpower policies; OperatingEngineers organization in metal mining industry; federal aid to education; Fur andLeather Workers merger with Amalgamated Meat Cutters; union health andwelfare plans; AFL policy on internal disputes; International Labor RelationsCommittee on Europe, Latin America, and Moscow-Peking; Taft-Hartley revision;organization of metal mining and smelting industry; Post Office Employees mergerwith Building Service Employees; AFL finances and membership statistics; NLRBrulings on Taft-Hartley.

0994 Meetings of May 2–4, 1955. 70pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO constitution and merger plans; foreign policy toward

Europe and Asia; Teamsters request for jurisdiction over Longshoremen;Amalgamated Meat Cutters merger with Fur and Leather Workers; Fair LaborStandards Act revision.

Reel 17Minutes of the Executive Council cont.

0001 Meetings of May 2–4, 1955 cont. 22pp.Major Topic: AFL finances and membership statistics.

0023 Meetings of August 8–12, 1955. 121pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO constitution; Building Service Employees suggestions on

AFL-CIO merger; Electrical Workers suggestions on AFL-CIO merger; FlintGlass Workers jurisdiction dispute with Glass Bottle Blowers over fabrication offiberglass; Fur and Leather Workers merger with Meat Cutters and ButcherWorkmen; Israel–U.S. mutual security agreement; Metal Trades Departmentsuggestions on AFL-CIO merger; AFL statement on Soviet Union; Sleeping CarPorters suggestions on AFL-CIO merger; International Typographical Unionsuggestions on AFL-CIO merger; AFL finances and membership statistics.

0144 Meetings of October 24–26 and November 3, 1955. 94pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO constitution; Air Line Pilots Association jurisdiction dispute

with Flight Engineers; Flight Engineers strike at United Air Lines; world peace;Fur and Leather Workers objections to merger with Meat Cutters and ButcherWorkmen; Italy admission to United Nations; Laundry Workers InternationalUnion health and welfare fund; Independent Longshoremen agreement withTeamsters.

Frame No.

32

0238 Meetings of November 30 and December 1, 1955. 36pp.Major Topics: AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention and merger agreement; Flight

Engineers controversy with Air Line Pilots Association; Handbag and NoveltyWorkers dispute with Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen; Brotherhood ofSleeping Car Porters suggestions on AFL-CIO merger; death of Daniel Tobin.

Executive Council Vote Books0274 January 1925–December 1925. 188pp.

0462 January 1926–August 1926. 200pp.

0662 September 1926–January 1927. 12pp.

0674 February 1927–August 1927. 173pp.

0847 August 1927–July 1929. 219pp.

Reel 18Executive Council Vote Books cont.

0001 July 1929–February 1931. 213pp.

0214 February 1931–April 1933. 262pp.

0476 April 1933–September 1935. 257pp.

Reel 19Executive Council Vote Books cont.

0001 September 1935–April 1938. 358pp.

0359 April 1938–December 1944. 337pp.

0696 November 1944–September 1954. 290pp.

33

SUBJECT INDEX

The following index is a guide to the major subjects of this collection. The first arabic number refers to thereel, and the arabic number after the colon refers to the frame number at which a particular file containing thesubject begins. Therefore, 5: 0463 directs the researcher to the file that begins at Frame 0463 of Reel 5. Byreferring to the Reel Index located in the initial part of this guide, the researcher can find the main entry for thefile in which documents on the subject may be found.

Actors, American Federation ofjurisdiction extension 8: 0500; 9: 0001relations with Variety Actors Betterment

Committee 10: 0315

Actors and Artists Union, Associateddispute with American Federation of Musicians

16: 0803general 1: 0430; 12: 0706jurisdiction dispute with American Federation of

Actors 9: 0181

African American workersAFL Special Committee on 5: 0463, 0591discrimination by AFL locals 9: 0181, 0439;

12: 0035employment discrimination in the South 16: 0739membership in AFL 8: 0500organizing efforts among 1: 0430, 0556; 2: 0100;

4: 0458, 0797; 7: 0001, 0671railroad maids 8: 0500relationship with AFL 12: 0542voting rights in southern states 8: 0500see also American Federation of Labor; National

Association for the Advancement of ColoredPeople; National Urban League; Race relations;Sleeping Car Porters

Age discrimination in employmentCivilian Conservation Corps 10: 0113general 2: 0723, 0959; 4: 0458; 7: 0455; 14: 0939;

15: 0026

Agricultural and Cannery Workers Unioncharter application 7: 0299dues reduction 4: 0797general 7: 0001; 15: 0729

jurisdiction dispute with Teamsters 12: 0371NLRB ruling protested 13: 0265organizing campaign 7: 0671wage ceiling 13: 0622

Agriculturesee Farmers

Aircraft Workersjurisdiction dispute between Machinists and

Carpenters 11: 0427organization 2: 0269

Air Line Pilots Associationcharter protested by Flight Engineers 14: 0629dispute with Flight Engineers 16: 0739; 17: 0144,

0238jurisdiction dispute with Machinists 16: 0484

Alabama State Federation of Labordissension in 3: 0256

AlaskaAFL organizing in 14: 0629defense workers 10: 0581organizing Mine Workers and Seafarers 13: 0582

Aliensfederal restrictions on 1: 0179, 0285; 2: 0100;

7: 0455migration to United States 10: 0113seamen deported 1: 0430see also Immigration

Aluminum Workersaffiliation with CIO 7: 0299charter application with AFL 12: 0542, 0706;

14: 0629, 0803

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of Americacharter issued 4: 0458; 5: 0001

American Bar AssociationAFL meets to discuss labor legislation 2: 0001

34

endorses voluntarism in industrial relations 1: 0556

American Federation of Labor (AFL)boycott policy 2: 0613Central Labor Unions

as bargaining agents 12: 0371policies governing 13: 0398

Civil Rights Department 16: 0001Colored Workers, Special Committee on 5: 0463,

0591Communist delegates banned from AFL convention

2: 0055condemnation of 83rd Congress 16: 0739conference with Mexican and European labor

leaders 1: 0713conference with President Hoover 3: 0001constitution 16: 0610declaration of economic principles 2: 0613Defense Bonds purchased by 10: 0638departments consolidation 1: 0001Education Committee 1: 0737Financial Committee report 13: 0265, 0398financial study of 15: 0485genocide, statement on 14: 0985internal disputes policy 16: 0739, 0866jurisdiction dispute policies 14: 0001; 16: 0610Labor Day proceedings in cooperation with CIO

8: 0212legal fees 10: 0085Maritime Department 9: 0001“Message to the Russian People” 15: 0237pacifism denounced by 2: 0100pension and welfare fund study 15: 0026petition for repeal of Volstead Act 2: 0165policies on suspension of international union

9: 0903; 10: 0001, 0085“Progressive” faction 2: 0723public relations program 16: 0001Social Security Committee 15: 0001Special Report on AFL 11: 0001State Federations of Labor, policies governing

13: 0398strike benefits policy 15: 0237

see also Federal Labor UnionsTaxation Committee 9: 0535see also American Federation of Labor–Congress

of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO);Finances and membership statistics, AFL

American Federation of Labor–Congress ofIndustrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

AFL policy against cooperation with CIO 13: 0767AFL report on CIO 7: 0798AFL withdrawal from unity negotiations with CIO

15: 0485constitution 16: 0994; 17: 0023, 0144

Constitutional Convention 17: 0238cooperation against Taft-Hartley Act 14: 0001,

0462cooperation in Canada 12: 0542Labor Day proceedings 8: 0212merger agreement 16: 0834, 0866, 0994noncooperation on political matters 14: 0939no-raiding agreement 16: 0142, 0295, 0431, 0484political cooperation 12: 0035; 14: 0001; 15: 0026,

0134reconciliation proposals and peace conferences

with CIO 7: 0671; 8: 0429, 0500, 0920; 9: 0001,0181, 0535, 0903; 10: 0474, 0638, 0768;11: 0037, 0227, 0427, 0568; 12: 0214, 0371;13: 0622, 0871; 14: 0629, 0985; 15: 0134, 0218,0237, 0583, 0959, 1005; 16: 0001, 0142, 0431,0484

American Federation of State, County, andMunicipal Employees

competition with CIO 13: 0063dispute with AFL Building and Construction

Trades Department 10: 0001dispute with Building Service Employees 16: 0142,

0295, 0431general 6: 0654; 14: 0985; 15: 0026, 0134jurisdiction 8: 0500jurisdiction extension to nurses 13: 0582

American Federation of TeachersCommunist activity in 10: 0474general 6: 0654investigation of 5: 0591

American Legionlabor posts 11: 0568relations with AFL 3: 0256, 0882

American Newspaper Guildstrike in Chicago, Illinois 9: 0535strike in Seattle, Washington 6: 0654, 0887

Amusements industryAFL jurisdiction policies in 13: 0622

Anglo-American Trade Union Committee11: 0037, 0180, 0227, 0568; 12: 0881; 13: 0001

Anglo-Soviet-American Trade Union Committeeassociation 11: 0227proposed 10: 0768

Anheuser-Busch Companydispute with AFL Building Trades 2: 0613

Anti–closed shop litigationFlorida 11: 0227

AnticommunismAFL resolutions 9: 0439; 10: 0113AFL statement on communism 16: 0739Bricker Amendment 16: 0484general 5: 0463; 14: 0001

35

subversive activities 15: 0583Taft-Hartley affidavits 13: 0871; 15: 0564

Antilabor legislationAFL litigation against 12: 0214, 0706; 14: 0298California 11: 0180federal

antistrike legislation 10: 0113, 0314Case bill 13: 0063, 0265compulsory arbitration 10: 0113compulsory work legislation 10: 0113general 1: 0324; 10: 0474, 0581; 11: 0037,

0227, 0751; 12: 0035, 0214; 13: 0063, 0622;14: 0298; 15: 0729

68th Congress 1: 0285Smith bill 10: 0617Smith-Connally bill 11: 0427, 0568Taft-Hartley Act

amendments to 15: 0237, 0353, 0729;16: 0001, 0142, 0484

enactment 13: 0767, 0871; 14: 0001, 0403,0462

movement to repeal 14: 0462, 0629, 0985NLRB rulings on 16: 0866revision of 16: 0866

Florida 11: 0751; 12: 0371; 13: 0063Massachusetts 12: 0881Oregon 8: 0500; 9: 0439, 0535; 10: 0113right-to-work legislation

Nebraska 13: 0582, 0622Virginia 15: 0237

work-or-fight legislation 12: 0371

Antilynching legislation5: 0591; 7: 0455, 0671

Antiracketeering legislation11: 0037

Antitrust lawapplication to labor unions 1: 0860; 2: 0001, 0100;

10: 0001, 0113, 0474, 0768; 11: 0037, 0427,0568

exemption of labor unions from 2: 0269; 9: 0741Justice Department case against AFL Building

Trades Department 9:0535; 10: 0001, 0113

Anti–union shop movement1: 0651; 2: 0269

Arbitration11: 0037see also Antilabor legislation

ArgentinaAFL mission to 13: 0622

Arizona State Federation of LaborCentral Arizona Project 15: 0218

Arkansastenant farmers union 5: 0741

Army officers compensation2: 0857

Australian Council of Trade Unions15: 0583

Australian Labor Party1: 0430

Automobile, Aircraft, and Vehicle WorkersAFL federal labor unions among 4: 0716application for reaffiliation 1: 0713organizing drive 2: 0959

Automobile WorkersAFL organizing among 1: 0737; 2: 0269, 0723;

4: 0612, 0918; 5: 0001, 0227, 0591, 0741;6: 0001, 0654; 8: 0500; 10: 0113

Allis Chalmers Company 10: 0474charter 8: 0212general 8: 0920General Motors strike 7: 0001jurisdiction questions 9: 0001loans refinanced 13: 0265report on CIO organizing among 7: 0798United Auto Workers

dispute with AFL Metal Trades unions13: 0622, 0767

general 15: 0866jurisdiction over Farm Implement Workers

13: 0398, 0622

Automobile Workers Union, Internationalcharter controversy 16: 0001, 0142charter revoked 16: 0295

Bakery and Confectionery Workers Unionjurisdiction expansion 8: 0001

Bankruptcy legislation4: 0362

Bankslabor bands 1: 0179nationalization 4: 0458

Baseball playersorganization among 15: 0353

Blacksmiths and Drop Forgers, InternationalBrotherhood

amalgamation with Boilermakers 15: 0353jurisdiction dispute with Machinists 7: 0798protest jurisdiction infringements 4: 0918; 5: 0001

Boeing Corporationstrike by Machinists 14: 0298

Boilermakersagreement with Plumbers 10: 0474amalgamation with Blacksmiths 15: 0353dispute with Bridge and Structural Iron Workers

2: 0269

36

Boulder Dam projectlabor standards 2: 0165; 3: 0717; 4: 0797

BoycottsAFL policy on 2: 0613Chinese shingles 2: 0569general 1: 0001German-made goods 8: 0500Molders Union 2: 0569

Boys Town (Douglas County), Nebraska10: 0768

Brewery Firemendispute with Brewers 4: 0494dispute with Firemen and Oilers 4: 0362

Brewery Workers Uniondispute with Seattle central labor union 5: 0591;

6: 0001dispute with Teamsters 4: 0248, 0494, 0797;

5: 0001, 0227, 0416, 0463; 7: 0455; 8: 0001,0500; 9: 0001, 0535; 10: 0315, 0581

protest Volstead Act 1: 0860reaffiliation with AFL 13: 0063, 0265resolution on CIO 6: 0887

Bricker Amendment16: 0484

Bricklayers and Plasterersagreement with Operative Plasterers 1: 0860jurisdiction dispute with Operative Plasterers

International Union 1: 0001relations with AFL Building Trades Department

4: 0797

Bridge and Structural Iron Workersdisputes

Shell Oil Company 2: 0959Tarrett Bros. Company 3: 0104Teamsters 7: 0798

internal corruption charges against 4: 0001, 0248jurisdiction dispute with Boilermakers 2: 0269jurisdiction matters, general 14: 0462, 0629, 0803

British Labor Party1926 Mission to United States 1: 0430

British Minersfinancial assistance 1: 0556, 0651

British Trades Union Congress5: 0741; 9: 0741; 12: 0214, 0325, 0881; 13: 0001,

0622, 0871; 15: 0218; 16: 0142

Brookwood Labor CollegeAFL disaffiliation from 2: 0408, 0506general 2: 0613

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porterssee Sleeping Car Porters

Brown v. Board of EducationAFL reaction 16: 0610

Bryan, William J.AFL tribute to 1: 0179

Building Service Employees Union InternationalAFL-CIO merger 17: 0023dispute with Hod Carriers 13: 0265dispute with State, County, and Municipal

Employees 16: 0142, 0431general 16: 0866jurisdictional extension 5: 0227; 6: 0298, 0654;

7: 0455; 9: 0535jurisdiction dispute with Hotel and Restaurant

Employees 7: 0671, 0798; 8: 0212, 0500merger with Post Office Employees 16: 0866

Building Trades Departmentagreement with Carpenters Union 8:0212agreement with Maintenance of Way Employees

7: 0798antitrust case against

see Antitrust lawdisputes

Anheuser-Busch Company 2: 0613Chemical Workers 15: 0959Gas Workers FLU 16: 0142Grain Millers 14: 0985Hod Carriers 12: 0706Machinists Union 9: 0903; 10: 0638Maintenance of Way Employees 12: 0706;

15: 0134, 0353, 0485, 0583; 16: 0142Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers

14: 0166State, County, and Municipal Employees

10: 0001, 0295general 5: 0001internal controversy 5: 0416, 0463jurisdiction matters 14: 0629, 0803, 0939;

16: 0295, 0431policy on jurisdiction disputes 3: 0256raiding complaint against United Mine Workers

District 50 15: 0026relations

Bricklayers 4: 0797Carpenters Union 3: 0422; 4: 0797Electrical Workers 4: 0797

report 15: 0866report on jurisdiction disputes 16: 0295

CaliforniaCannery Workers 13: 0265–0398Communist activity in Los Angeles 2: 0100, 0165;

12: 0706; 13: 0265Los Angeles Central Labor Union investigated

11: 0227, 0427, 0703organization of Los Angeles “News” labor force

16: 0803strike at San Francisco shipyards 10: 0315

37

Teamsters activities in 13: 0265see also Hollywood studio unions

CanadaCatholic trade unions in Quebec 3: 0001, 0256,

0422Communist activity in 1: 0737Montreal Trades and Labor Council withdrawal

from AFL 12: 0881St. Lawrence Seaway Project 15: 0237, 0353, 0729see also Immigration

Canadian Seamen’s Uniondispute with Seafarers International Union

16: 0001general 12: 0706suspended from Canadian Trades and Labor

Congress 14: 0803

Canadian Trades and Labor Congressappeal for assistance 8: 0500CIO

activities in 8: 0001, 0212, 0429dissociated from 8: 0500; 9: 0181

dispute with Railway Clerks 14: 0403general 7: 0455; 9: 0001, 0439; 13: 0582, 0871;

15: 0485relations with AFL 14: 0462

Cannery industryAFL organizing campaign 7: 0671California workers awarded to CIO 12: 0881protest NLRB ruling in California 13: 0265, 0398see also Agricultural and Cannery Workers Union

Carpenters and Joiners, Brotherhood ofaffiliation of Wood Workers 1: 0430agreement with AFL Building and Construction

Trades Department 8: 0212agreement with Machinists 4: 0121dispute with Upholsterers 9: 0181; 14: 0001, 0166,

0403, 0462, 0939; 15: 0026dual union movement in 1: 0001expulsion of Communists 2: 0506jurisdiction disputes

general 8: 0500; 9: 0181Hollywood studios 12: 0542, 0881; 13: 0001–

14: 0001Machinists 4: 0001, 0362; 9: 0439, 0741, 0903;

10: 0113, 0315, 0474, 0638; 11: 0037, 0427;15: 0583, 0729, 0866

Saw Mill and Timber Workers 4: 0918NLRB ruling on 15: 0583, 0729no-raiding agreement with CIO opposed by

16: 0295relations with AFL Building Trades Department

2: 0100; 4: 0797

Chain store employeesorganizing drive among 4: 0248

Chemical Workerscharter application 11: 0751; 12: 0214

Child labor4: 0121, 0214; 7: 0455

Child Labor Amendment1: 0001, 0179; 2: 0269; 5: 0001, 0463, 0741

ChinaU.S. policy toward 14; 0629

Chinese Federation of Labor14: 0166

Cigar Makersamalgamation with Tobacco Workers 2: 0613,

0959; 3: 0256; 14: 0403industrial codes 4: 0494strike in New Brunswick, New Jersey 2: 0857

Civilian Conservation Corpsmerger with National Youth Administration

10: 0638prevailing wage rates 10: 0474

Civilian military traininggeneral 1: 0001, 0651public schools 4: 0422training camps 1: 0119, 0179see also National Service bill; Universal military

training

Civil Servicegeneral 6: 0654qualifications 6: 0001

Clerical workersgeneral 1: 0119see also Women workers

Clothing Workers, Amalgamateddispute with Garment Workers 6: 0654general 1: 0179; 8: 0920

Coal industrylegislation affecting 2: 0959; 3: 0104; 7: 0001see also Mine Workers of America, United

Code of Principles for Labor and ManagementAFL, CIO, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce

12: 0542, 0706

Colonial countries15: 0583

Commercial Telegraphersjurisdiction dispute with Communications Workers

13: 0398organizing drive among postal employees 4: 0248

Committee for Industrial OrganizationAFL-CIO reconciliation proposals and peace

conferences with AFL 7: 0671; 8: 0429

38

AFL Metal Trades Department charges against6: 0298, 0570; 7: 0001

AFL report on organizing in auto industry 7: 0798Brewery Workers resolution on 6: 0887Butte, Montana, activities 8: 0500Canadian Trades and Labor Congress 8: 0001,

0212, 0429central labor unions and 7: 0001Chicago, Illinois, Federation of Labor relations

with 7: 0299Cleveland, Ohio, central labor union report on

7: 0248expulsion from AFL 6: 0298, 0570general 5: 0741; 6: 0001, 0298, 0570, 0887;

7: 0455; 8: 0212Georgia Federation of Labor resolution on 7: 0248Hatters Union relationship with 6: 0570, 0654International Typographical Union relationship

with 6: 0570, 0654; 7: 0299Labor Day proceedings in cooperation with AFL

8: 0212Ladies Garment Workers affiliation with 6: 0298Machinists resolution on 6: 0654Minneapolis, Minnesota 7: 0455; 13: 0398Textile Workers affiliation with 6: 0298see also Congress of Industrial Organizations

Communications Workers of Americaaffiliation with AFL 14: 0462jurisdiction dispute with Commercial Telegraphers

13: 0398

Communist activitiesAFL conventions 4: 0121, 0458; 5: 0463American Federation of Teachers 10: 0474Canadian labor movement 1: 0737Canton, Ohio, labor movement 2: 0408Carpenters union 2: 0506Communist delegates banned from AFL convention

2: 0055Fur Workers Union 1: 0556, 0651, 0713, 0737,

0860, 0857labor movement 7: 0001; 15: 0583Ladies Garment Workers Union 1: 0737; 2: 0100Los Angeles, California 2: 0100, 0165; 12: 0706;

13: 0265Minneapolis, Minnesota 5: 0591“radicalism” in American labor movement 5: 0001;

6: 0001see also Anticommunism; Dies Committee on Un-

American Activities

Company unions6: 0887

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)Anglo-American Trade Union committee 11: 0180Butte, Montana, activities 8: 0500

Canadian Trades and Labor Congress—dissociation from 8: 0500

Robeson, Paul, membership in 11: 0751Taft-Hartley repeal movement 14: 0462see also American Federation of Labor–Congress

of Industrial Organizations; Committee forIndustrial Organization

ConnecticutHatters strike in Norwalk 16: 0484

ConscriptionAFL opposition to 1: 0324; 2: 0723; 3: 0104exemption from union taxes for conscripts 9: 0903of labor 12: 0035see also Civilian military training

Constitutional amendmentschild labor 1: 0001, 0179; 2: 0269; 5: 0001, 0463,

0741general 7: 0455judicial review 5: 0741see also Equal Rights Amendment

Convict laborgeneral 1: 0324; 2: 0269; 3: 0001, 0422, 0859;

4: 0121, 0214, 0797; 7: 0455legislation against products of 2: 0613, 0763;

3: 0001, 0104; 6: 0001, 0654, 0887see also Prison labor

Coolidge, CalvinAFL meetings with 1: 0001; 2: 0135

Coughlin, Father Charles E.AFL resolutions on 4: 0458, 0494communications to AFL 5: 0416invitation to AFL to join National Union for Social

Justice 5: 0227

CrimeNational Commission on 1: 0556; 2: 0613, 0723

Cubalabor conditions 2: 0959; 13: 0063suppression of labor movement 1: 0860; 3: 0717

Davis, William H.AFL complaint about antilabor attitude 10: 0768

Debs, Eugenecitizenship restoration 1: 0713

Defense industriescollective bargaining in 10: 0113; 11: 0037construction wage rates 10: 0113President’s Conference of Employers and

Employees in War Production Industries10: 0617

see also War mobilization of labor

Depression reliefAFL principles on 4: 0121general 3: 0717; 6: 0654

39

legislationgeneral 5: 0591public works appropriations bills 8: 0001see also National Recovery Act

qualifications 6: 0887

Dies Committee on Un-American Activities8: 0212, 0500; 11: 0037

Displaced persons14: 0985; 15: 0729

Distillery, Rectifying, and Wine WorkersInternational Union

dispute with Seagram Company 10: 0638

Dubinsky, Davidreport on International Labor Office 5: 0227resignation from AFL 6: 0654

Duncan, Jamesresignation from AFL Executive Council 1: 0001

Educationfederal aid bills 12: 0371; 13: 0063, 0398;

14: 0462, 0803; 16: 0866see also Workers Education Bureau

Electrical Workerscharges against CIO 6: 0570dispute with Railroad Signalmen 1: 0651; 2: 0055,

0269relations with AFL Building Trades Department

2: 0797

Ely, Richard T.lecture about taxation 1: 0713

Employee Stock Ownership plans1: 0651

Employment agencies4: 0797

Equal Rights Amendment1: 0285; 2: 0613, 0959; 3: 0383; 16: 0484

European labor6: 0654see also individual country names

European war reliefaid to underground movements 11: 0568see also Displaced persons; United Nations War

Relief

Fair Employment Practices billfederal 14: 0001

FarmersAssociated Farmers antilabor activities 8: 0500cooperation with labor movement 1: 0713; 2: 0100;

12: 0881; 13: 0001cooperatives 13: 0398hostility toward organized labor 15: 0485organizations meeting with AFL 12: 0542relations with AFL 1: 0179

see also National Farm Labor Union; TenantFarmers Union

Farm Implement WorkersAuto Workers jurisdiction over 13: 0398, 0622

Farm relief legislation2: 0569

Fascist movementItaly 1: 0324Spain 13: 0063; 15: 0485; 16: 0484United States 5: 0001

Federal Emergency Relief Agencyemployment guidelines 4: 0797

Federal government employeesgeneral 2: 0100, 0569union charter applications from 4: 0001unions among

American Federation of Government Employees4: 0121

general 3: 0882see also Government employees

Federal Labor Unions (FLUs)AFL

Department of FLUs, proposed 14: 0166organizing campaign among 4: 0362policies on 4: 0458; 6: 0654; 7: 0671; 14: 0629

Automobile Workers 4: 0716Gas Workers dispute with Building Trades

Department 16: 0001general 12: 0371; 16: 0739motion picture industry 3: 0859strike benefits 14: 0803; 15: 0026, 0485suspension of 7: 0671warehousemen 9: 0439

Filipinosexclusion from United States 3: 0104; 6: 0887

Finances and membership statistics, AFL1: 0001, 0179, 0324, 0430, 0556, 0651, 0737;

2: 0001, 0165, 0269, 0408, 0506, 0569; 3: 0001,0104, 0256, 0422, 0602, 0717, 0882; 4: 0001,0362, 0494, 0612, 0918; 5: 0001, 0227, 0741,0654; 7: 0001, 0299, 0455, 0798; 8: 0001, 0212;9: 0001, 0181, 0535, 0741; 10: 0001, 0113,0315, 0638; 11: 0001, 0037, 0227, 0427, 0568;0751; 12: 0035, 0214, 0371, 0542, 0881;13: 0001, 0063, 0265, 0398, 0622, 0767;14: 0001, 0166, 0298, 0462, 0629, 0803;15: 0001, 0026, 0134, 0353, 0485, 0583, 0729,0866; 16: 0001, 0142, 0295, 0484, 0610, 0866;17: 0001, 0023

Fire Fightersdispute with Machinists 1: 0324

Firemen and Oilersdisputes

40

Brewery Firemen 4: 0362Operating Engineers 12: 0881; 13: 0001, 0063,

0767Stationary Engineers 4: 0612, 0918Textile Workers 5: 0227

merger negotiations with Operating Engineers13: 0622

Flat Glass Workersjurisdiction of 6: 0001

Flight Engineers International Associationdispute with Air Line Pilots Association 16: 0739;

17: 0144, 0238protest charter to Air Line Pilots Association

14: 0629strike at United Air Lines 17: 0144

Flint Glass Workers Union of North Americajurisdiction dispute with Glass Bottle Blowers

17: 0023

Floridaanti–closed shop litigation 11: 0227citrus workers strike 15: 0237flogging of labor organizers near Tampa 5: 0741Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union in Miami

14: 0462racial violence in 15: 0583

Ford Motor CompanyCIO organizing at 7: 0798

Foreign policyAFL statement on 12: 0881China 14: 0629general 14: 0462; 15: 0026; 16: 0994Marshall Plan 14: 0001Moscow Peace Conference 13: 0622see also individual country names

FranceSchumann Plan for joint control with Germany of

steel and coal industries 15: 0134

Frazier-Lemke ActAFL opposition to 6: 0001

Fur and Leather Workers Unionamalgamation with Meat Cutters and Butcher

Workmen 15: 0353; 16: 0834, 0866, 0994;17: 0023, 0144

Fur Workers Unionexpulsion of Communists 1: 0860investigation of Communist influence in 1: 0556,

0651, 0713, 0857representation dispute 4: 0494

Gas Workerscharter application 4: 0918dispute with AFL Building Trades Department

16: 0142

GeorgiaFederation of Labor resolution on CIO 7: 0248,

0299

German Federation of Trade Unionsgeneral 1: 0001Nazi Party treatment of 4: 0248

GermanyAFL mission to 13: 0622Berlin workers revolt 16: 0866boycott of goods by AFL 8: 0500economic recovery 16: 0484labor conditions in 13: 0398Nazi Party treatment of trade unions 4: 0248postwar conditions in 13: 0063, 0398, 0582, 0622,

0871relief fund for East Berlin workers 16: 0295Schumann Plan for joint control with French of

steel and coal industries 15: 0134trade unions in 13: 0265, 0398

Glass Bottle Blowers Association of the U.S. andCanada

jurisdiction dispute with Flint Glass Workers17: 0023

Government contractslabor standards in 4: 0797prevailing wage rates 3: 0001, 0383, 0422, 0882;

7: 0798; 16: 0866

Government employeesgeneral 14: 0939National Council on 12: 0881; 13: 0265; 15: 0729;

16: 0142working conditions 2: 0959see also Federal government employees

Grain Millers, American Federation ofcharter application 10: 0113; 12: 0542; 14: 0166dispute with AFL Building Trades Department

14: 0985

Green, Williamdeath of 15: 1005

Handbag, Pocketbook, and Novelty Workerscharter application 7: 0001controversy 12: 0214dispute with Amalgamated Meat Cutters 17: 0238jurisdiction matters 12: 0881; 13: 0001merger with Amalgamated Meat Cutters 16: 0834

Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workersrelationship with CIO 6: 0570resolution on CIO 6: 0654strike in Norwalk, Connecticut 16: 0484

HawaiiAFL organization in 14: 0298, 0403, 0462, 0939labor movement in 15: 0237labor situation in 14: 0629, 0803

41

Health and welfare funds16: 0484, 0866; 17: 0144

Health insurancefederal legislation proposed 9: 0535general 6: 0654

Hillman, SidneyAFL opposition to appointment to National

Defense Commission 9: 0903National Recovery Administration 5: 0001

Hod Carriers, Building, and Common LaborersUnion

disputes withAFL Building Trades Department 12: 0706Building Service Employees 13: 0265Quarry Workers 8: 0212

jurisdiction dispute with Marble Polishers 3: 0422,0602

Hollywood studio unionsjurisdiction controversies 12: 0706, 0881;

13: 0001–14: 0001strike 12: 0706see also Actors, American Federation of;

Theatrical Stage Employees

Homeworkindustrial 7: 0455

Hoover, HerbertAFL conferences with 3: 0001; 4: 0121

Hotel and Restaurant Employees InternationalUnion

jurisdiction dispute with Building ServiceEmployees 7: 0671, 0798; 8: 0500

jurisdiction expansion 7: 0001organization in Hawaii 14: 0462

Hourssee Workweek/day

HousingAFL Committee on 8: 0500; 11; 0751; 12: 0035,

0214; 13: 0622AFL statements and reports on 12: 0881; 13: 0622Defense Housing Program 15: 0353Federal Housing Act—general 4: 0797Federal Housing Act—prevailing wage rates and

7: 0798federal policies 15: 0134; 16: 0484, 0610Fort Wayne Plan 8: 0500general 6: 0887; 7: 0671; 8: 0212; 11: 0037;

14: 0985; 16: 0142legislation 7: 0455; 12: 0881; 13: 0398public 14: 0985shortage 13: 0063war workers 11: 0227see also U.S. Housing Authority

Hutcheson, Williamresignation as AFL vice president 6: 0654

Ibanez, BernardoChilean labor delegation 11: 0751

IllinoisChicago

building trades unions sued by Western UnionCompany 1: 0430

Federation of Labor relations with CIO 7: 0299garment workers union 1: 0179strike by Newspaper Guild 9: 0535

ImmigrationAFL meeting with INS Commissioner General

McCormack 5: 0001AFL support for restrictive legislation 1: 0001,

0430, 0713, 0737; 2: 0001, 0100, 0165, 0506,0569, 0613, 0723, 0959; 3: 0104, 0422, 0859;4: 0121, 0797; 5: 0001, 0741; 6: 0001, 0887;7: 0455; 15: 0729

Asian exclusion 1: 0285; 11: 0568Bricker Amendment 16: 0484Canadian 1: 0324; 2: 0001, 0100, 0569; 3: 0422Caribbean 2: 0569Filipino 3: 0104Indian 12: 0035merchant seamen violation of immigration law

1: 0285, 0430; 2: 0100; 3: 0859Mexican 1: 0179, 0324, 0737; 2: 0001, 0100, 0165,

0506, 0569, 0959; 3: 0104, 0422; 12: 0881Nationality Acts 11: 0037refugee legislation 8: 0500U.S. Immigration Service transferred from Labor to

Justice Department 9: 0741see also Aliens; Displaced persons

IndianaIndianapolis Street Railway injunction 2: 0001State Federation of Labor 1: 0860; 6: 0654

Indochina16: 0610

Inflation13: 0063, 0871; 14: 0001; 15: 0583, 0866

InjunctionsAFL resolutions on 5: 0591Indianapolis Street Railway case 2: 0001legislation against

federalAFL draft anti-injunction legislation 2: 0723,

0857general 1: 0324; 3: 0104; 9: 0741National Labor Relations Act 6: 0001Shipstead (anti-injunction) bill 2: 0165,

0569, 0613general 2: 0269; 3: 0422, 0882; 5: 0463; 7: 0455

42

New Orleans, Louisiana 9: 0439New York City street railway case 2: 0165

Inter-American affairs11: 0227

Inter-American Confederation of Labor14: 0166

International Confederation of Free Trade UnionsAFL financial obligations to 14: 0985general 15: 0353, 0485, 0583, 0729; 16: 0142,

0295, 0484

International Council of Office Employees Unions12: 0001, 0035

International Federation of Trade Unionsgeneral 6: 0001, 0654, 0887; 7: 0455; 11: 0751;

12: 0371report on 8: 0212

International Labor OfficeDubinsky report on 5: 0227general 5: 0001, 0463, 0741; 7: 0455; 11: 0751;

13: 0622

International Labor Organization13: 0398; 15: 0485

International Labor Relations Departmentgeneral 16: 0866report 14: 0166

International Typographical UnionAFL-CIO merger suggestions 17: 0023dispute with Lithographers 6: 0570, 0654relationship with CIO 6: 0570, 0654; 7: 0299

Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers, Amalgamateddispute with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, baseball

club 1: 0001dispute with Weirton Steel Company 4: 0494insurgent movement in 5: 0227organizing campaign 5: 0001, 0591, 0741

Israelbonds purchased by AFL 15: 0583general 16: 0610labor movement 14: 0939mutual security agreement with United States

17: 0023

Italyadmission to United Nations 17: 0144AFL delegation to 12: 0214Fascist movement 1: 0324trade union movement 1: 0737; 16: 0484

Japanaggression in China 7: 0798; 9: 0181embargo of 10: 0581general 15: 0583labor movement 1: 0860; 13: 0063, 0872

peace treaty 15: 0583postwar conditions 13: 0871

Japanese Americansdiscrimination against 12: 0371

Jewelry Workerscharter controversy 15: 0866organizing drive 1: 0860protest Watch Workers charter 14: 0166

Johnson, Hugh S.attack on AFL 7: 0001

Judicial recallAFL resolution favoring 9: 0439

Judicial review5: 0741

Kaiser Shipbuilding CompanyAFL case against 11: 0227, 0427

Kellogg-Briand Pact4: 0121

KentuckyLouisville hotel strike 12: 0881; 13: 0001–0063

Kerensky, Alexandervisits AFL 1: 0860

Kohler CompanyAFL resolution on 5: 0741strike at 10: 0315

Korea15: 0583

Labor espionage6: 0887

Labor legislationAFL draft anti-injunction legislation 2: 0723, 0857AFL draft labor-management legislation 14: 0001AFL meeting with American Bar Association on

2: 0001AFL program for 2: 0269anticonspiracy bill 2: 0165antilabor legislation 4: 0797

see also Antilabor legislationantitrust reform 2: 0100, 0269convict labor 2: 0613Fair Labor Standards Act 12: 0214; 16: 0994general 13: 0063injunction relief

AFL draft anti-injunction legislation 2: 0723,0857

general 2: 0269; 3: 0422, 0882Shipstead (anti-injunction) bill 2: 0165, 0569,

0613maritime industry 11: 0037

43

mine labor legislation 2: 0569see also Coal industry

minimum wage 4: 0248National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)

amendments to 8: 0500; 9: 0439, 0535, 0903;12: 0542, 0706; 14: 0462; 15: 0729

general 4: 0612; 5: 0227; 6: 0001; 12: 0706survey of decisions and administration 8: 0212

prohibition of sweatshop products 4: 0214Seamen’s legislation 6: 0887

see also Immigrationunemployment insurance 2: 0613see also Injunctions; National Recovery Act;

Workmen’s compensation

Labor’s League for Political Education14: 0001, 0403, 0939

Labor’s Non-Partisan League8: 0500; 9: 0535

Labor standardscotton legislation contraventions of 4: 0001eight-hour day in motion picture industry 4: 0001five-day workweek 2: 0269; 3: 0383; 4: 0121,

0214, 0248forty-four-hour workweek 3: 0104forty-hour workweek 2: 0959; 4: 0214government contractors 10: 0474six-hour day 4: 0248, 0362thirty-hour workweek 4: 0797wage and hours legislation

Fair Labor Standards Act 12: 0214; 16: 0994general 7: 0455, 0671, 0780, 0798; 8: 0001,

0212, 0500women and children working hours 7: 0455see also Minimum wage legislation

Ladies Garment Workers Unionaffiliation with CIO 6: 0298AFL loans to 2: 0857bargaining assistance requested of AFL 2: 0723bond endorsement requested of AFL 2: 0613Communist activity 1: 0737; 2: 0100debts of 2: 0055, 0408, 0506, 0613disputes

Book Keepers, Stenographers, and Accountants1: 0285

New York Central Labor Union 15: 0237Textile Workers 4: 0612

general 2: 0569jurisdiction dispute with Textile Workers 4: 0494prosanis (sanitary) label controversy 1: 0179reaffiliation with AFL 9: 0741

Latin AmericaConfederation of Workers of 12: 0325; 14: 0001labor movement in 13: 0063, 0265, 0767

see also Immigration; Inter-American affairs;Mexico; Pan American Federation of Labor

Laundry Workers International Unionhealth and welfare fund 17: 0144

League of NationsAFL delegation to 2: 0408

Leather Workers Unionamalgamation with Pocket Book Workers 2: 0408

Legal Defense Departmentgeneral 6: 0001; 7: 0671reports of litigation activities 9: 0181; 11: 0427,

0568, 0751; 12: 0214, 0706; 14: 0001, 0166,0629, 0985; 15: 0026, 0237, 0353, 0583;16: 0001, 0484, 0610, 0866

Legislative program6: 0001; 9: 0181; 14: 0403, 0462, 0803; 15: 0353,

0729see also Immigration; Injunctions; Labor

legislation

Lewis, John L.AFL-CIO unity proposal 15: 0959resigns from AFL Executive Council 5: 0741vice president of AFL 13: 0063visit to AFL Executive Council 1: 0860

Lithographersdispute with Printing Trades 6: 0570, 0654

Locomotive Engineers, Brotherhood of1: 0001

Longshoremen’s Association, Internationalcharter revocation 16: 0431dispute with Masters, Mates, and Pilots 7: 0001;

8: 0500; 9: 0001, 0181, 0439, 0535, 0741, 0903;10: 0113

dispute with Teamsters and Printing Pressmen15: 0583

general 16: 0739racketeering charges against 15: 0866; 16: 0001,

0142, 0295“shape-up” system abolished 16: 0295Teamsters request for jurisdiction over 16: 0994workmen’s compensation legislation for 1: 0285;

3: 0104

LouisianaNew Orleans injunction case 9: 0439

Lumber Workersorganization drive 5: 0741

Machinists, International Association ofaffiliation status with AFL 13: 0265; 14: 0803,

0985; 15: 0026agreement with Carpenters Union 4: 0121agreement with Plumbers Union 1: 0324competition with Auto Workers (CIO) 13: 0265

44

conference with Blacksmiths and Street, ElectricRailway Employees 1: 0179

disputesAFL Building and Construction Trades

Department 9: 0903; 16: 0142Operating Engineers 11: 0751; 12: 0214, 0325,

0371; 13: 0398Plumbers Union in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

8: 0212Sheet Metal Workers 8: 0212Street, Electric Railway Employees 1: 0556;

2: 0506; 3: 0882Teamsters at Boeing strike in Seattle 14: 0298Tobacco Workers 7: 0001

jurisdiction disputesAir Line Pilots Association 16: 0484Blacksmiths 7: 0798Carpenters 4: 0001, 0362; 9: 0439, 0741, 0903;

10: 0113, 0315, 0474, 0638; 11: 0037, 0427Fire Fighters 1: 0285, 0324general 9: 0741; 13: 0063; 15: 0353Sheet Metal Workers 6: 0001

NLRB ruling on 15: 0583, 0729reaffiliation with AFL 11: 0703; 13: 0767;

14: 0803, 0985; 15: 0026, 0134resolution on CIO 6: 0654strike at San Francisco shipyards 10: 0315withdrawal from AFL 11: 0568; 13: 0398

Maintenance of Way Employeesagreement with AFL Building Trades Department

7: 0798dispute with AFL Building Trades Department

12: 0706; 15: 0134, 0353, 0485, 0583; 16: 0142jurisdiction matters 14: 0939

Marine Engineersdispute with Steam Operating Engineers 1: 0119

Marine Engineers Beneficial Associationcharter application 4: 0248; 14: 0803general 6: 0887; 8: 0212jurisdiction dispute with Operating Engineers

7: 0671jurisdiction dispute with Seafarers International

Union 16: 0739, 0803merger with Masters, Mates, and Pilots 16: 0142

Marine Firemendispute with Steam Operating Engineers 1: 0430;

3: 0717

Marine Shipbuilderscharter application 5: 0001

Maritime industryCIO organizing in 7: 0455, 0671

Maritime Trades Council13: 0265, 0398

Marshall PlanAFL representation in 14: 0166, 0298general 14: 0001

MassachusettsFederation of Labor organization drive 7: 0248workmen’s compensation legislation 1: 0179, 0737

Masters, Mates, and Pilots of Americadispute with International Longshoremen’s

Association 7: 0001; 8: 0500; 9: 0001, 0181,0439, 0535, 0741, 0903; 10: 0113

Marine Engineers dispute with Seafarers over16: 0739

merger with Marine Engineers BeneficialAssociation 16: 0142

Meany, Georgeelection to AFL presidency 15: 1005

Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen,Amalgamated

amalgamation with Fur and Leather Workers15: 0353; 16: 0834, 0866, 0994; 17: 0023, 0144

dispute with Handbag and Novelty Workers17: 0238

jurisdiction expansion 6: 0570; 7: 0001merger with Handbag and Novelty Workers

16: 0834

Metal Trades DepartmentAFL-CIO merger suggestions 17: 0023agreement with Anaconda Company protested by

Mine, Mill Union 4: 0918charges against Committee for Industrial

Organization 6: 0298, 0570; 7: 0001disputes

Oil Field Workers 5: 0741Street, Electric Railway Employees 1: 0001United Auto Workers 13: 0622, 0767

MexicoAFL cooperation with labor movement in 15: 0583immigration 1: 0179, 0324, 0737; 2: 0001, 0165,

0506; 3: 0104, 0422; 12: 0881labor leaders confer with AFL 1: 0713labor relations in 8: 0500Mexican Federation of Labor 1: 0324, 0430, 0737,

0860; 2: 0001, 0408, 0506migrant agricultural workers 16: 0484

MichiganAFL organizing program in 15: 0866Detroit and Wayne County Federation of Labor

factionalism in 16: 0295general 10: 0113; 12: 0371investigation of 16: 0142

Teamsters dispute with Brewery Workers 8: 0500see also Automobile Workers

45

Migrant laborgeneral 10: 0581; 14: 0001Mexico 16: 0484

MillwrightsCarpenters dispute with Machinists over

jurisdiction 9: 0439

Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers UnionAFL Metal Trades Department agreement with

Anaconda Company protested 4: 0918; 5: 0001,0227

charter application 7: 0671charter revocation 7: 0798Gallup, New Mexico 7: 0001general 8: 0920organizing drive 2: 0100reorganization 1: 0737

Miners labor legislation2: 0569; 15: 0583

Mine Workers of America, UnitedAFL charter revoked 7: 0798dispute with Coal River Collieries 1: 0179, 0285dispute with Locomotive Engineers 1: 0001District 50 raiding charges 15: 0026finances 2: 0857general 8: 0920Health and Welfare Fund 13: 0265internal political dissension 3: 0001, 0104, 0602Progressive Mine Workers of America insurgency

3: 0256Progressive Mine Workers of America reaffiliation

with 11: 0568reaffiliation with AFL 11: 0427, 0568, 0703;

12: 0035, 0325strikes

Harlan County, Kentucky 3: 08821927 2: 0135, 01651928 2: 0269, 0408

Minimum wage legislationAFL opposition to 4: 0248Walsh-Healey Act 6: 0654, 0887; 7: 0248

MinnesotaCIO organizing in Minneapolis 7: 0455; 13: 0398;

14: 0001Communist activity in Minneapolis 5: 0591investigation of Minneapolis CLU 10: 0581strike by WPA in Minneapolis 9: 0439, 0535, 0741

Mississippi River flood catastrophe2: 0100

Missouriworkmen’s compensation legislation 1: 0179, 0556,

0737, 0860

Molders Unionamalgamation with Foundry Workers 5: 0227

boycott by 2: 0569dispute with Stove Mounters 9: 0181protest to AFL about Stove Mounters 10: 0085

MontanaButte central labor union charter application

6: 0887; 7: 0001Butte CIO activities 8: 0500State, County, and Municipal Employees in

15: 0026, 0134

Montgomery Ward Companyunfair labor practices case 10: 0113; 12: 0035

Mooney-Billings case1: 0860; 2: 0165, 0723, 0857; 3: 0717, 0882;

5: 0591; 6: 0298

Moral rearmament movement15: 0583, 0729; 16: 0001

Mothers pensions1: 0285

Motion picture industrydirectly affiliated Federal Labor Unions 3: 0717eight-hour day 4: 0001Federated Motion Picture Studio Crafts recognition

4: 0248labor agreements 6: 0887; 7: 0001Theatrical Stage Employees charges against

Motion Picture Operators 4: 0001, 0121, 0494union recognition 3: 0882

Muscle Shoals projectlabor standards 1: 0713; 2: 0100

Musicians, American Federation ofdispute with Associated Actors and Artists

16: 0803opposition to amendment to Federal

Communications Act 13: 0398

Narcoticsaddiction 2: 0569treatment 2: 0613

National Association for the Advancement ofColored People

request for financial assistance 14: 0803; 16: 0142

National Civic FederationAFL critical report on 5: 0741general 3: 0717

National defenseAir Force adequacy 13: 0063general 14: 0985; 15: 0729National Security Program 14: 0629Point-Four Program 14: 0985see also War mobilization of labor

National Farm Labor Union13: 0398; 14: 0001; 15: 0353, 0485, 0583

46

National Labor Relations Actsee Labor legislation

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)AFL charges bias against 10: 0768amendment to authority of 11: 0751appointments to 8: 0500California Cannery Workers jurisdiction award

12: 0881decisions of 8: 0001general 5: 0463, 0654; 7: 0671; 10: 0581;

11: 0568; 12: 0706; 16: 0484Kaiser shipyard case 11: 0427

see also Kaiser Shipbuilding CompanyMachinists vs. Carpenters 15: 0583, 0729reorganization 15: 0026Taft-Hartley Act decisions 15: 0485; 16: 0866

National Recovery Actcompany unions provisions 4: 0494, 0797general 4: 0458Supreme Court ruling invalidating 5: 0416, 0463;

6: 0654

National Recovery AdministrationHillman, Sidney 5: 0001

National Service billAFL opposition to 11: 0751

National Urban League16: 0610

National Youth Administrationapprenticeship training 8: 0500Civilian Conservation Corps merger with 10: 0638general 5: 0463, 0591national defense programs 8: 0500

Native Americansemployment 15: 0866

Navy appropriations bills2: 0569; 4: 0248

Navy Yard employeesunemployment 3: 0104, 0422working conditions 1: 0737

NebraskaBoys Town (Douglas County) 10: 0768right-to-work legislation in 13: 0582, 0622

New JerseyTextile Workers strike in Passaic 1: 0430, 0556,

0651, 0713, 0737

New MexicoGallup miners 7: 0001

New York CityCLU dispute with Ladies Garment Workers

15: 0237racketeering investigation 5: 0463, 0591; 15: 0866;

16: 0001, 0142, 0295

Teamsters organization of taxi drivers 16: 0295Transit Workers Union dispute with Street, Electric

Railway Employees 7: 0299see also Amalgamated Clothing Workers; Fur

Workers; Ladies Garment Workers

New York StateDefense Emergency Act 15: 0237

Occupational diseasesgeneral 6: 0887undulant fever 16: 0001

Office Employeescharter application 12: 0214conferences 12: 0001, 0035

OhioCanton labor movement—Communist activity

2: 0408Cleveland Federation of Labor report on CIO

7: 0248State Federation of Labor 15: 0729Toledo CIO movement 6: 0654

Oil Field, Gas Well, and Refinery Workersdispute with AFL Metal Trades Department

5: 0741general 8: 0920jurisdiction matters 11: 0427organization of 1: 0285; 2: 0857

Old age pensionsgeneral 2: 0100; 7: 0671legislation 3: 0717, 0882model legislation 3: 0602see also Social Security Act

Operating Engineers, International Union ofbargaining agency in oil refineries 12: 0035dispute with Machinists 11: 0751; 12: 0214, 0325jurisdiction disputes

Firemen and Oilers 12: 0542, 0881; 13: 0001–14: 0001, 0063, 0767

Laborers 9: 0001Machinists 12: 0035, 0325, 0371Teamsters 10: 0113, 0315

merger negotiations with Firemen and Oilers13: 0622

organizing in metal mining industry 16: 0866

Oregonantilabor law in 8: 0500; 9: 0439, 0535; 10: 0113

Organizing driveschain store employees 4: 0248FLUs 4: 0362general 10: 0001; 14: 0629; 15: 0237, 0583industrial organization in mass production

industries 5: 0227, 0463; 8: 0212Michigan 15: 0866office employees 10: 0638

47

policies 12: 0542Puerto Rico 16: 0431report (1939) 9: 0001shipyard workers 8: 0429social justice, statement on 14: 0462southern states 1: 0001; 2: 0569, 0959; 3: 0001,

0104, 0256, 0383; 5: 0591; 12: 0265, 0398,0582, 0622, 0767; 14: 0001

women in industries 12: 0706women office workers 1: 0001, 0179

Pacifismdenounced by AFL 2: 0100

Packinghouse Workers of America, Unitedorganizing drive 8: 0212

Padway, JosephAFL contract with 14: 0001

Painters and Decorators, Brotherhood ofagreement with Stove Mounters 9: 0535agreement with Upholsterers 9: 0439dispute with Theatrical Stage Employees 12: 0542;

13: 0001–14: 0001jurisdiction expansion 8:0001racketeering charges against 10: 0113, 0315

PalestineBalfour Declaration on 9: 0001

Panama14: 0462

Pan American Commercial Conference1: 0001; 2: 0100

Pan American Federation of Labor1: 0179; 2: 0723; 3: 0001, 0256, 0717; 6: 0001,

0654; 7: 0455; 8: 0001, 0500; 9: 0001;10: 0113; 11: 0227; 13: 0265

see also Latin America

Pan American Labor Conference10: 0768

Paper Workersorganizing campaign 4: 0612see also Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers

Parker, John J.U.S. Supreme Court nomination 3: 0104

Patterson, Robertcommunication on wartime strikes 11: 0037

Pegler, WestbrookAFL considers libel suit against 10: 0001, 0113attacks on AFL leaders 9: 0535

PennsylvaniaIron Workers dispute with Philadelphia Athletics

baseball club 1: 0001Pittsburgh—building trades dispute in 8: 0001Pittsburgh—private detective agencies infiltration

of unions in 1: 0001

Philadelphia Transportation Workers 12: 0035State, County, and Municipal Employees 15: 0026

Pennsylvania Railroadstrike (1925) 1: 0179

Pension and welfare fundsAFL study of 15: 0026

People’s Legislative Service1: 0179

Perkins, George W.AFL resolution on 4: 0612

Philippineslabor movement in 13: 0063see also Filipinos

Picketingcourt decision against 1: 0119rights concerning 9: 0535

Plumbers, Gas Fitters, and Steam Fitters,International Association of

agreement with Boilermakers 10: 0474dispute with Machinists Union in Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania 8: 0212general 1: 0324jurisdiction dispute with Teamsters 15: 0729

Pocketbook Workers Unionamalgamation with Leather Workers 2: 0408charter denied 2: 0269

Political actioncongressional elections 3: 0256; 11: 0751; 14: 0298Non-Partisan Political Committee 2: 0408; 4: 0001;

14: 0298presidential elections 9: 0903; 11: 0751; 12: 0035;14: 0298see also Political parties

Political partiesAFL assistance to Democratic congressional

candidates 16: 0001AFL influence on conventions 2: 0269, 0882;

4: 0001; 9: 0741; 12: 0035; 14: 0166; 15: 0866presidential campaigns 9: 0903; 15: 0959replies to AFL political program 2: 0408

Postal Employeesmerger with Building Service Employees 16: 0866organizing drive among 4: 0248; 16: 0484

Postwar economic planning10: 0001, 0474; 11: 0751; 12: 0542; 13: 0063

Postwar reconversionlabor policies 13: 0063

Prevailing wagesAFL defense of Davis-Bacon Act 16: 0866defense industry construction 10: 0113government contracts 3: 0001, 0383, 0422, 0882;

10: 0474; 16: 0866

48

relief work 5: 0001WPA 9: 0181

Price controls10: 0638; 11: 0227, 0568; 12: 0881; 13: 0063,

0398, 0871; 14: 0001; 15: 0134, 0353, 0729

Printing Pressmen’s and Assistants Union of NorthAmerica

dispute with Teamsters 15: 0583, 0729

Printing trades unionsdispute with Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill

Workers 15: 0134see also International Typographical Union

Prison labormodel legislation on 1: 0001war production 10: 0768; 11: 0568, 0751see also Convict labor

Private detective agenciesPittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1: 0001

Progressive Mine Workers of Americacharter application 7: 0299, 0671general 3: 0256; 7: 0455, 0798; 8: 0500; 9: 0001;

14: 0166organizing drive 8: 0212protest UMW reaffiliation with AFL 11: 0751;

12: 0371; 13: 0063reaffiliation with UMW 11: 0568

Prohibitionfederal commission to investigate 2: 0613Volstead Act amendments requested 3: 0256, 0422;

4: 0121

Public education6: 0654

Puerto RicoFree Federation of Workingmen 7: 0455general 16: 0001industrial conditions 3: 0602labor movement 2: 0100; 6: 0654; 15: 0729, 0866,

0959labor standards in 15: 0026National Labor Relations Act application to

6: 0887political situation 7: 0671

Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workersdispute with AFL Building Trades Department

14: 0166dispute with AFL printing trades unions 15: 0134

Quarry Workersdispute with Hod Carriers 8: 0212jurisdiction dispute with Teamsters 7: 0455

Race relationsBrown v. Board of Education 16: 0610employment discrimination in the South 16: 0739

see also African American workers; AmericanFederation of Labor; National Association forthe Advancement of Colored People; NationalUrban League; Sleeping Car Porters

RacketeeringAFL resolutions on 4: 0797Bridge and Structural Iron Workers 4: 0001, 0248congressional hearings on 16: 0484general 4: 0001; 10: 0001; 15: 0729legislation against 11: 0037Longshoremen 15: 0866; 16: 0001, 0142, 0295New York City investigation 5: 0463, 0591Painters Union 10: 0113, 0315

Radio Workerscharter application 5: 0001, 0741

Railroad Brotherhoodscooperation with CIO and AFL against Taft-

Hartley repeal 14: 0462general 13: 0582opposition to Taft-Hartley Act 13: 0871union security in 16: 0142

Railroad labor legislationgeneral 4: 0248pensions 4: 0121Railroad Employees Retirement Law 7: 0455Railway Labor Act (1926) 1: 0556Watson-Parker bill 1: 0430

Railroad Shop Craft Brotherhoodsdispute with Sleeping Car Porters 12: 0706;

13: 0871; 14: 0001, 0166general 1: 0179

Railroad Signalmendispute with Electrical Workers 2: 0055; 0269reinstatement in AFL 13: 0582

Railroad Telegraphersdispute with Railway Clerks 12: 0035

Railroad Trainmenreaffiliation with AFL 3: 0602

Railway Car Men, Brotherhood ofdispute with Sleeping Car Porters 12: 0706jurisdiction matters 11: 0703

Railway Clerks, Brotherhood ofdisputes

Canadian Trades and Labor Congress 14: 0403Railroad Telegraphers 12: 0035Teamsters 1: 0001, 0179; 2: 0165, 0959;

3: 0256, 0422, 0717; 16: 0610jurisdiction matters 9: 0903; 12: 0035

RationingKorean War era 15: 0134, 0353

Recreation1: 0001

49

Rent control14: 0629; 16: 0142

Right-to-work lawssee Antilabor legislation

Roberts, Owen J.Supreme Court nomination 3: 0104

Roosevelt, Eleanor11: 0751

Roosevelt, FranklinAFL Executive Board meetings with 4: 0248, 0362;

5: 0001general 1: 0001

Rubber Workerscharter application 5: 0227constitution 5: 0741unemployment among 4: 0797

RussiaAFL delegation to 1: 0860labor commission 1: 0651labor conditions in 1: 0556see also Kerensky, Alexander; Soviet Russia

Sacco and Vanzetti case1: 0713; 2: 0001

Sailors Union of the Pacific8: 0212

Sales taxes1: 0285

Schnitzler, Williamelection to secretary-treasurer of AFL 15: 1005

Schumann PlanFranco-German joint control of steel and coal

industries 15: 0134

Scottsboro case5: 0591

Seafarers International Unioncharter 8: 0429; 14: 0803dispute with Canadian Seamen’s Union 16: 0001dispute with Marine Engineers 16: 0739, 0803organizing on Pacific coast 14: 0403report on 8: 0500

Seamen’s International Unioncharter revocation 8: 0429insurgency within 7: 0001organizing drive 8: 0212Pacific maritime dispute 6: 0298reorganization 7: 0455

Sheet Metal Workersjurisdiction dispute with Machinists 6: 0001;

8: 0212

Shipbuilding industrygeneral 10: 0113Kaiser case 11: 0227, 0427

Ship subsidy legislation1925 1: 0119

Shipyard workersAFL Metal Trades Department organizing among

8: 0429Machinists strike at San Francisco 10: 0315

Sit-down strikes7: 0455

Slave labor13: 0622; 14: 0001

Sleeping Car Porters, Brotherhood ofAFL-CIO merger suggestions 17: 0023, 0238charter application 2: 0408, 0506, 0569, 0723;

3: 0104; 4: 0716, 0797; 5: 0741charter denied 2: 0269disputes

conductors 10: 0113, 0315Railroad Shop Craft Brotherhoods 12: 0706;

13: 0871; 14: 0001, 0166Railway Car Men’s Brotherhood 12: 0706

federal labor union charter issued 2: 0613general 3: 0422injunction case 4: 0214, 0248jurisdiction dispute with Conductors 5: 0001jurisdiction expansion 8: 0500; 9: 0535jurisdiction issues, general 5: 0463organization of Pullman Company 2: 0165; 3: 0383

Social Security Actadministration 6: 0001, 0654; 7: 0455, 0798benefits liberalization 15: 0729general 9: 0903; 15: 0583; 16: 0484legislation 14: 0629, 0985; 15: 0218

Southern statesorganizing drives in 1: 0001; 2: 0100, 0569, 0857,

0959; 3: 0001, 0104, 0256, 0383, 0422; 5: 0591;13: 0265, 0368, 0582, 0622, 0767; 14: 0001

Soviet RussiaAFL “Message to the Russian People” 15: 0237AFL statement on 17: 0023aggression in Europe 15: 0485anti-Semitism in 16: 0001diplomatic recognition of 4: 0248general 16: 0484

SpainAFL resolution on fascism in 13: 0063, 0622fascism in 15: 0485; 16: 0484

State, County, and Municipal Employees Unionsee American Federation of State, County, and

Municipal Employees

Stationary Engineersdispute with Brewers 4: 0494dispute with Firemen and Oilers 4: 0612, 0918

50

Steam and Operating EngineersAFL charges against 4: 0001dispute with Marine Engineers 1: 0119dispute with Marine Firemen 1: 0651; 2: 0055;

3: 0717

Steel workersorganizing campaign 6: 0001Steel Workers Organizing Committee 6: 0654see also Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers

Stenographers, Book Keepers, and AccountantsUnion

1: 0119, 0285

Stone Cutters Unionantitrust exemption case 1: 0860complaints about pneumatic hammer 1: 0713, 0737

Stove Mounters International Unionagreement with Painters Union 9: 0535jurisdiction dispute with Molders Union 9: 0181protest to AFL about Molders 10: 0085

Street, Electric Railway, and Motor CoachEmployees

conference with Machinists 1: 0179disputes

AFL Metal Trades Department 1: 0001Machinists 1: 0556; 2: 0506; 3: 0882Teamsters 1: 0001; 9: 0001Transit Workers Union in New York, New York

7: 0299injunction case in Indianapolis, Indiana 2: 0001injunction case in New York 2: 0165jurisdiction disputes, general 8: 0212strike in New Orleans, Louisiana 2: 0857

Sugar Act of 194815: 0026

Sugar Beet Workerscharter application 16: 0739organizing campaign 3: 0256

Sugar Workerscharter application 16: 0610dispute with Teamsters 16: 0610investigation of Teamsters jurisdiction 16: 0803

Swedenlabor movement 15: 0026

Taft-Hartley Actnon-Communist affidavits

general 13: 0871signed by AFL Executive Council 15: 0564,

0959repeal movement by organized labor 14: 0462,

0629, 0985; 15: 0583see also Antilabor legislation

Taxationfederal policy 15: 0583lecture on, by Richard T. Ely 1: 0713sales tax 1: 0285

Teamsters, International Brotherhood ofCalifornia activities 13: 0265disputes

Brewery Workers 4: 0248, 0494, 0797; 5: 0001,0227, 0416, 0463; 7: 0455; 8: 0001, 0500;9: 0001, 0535; 10: 0315, 0581

Bridge and Iron Workers 7: 0798Longshoremen and Printing Pressmen 15: 0583Machinists at Boeing strike 14: 0298Quarry Workers 7: 0455Railway Clerks 1: 0001, 0179; 2: 0165, 0959;

3: 0256, 0422, 0717; 16: 0610Street, Electric Railway Employees 1: 0001Sugar Workers 16: 0610

investigation of jurisdiction over Sugar Workers16: 0803

jurisdiction disputesCannery Workers 12: 0371Operating Engineers 10: 0113Plumbers 15: 0729

jurisdiction expansion to warehousemen 7: 0001,0299

jurisdiction over Ice Pullers 10: 0315jurisdiction over Longshoremen requested

16: 0994; 17: 0144Memphis, Tennessee 13: 0398organization of New York, New York, taxi drivers

16: 0295protest NLRB award of California Cannery

Workers to CIO 12: 0881

Technological change6: 0654

Television industryright to use motion picture productions protested by

AFL 15: 0959; 16: 0001

Tenant Farmers Unioncharter application 9: 0903general 5: 0741

TennesseeTeamsters organization in Memphis 13: 0398

Tennessee Valley Authorityjurisdiction dispute among AFL Building Trades

Department, Carpenters Union, and MachinistsUnion 10: 0638

TexasState Federation of Labor 15: 0729

Textile Conference, International7: 0248

51

Textile Workers, Unitedgeneral 13: 0398; 16: 0001strike at Paterson, New Jersey, silk mills 3: 0717

Textile Workers Organizing Committee9: 0439

Textile Workers Union of Americaaffiliation with CIO 6: 0298dispute with American Thread Company 1: 0119dispute with Firemen and Oilers 5: 0227financial investigation of 15: 0959general 8: 0920jurisdiction dispute with Hosiery Workers 15: 0564jurisdiction dispute with Ladies Garment Workers

4: 0494, 0612jurisdiction matters 14: 0629, 0803negotiations in Danville, Virginia 3: 0256organizing drive in southern states 2: 0100, 0857,

0959; 3: 0104program 4: 0918reaffiliation with AFL 8: 0500strikes

Danville, Virginia 3: 0422general 4: 0797New Bedford, Massachusetts 2: 0506Passaic, New Jersey 1: 0430, 0556, 0651, 0713,

0737wage reduction 1: 0179

Theatrical Agents and Managers Unionjurisdiction extension 9: 0903

Theatrical Stage Employees, InternationalAssociation of

charges against Motion Picture Operators 4: 0001,0121

dispute with Painters and Decorators Union12: 0542, 0881; 13: 0001–14: 0001

jurisdiction dispute with Associate Actors andArtists 9: 0181

jurisdiction matters 5: 0463jurisdiction over Motion Picture Operators 4: 0494

Thomas, Normanreports flogging of labor organizers in Florida

5: 0741

Timber Workersorganizing among 4: 0797

Tobacco Trades Councilpetition regarding National Recovery

Administration codes 4: 0918

Tobacco Workers International Unionamalgamation with Cigar Makers 2: 0613, 0959;

3: 0256dispute with Machinists 7: 0001dispute with Reynolds Tobacco Company 2: 0269,

0408

internal controversy 9: 0741merger with Cigar Makers 14: 0403

Tobin, Danielcampaign for secretary of labor 4: 0214death of 17: 0238

Transit Workers Uniondispute with Street and Electric Railway Workers

in New York, New York 7: 0299

Truman, Harry S.AFL Executive Council meets 12: 0542

UnemploymentAFL committee on 2: 0613, 0723conferences 4: 0001, 0121general 1: 0121; 6: 0001; 7: 0798; 16: 0484government policies 3: 0104, 0859; 4: 0001, 0121insurance 3: 0256, 0383, 0717; 4: 0001, 0121,

0494relief—general 5: 0463relief in New York, New York 4: 0494see also Workmen’s compensation

Union Label campaigngeneral 1: 0001, 0737grain products 13: 0265prosanis (sanitary) garments 1: 0179

United NationsAFL

amendments to Dumbarton Oaks proposals12: 0542

as consultant 14: 0166, 0629children’s aid 13: 0871general 13: 0063, 0582, 0622Relief Committee 11: 0568San Francisco, California, Conference 12: 0371,

0542

Universal military training12: 0371; 13: 0622; 14: 0001; 15: 0237, 0583see also Civilian military training

Upholsterers International Union of North Americaagreement with Painters 9: 0439dispute with Carpenters 9: 0181, 0439; 14: 0001,

0166, 0403, 0462, 0939; 15: 0026jurisdiction disputes 8: 0429

U.S. Department of Laborcentralization of 11: 0751

U.S. Housing Authoritygeneral 9: 0535see also Housing

U.S. Navylabor relations in 11: 0037

U.S. Senateinvestigation of industrial unrest 13: 0265

52

U.S. Supreme Courtappointments 3: 0104, 0882efforts to limit power of, in labor relations 5: 0741;

6: 0887Roosevelt reorganization plan 7: 0001rulings applying antitrust to labor unions 1: 0860

Veteransaid to 12: 0371Korean War G.I. Bill of Rights 15: 0866pensions of Civil War veterans 2: 0100Preference Act 15: 0353seniority issues 12: 0706super-seniority 13: 0063

Vietnamsee Indochina

Virginiaright-to-work legislation 15: 0237State Federation of Labor 9: 0741, 0903

Voluntarismendorsed by American Bar Association 1: 0430general application to industrial relations 1: 0651

Voting rightsU.S. soldiers 11: 0751white Democratic primary elections 12: 0371

WagesAFL report on 16: 0001AFL statement on wage and price controls

12: 0881agricultural workers 13: 0622controls 15: 0134, 0353, 0729night rate differential 1: 0713reductions 3: 0602, 0717stabilization of 10: 0768; 11: 0227; 15: 0583, 0729wartime policies 11: 0037see also Labor standards

Wagner, Robert F.meetings with AFL Executive Board 5: 0416National Labor Relations legislation 4: 0612;

5: 0227

Wagner Actsee under Labor legislation

Walker, John H.AFL international labor delegate 2: 0269

War bondssalary deductions for 10: 0768

War mobilization of laborabsenteeism 10: 0227AFL representation on federal boards and

commissions 11: 0227cigarettes for servicemen campaign 11: 0568conference 9: 0535general 9: 0741; 16: 0866

legislation on 3: 0602no-strike pledge 11: 0427, 0568; 12: 0706preparedness program 3: 0882prison labor 10: 0768War Labor Board 10: 0638; 11: 0427, 0568, 0751;

12: 0035, 0325War Manpower Commission 11: 0037see also Defense industries

War prisonersrelief 11: 0037labor 11: 0568

Washington StateAmerican Newspaper Guild strike in Seattle

6: 0654, 0887Boeing strike in Seattle 14: 0298Communist activity in Seattle labor movement

2: 0165Seattle Brewery Workers suspended from central

labor union 5: 0591; 6: 0001Seattle labor movement, general 8: 0001Seattle teachers’ yellow-dog contracts 2: 0408,

0569Supreme Court ruling against picketing 1: 0119

Watch Workerscharter protested by Jewelry Workers 14: 0166

Western Federation of Miners8: 0920

West VirginiaState Federation of Labor 7: 0455

White collar workersInternational Council of Office Employees Unions

12: 0001organization among 7: 0001; 15: 0026see also Office Employees

Wilson, William B.U.S. Senate candidacy 1: 0651

Wisconsin Federation of Laborcompetition with CIO 13: 0265general 6: 0570

Women’s auxiliaries of AFL unions3: 0383, 0422; 4: 0001, 0214, 0248, 0612, 0716;

5: 0741; 9: 0181; 15: 0866

Women’s Trade Union League11: 0568

Women workersequal pay 14: 0001, 0462industrial 4: 0214office workers organizing drive 1: 0001organizing drive among 1: 0179; 12: 0706

Wood Workers of America, Internationalorganizing in lumber industry 7: 0455, 0671

53

Wood Workers Unionaffiliation with Brotherhood of Carpenters 1: 0430

Workers Education Bureau1: 0860; 3: 0602; 5: 0741; 9: 0903; 10: 0001;

14: 0629; 15: 0026, 0134

Workmen’s compensationDistrict of Columbia 1: 0430; 2: 0269general 3: 0422; 4: 0121, 0214; 6: 0887Massachusetts 1: 0179, 0430, 0737Missouri 1: 0179, 0556, 0737

Works Progress Administration (WPA)organizing efforts among 7: 0001prevailing wage rates and 9: 0181, 0439strike in Minneapolis 9: 0439, 0535, 0741terminated 11: 0227working conditions 9: 0439

Workweek/dayeight-hour day 4: 0001five-day 2: 0269; 3: 0383, 0422, 0859; 4: 0001

forty-four-hour 2: 0959; 3: 0104forty-hour 2: 0959; 4: 0214six-hour day 4: 0248, 0362thirty-hour 4: 0797see also Labor standards

World Court1: 0324; 3: 0104, 0422, 0717

World Federation of Free Democratic Unions14: 0629

World Federation of Trade Unions13: 0063; 14: 0462

World Trade Union Conference11: 0751; 12: 0325, 0371, 0542, 0706, 0881

Yellow-dog contractsgeneral 1: 0713Seattle teachers 2: 0408, 0569