Skip to main content

1943 WORKING AND FIGHTING TOGETHER - C.I.O. Publication No. 85

CIO Publication No. 85 -WORKING AND FIGHTING TOGETHER regardless of race, creed, color or national origin -  produced by the CIO Committee to Abolish Racial Discrimination 1943

A hallmark of CIO organizing was tearing down racial barriers to worker solidarity and union power. The AFL's craft based unionism almost exclusively saw white workers in high paying skill jobs with poor workers of color left unorganized in the mass production industries. The C.I.O. had a huge challenge on their hands, building multi-racial international unions in Jim Crow America. I have read many accounts by organizers with the United Auto Workers regarding just how difficult it was to win white workers over to these new C.I.O. unions. These organizing drives literally transformed communities and racial equality might just be the most radical concept of all the CIO's legacy.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union - C.I.O. Local Union list

This is a working list that is continually being expanded and cross referenced as I work through archival material. You will notice I pose questions next to some of the locals or include various notes. If you use this list as a reference please know it may not be 100% accurate. This is a continuation of my project to map the Congress of Industrial Organizations. You will notice several different charters with the same local number. The International reused local numbers as they amalgamated or ceased to exist. Making this research a tad bit more difficult. ILWU Local 1 - RAYMOND, WA (longshore) *** chartered ’37  ILWU Local 2 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA (shipscalers) *** chartered ’37 ILWU Local 3 - STOCKTON, CA, (Barge / Power Boat)  *** chartered ’37 in 1950 Local 3 becomes catch all for the International Fisherman & Allied Workers after they are expelled from the CIO. Below is a list of locals that became Local 3 in 1950. I believe these numbers correspond w...

United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing & Allied Workers of America C.I.O. - 1938 Membership Book

"Being fully aware that the conflict between capital and labor grows with intensity from time to time and tends to work disastrous results on the working millions unless we combine for mutual protection and benefit, and realizing fully that the struggle to better our working and living conditions is in vain unless we are united to protect ourselves against the organized forces of the employers and exploiters of labor, and Knowing full well that the old craft and isolated local forms of trade union organizations are unable to defend effectively the interests and improve the conditions of the workers, THEREFORE, WE, THE WORKERS ENGAGED IN THE CANNING, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES form an organization which unites all workers in our industry on an industrial and democratic basis, regardless of age, sex, nationality, race, creed, color or political and religious beliefs, and pursues at all times a policy of aggressive activity to improve our social and economic c...

Mine Mill + Western Federation of Miners - Union Pins

International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers C.I.O. side by side with their predecessors the Western Federation of Miners - Union Pins