Take It Easy, But Take It

The IFAWA has a very complicated history. I wanted to share some of my collection with you as I continue to map the CIO's radical existence over the course of 20 short years. For a well done history of the United Fisherman's Union - CIO  & The International Fisherman & Allied Workers of America - CIO... visit this link here to the Waterfront Workers History Project at the University of Washington. Between 1948 and 1950, the CIO expelled 11 unions who refused to remove their communists and radicals from leadership. The last 3 were all West Coast Maritime unions. The IFAWA was one of them. Having already pushed the idea of affiliating with the ILWU to their membership, the merger was almost immediate after expulsion. By my count the IFAWA existed as it's own union from 1939 till 1950. The United Fisherman's Union was the CIO's first foray into the fishing industry and existed from 1937-1939, largely still as a craft union, but set the stage for a lar...

This is a partial and ever expanding list of UAW-CIO locals. As I work through convention proceedings, pamphlets, contracts and dues pins I make notes of locals and any information I find regarding their city, job category or employer. 2 - Detroit, MI - Murray Body 3 - Detroit, MI - Dodge Main 5 - South Bend, IN - Studebaker 6 7 - Detroit, MI - Chrysler 9 - South Bend, IN - Amalgamated 12 - Toledo, OH - Amalgamated 14 - Toledo, OH - Amalgamated 15 - Detroit, MI - Fleetwood 25 - St. Louis, MO - Amalgamated 30 - Columbus, OH - Columbus Auto Parts 32 - Cleveland, OH - White Motor 34 - Atlanta, GA - Amalgamated 37 - Racine, WI - Young Radiator 40 - Kent, OH - Twin Coach 42 - Detroit, MI - Amalgamated 44 - ??????? 45 - Cleveland, OH - Fisher Body 51 - Detroit, MI - Plymouth 57 - Fort Wayne, IN - International Harvester 58 - Racine, WI - Nash 62 - Jackson, MI - Amalgamated 65 - Cleveland, OH - Ohio Manufacturing Co. 70 - Cleveland, OH - ...

“DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES In our society of today there are two classes whose interests are directly opposed to each other. On the one side stands the propertied class, that owns almost all the lands, all the houses, the factories, the means of communication, all the machines and raw material, all the means of life. Compared with the nation at large this class is only a small minority. On the other side stand the workers, who possess nothing but their physical and intellectual labor power, and this they are compelled to sell to those who own the means of production. The workers number millions. It is to the interest of the propertied class to buy labor at the cheapest possible price; to produce as much as can be produced, and to heap up wealth. The few hundreds of thousands, who compose the propertied class take from the workers the greater part of the wealth they have created. Of all the product of their toil the millions of workers receive only just as much a...