... A Chronology1778-1955

E.SPENT OF LABORINSTI TE OF INDUSTRIAL

RELATION-S JwIvuP. tchell, SecretaryUNIVERSITY OF C Lf RN A

.'ERKELFY ROV 6

Important Eventsin AmericanLabor History L' :

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABORJames P. Mitchell, Secretary

Compiled by theDivision of Wages and Industrial Relations,L .5, Bureau of Labor Statistics

1778 Journeymen printers of New York Citycombined to demand an increase in wages.After the increase was granted the organiza-tion was abandoned.

1786 The earliest authenticated strike of workersin the United States in a single trade occurredwhen Philadelphia printers gained a minimumwage of $6 a week.

1791 Philadelphia carpenters struck unsuccess-fully in May for a 10-hour day and additionalpay for overtime. This was the first recordedstrike of workers in the building trades.

1792 The first local craft union formed for col-lective bargaining was organized by Phila-delphia shoemakers. It disbanded in lessthan a year.

1794 The Federal Society of Journeymen Cord-wainers was formed in Philadelphia by theshoeworkers. It lasted until 1806, when itwas tried and fined for conspiracy. (Seebelow.)The Typographical Society was organized

in New York City by the printers. It re-mained in existence for 10 years.

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1805 A Journeymen Cordwainers' union in NewYork City included a closed shop clause in itsconstitution.

1806 Members of the Philadelphia JourneymenCordwainers were tried for criminal con-spiracy after a strike for higher wages. Thecharges were (1) combination to raise wagesand (2) combination to injure others. Theunion was found guilty and fined. Bankruptas a result, the union disbanded. This wasthe first of several unions to be tried for con-spiracy.

1825 The United Tailoresses of New York, atrade-union organization for women only,was formed in New York City.

1827 The Mechanics' Union of Trade Associa-tions, made up of unions of skilled craftsmenin different trades, was formed in Phila-delphia. This was the first city central typeof organization on record.

1828 The Workingmen's Party, including wageearners, craftsmen, and farmers, was organ-ized in Philadelphia in July. It went out ofexistence in 1832.

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1834 The National Trades' Union was formed inNew York City. This was the first attempttoward a national labor federation in theUnited States. It failed to survive thefinancial panic of 1837.

1836 The National Cooperative Association ofCordwainers, the first national labor unionof a specific craft, was formed in New YorkCity. There is no further record of thisorganization after 1837. Other trades whichformed national organizations within the nextfew years were the printers, comb makers,carpenters, and hand-loom weavers.

1840 An Executive order issued on March 31 byPresident Van Buren established a 10-hourday for Federal employees on public workswithout reduction in pay.

1842 In the case of Commonwealth v. Hunt, theMassachusetts Court held that labor unions,as such, were legal organizations, and that"a conspiracy must be a combination of twoor more persons, by some concerted action, toaccomplish some criminal or unlawful pur-pose, or to accomplish some purpose not in

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itself criminal or unlawful by criminal orunlawful means." The decision also deniedthat an attempt to establish a closed shopwas unlawful or proof of an unlawful aim.

Massachusetts and Connecticut passedlaws prohibiting children from working morethan 10 hours a day.

1847 The first State law fixing 10 hours as a legalworkday was passed in New Hampshire.

1848 Pennsylvania passed a State child labor lawsetting the minimum age for workers in com-mercial occupations at 12 years. In 1849, theminimum was raised to 13 years.

1852 The Typographical Union, the first nationalorganization of workers to endure to thepresent day, was formed.The first law limiting working hours of

women to 10 hours a day was passed in Ohio.1859 The Iron Molders' Union, the forerunner of

the present Molders and Foundry WorkersUnion (AFL), was organized in Philadelphia.

1862 The "Molly Maguires," a secret society ofIrish miners in the anthracite fields, first cameto public attention. The "Mollies" were

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charged with acts of terrorism against minebosses. They went out of existence in 1876,when 14 of their leaders were imprisonedand 10 were executed.

1863 The present-day Brotherhood of Locomo-tive Engineers was founded.Laws providing fines and imprisonment for

strikers preventing other persons from work-ing were passed in Illinois and Minnesota.

1866 The National Labor Union, a national asso-ciation of unions, was organized. A federationof trades' assemblies rather than of nationalcraft organizations, it included radical andreform groups. Drifting into social ratherthan trade-union endeavors, it lost craftmen'ssupport and went out of existence in 1872.

1867 The Knights of St. Crispin was organizedon March 7 to protect journeymen shoe-makers against the competition of "greenhands" and apprentices in the operation ofnewly introduced machinery in the shoeindustry. The last vestige of the orderdisappeared in 1878.

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1868 The first Federal 8-hour day law was passedby Congress. It applied only to laborers,workmen, and mechanics employed by or onbehalf of the United States Government.The first State labor bureau was established

in Massachusetts.

1869 The Noble Order of the Knights of Laborwas organized in Philadelphia. It main-tained extreme secrecy until 1878, then beganorganizing skilled and unskilled workersopenly. By winning railroad strikes againstthe Gould lines, and advancing the programfor the 8-hour day, the Knights of Laborgained many followers, claiming over 700,000members in 1886. It declined rapidly there-after with the emergence of the AFL.

1870 The first written contract between coalminers and operators was signed on July 29.It provided for a sliding scale of pay, basedon the price of coal.

1874 The Cigar Makers International Union inSan Francisco made first use of the unionlabel.

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1877 The first recorded instance of the use ofFederal troops in a labor dispute duringpeacetime occurred during a strike of rail-road workers against a 10-percent cut in pay.Railroads operating east of the MississippiRiver were involved. Marked by violenceand property damage, more than 100 werereported killed and 200 injured.

1878 The Greenback-Labor Party was organizedby a fusion of the Greenback Party andWorkingmen's Party.

1881 The Federation of Organized Trades andLabor Unions (FOTLU), which later becamethe American Federation of Labor, wasorganized in Pittsburgh in November with107 delegates present. Leaders of 8 nationalunions attended, including Samuel Gompers,then president of the Cigar Makers Interna-tional Union.The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and

Joiners, later to become one of the largestAFL unions, was organized.

1882 Peter J. McGuire, a New York City car-penter, suggested setting aside 1 day in the

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year in honor of labor. The first Labor Daycelebration was held in New York Cityduring September of the same year.

1883 The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmenwas organized.

1884 A Bureau of Labor was established in theDepartment of Interior. It later becameindependent as a Department of Laborwithout cabinet rank. It again returned tobureau status in the Department of Com-merce and Labor, which was created in 1903,where it remained until the present Depart-ment of Labor was established in 1913.

1886 Under the initiative of the Federation ofOrganized Trades and Labor Unions, some340,000 workers participated in a move-ment for an 8-hour day.The Chicago Haymarket riot, in which one

policeman was killed and several otherswounded, aroused public opinion againstunionism and radicalism and for severalyears stopped the movement for the 8-hourday. The meeting in Haymarket Squarehad been called as a peaceful protest against

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the killing of four strikers and wounding ofothers during a strike for the 8-hour dayat the McCormick Reaper Works.The American Federation of Labor was

organized at a convention in Columbus,Ohio, in December, as successor to theFederation of Organized Trades and LaborUnions. Other trade unions and city councilswhich had failed to gain autonomy withinthe ranks of the Knights of Labor also joinedthe AFL.

1888 The first Federal labor relations law wasenacted. It applied to railroads and pro-vided for arbitration and Presidential boardsof investigation.The International Association of Machin-

ists was organized in Atlanta, Ga.1890 The United Mine Workers was organized

in Columbus, Ohio.1892 The Homestead strike by the Amalgam-

ated Association of Iron, Steel and TinWorkers at the Carnegie steel mills in Home-stead, Pa., resulted in the death of severalstrikers and Pinkerton guards. The strike

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failed and the union was ousted from mostmills in the Pittsburgh area.

1894 A strike of the American Railway Union,led by Eugene V. Debs against the PullmanCo., was defeated by the use of injunctionsand by Federal troops sent into the Chicagoarea. Debs and several other leaders wereimprisoned for violating the injunctions, andthe union's effectiveness was destroyed.

1898 Congress passed the Erdman Act, providingfor mediation and voluntary arbitration onthe railroads, and superseding the law of 1888.The act also made it a criminal offense forrailroads to dismiss employees or to discrimi-nate against prospective employees because oftheir union membership or activity. Thisportion of the act was subsequently declaredinvalid by the United States Supreme Court.

1900 The International Ladies' GarmentWorkers' Union (AFL) was formed.

1901 The International Federation of TradeUnions (then International Secretariat ofNational Trade Union Centers) was formedon August 21. The AFL affiliated in 1910,

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disaffiliated in 1921, and reaffiliated in 1937.It remained a member until IFTU wasformally dissolved in 1945.The Amalgamated Association of Iron,

Steel & Tin Workers (AFL) lost 14 union con-tracts after a 3-month strike against theUnited States Steel Corp.The United Textile Workers of America

(AFL) was organized.

1902 The United Mine Workers of Americaended a 5-month strike on October 21 againstanthracite operators, agreeing to arbitrationby a Presidential commission. The Anthra-cite Coal Strike Commission, appointed onOctober 16, recommended on March 18, 1903,a 10-percent wage increase and conciliationmachinery, but denied union recognition.

1903 The Department of Commerce and Laborwas created by an act of Congress (Act ofFeb. 14, 1903, 32 Stat. 825), and its Secretarywas made a member of the Cabinet.

1905 The Industrial Workers of the World wasorganized in Chicago.

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The Supreme Court held that a maximumhour law for bakery workers was unconstitu-tional under the due process clause of thefourteenth amendment. (Lochner v. NewYork.)

1906 The International Typographical Union(AFL) struck successfully in book and jobprinting establishments for the 8-hour day,paving the way for extension of shorter hoursin the printing trades.

1908 Section 10 of the Erdman Act applying torailroad employees, whereby the "yellow-dog"contract was outlawed and an employer wasforbidden to discharge a worker for unionmembership, was declared unconstitutional.(U. S. v. Adair.)The boycott by the United Hatters of Dan-

bury, Conn., against D. E. Loewe and Co.was held to be in restraint of trade under theSherman Anti-Trust Act. In January 1915,the individual union members were heldresponsible for the union's acts and wereassessed damages and costs totaling $252,000.This was the first application of the trebledamage provision of the act to a labor union.

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1910 The 2-month strike of the InternationalLadies' Garment Workers' Union (AFL) wassettled by providing preferential union hiring,a board of grievances, and a board of arbi-tration. This laid the foundation for theimpartial chairman method of settling labordisputes.

1911 The Supreme Court upheld an injunctionordering the AFL to eliminate the BucksStove and Range Co. from its unfair list andto cease to promote an unlawful boycott. Acontempt charge against union leaders in-cluding AFL president Samuel Gompers, wasdismissed on technical grounds. (Gompers v.Bucks Stove and Range Co.)The Triangle Waist Co. fire in New York

on March 25, which caused the death of146 workers, led to establishment of the NewYork Factory Investigating Commission onJune 30, and eventual improvement in factoryconditions.

1912 Massachusetts adopted the first minimumwage act for women and minors.The (Walsh) Commission on Industrial Re-

lations was created to investigate industrial14

unrest. In 1916, it rendered a comprehensiveseries of reports on the status of labor-manage-ment relations.

1913 The United States Department of Laborwas established by law. It included theBureau of Labor Statistics (created in 1884 asthe Bureau of Labor, see above), the Bureauof Immigration and Naturalization (createdin 1891), and the Children's Bureau (createdin 1912). Power was given the Secretary ofLabor to "act as mediator and to appointcommissioners of conciliation in labor dis-putes," and in 1918, the Conciliation Servicewas established as a separate division ofthe Department.William B. Wilson, a trade-unionist and

Member of Congress, became the first Secre-tary of Labor.

1914 The Clayton Act was approved, limitingthe use of injunctions in labor disputes andproviding that picketing and other unionactivities shall not be considered unlawful.On December 1, the President appointed

the Colorado Coal Commission which inves-

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tigated the Ludlow Massacre and labor con-ditions in Colorado coal mines following anunsuccessful strike by the United MineWorkers.The Amalgamated Clothing Workers was

formed by a seceding group of the UnitedGarment Workers (AFL).

1915 The LaFollette Seamen's Act was approved,on March 4, regulating conditions of employ-ment for maritime workers.

1916 A Federal child labor law was enacted(declared unconstitutional on June 3, 1918);followed by act of February 24, 1919 (de-clared unconstitutional on May 15, 1922);followed by a child labor Amendment to theConstitution on June 2, 1924. Thus far, 28of the necessary 36 States have ratified theamendment.The Adamson Act, providing a basic 8-hour

day on railroads, was enacted to eliminate athreatened nationwide railroad strike.

1917 A strike led by the International Workersof the World (IWW) in the copper mines of

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Bisbee, Ariz., was ended when the sheriffdeported 1,200 strikers.

The President appointed a Mediation Com-mission, headed by the Secretary of Labor,to adjust wartime labor difficulties.The "yellow-dog" contract was upheld and

union efforts to organize workers, party tosuch contract, were held to be unlawful.(Hitchman Coal & Coke Co. v. Mitchell.)

1918 The Federal Government took control ofthe railroads from December 1917, untilMarch 1, 1920, under existing Federal legis-lation which provided for Government rail-road operation in wartime.The President named the Secretary of

Labor as War Labor Administrator onJanuary 4.The President created the National War

Labor Board on April 8 "to settle by medi-ation and conciliation controversies * * * infields of production necessary for the effectiveconduct of the war." It went out of existencein May 1919.The minimum wage law of the District of

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Columbia was approved September 19. (De-clared unconstitutional on April 9, 1923.)

1919 Led by President Gompers of the AFL, acommission, created by the Peace Conferenceat its second plenary session in January,recommended the inclusion in the PeaceTreaty of labor clauses creating an Interna-tional Labor Organization.The United Mine Workers of America

struck against bituminous-coal operators onNovember 1. In December, the union agreedto fkrbitration.by a Presidential commission.The Bituminous Coal Commission appointedby the President on December 19 awarded a27-percent wage increase, but denied the6-hour day and 5-day week.

1920 The AFL Iron and Steel Organising Com-mittee ended an unsuccessful 3X-month strikein the steel industry on January 8 after mostof the strikers had drifted back to work.The Women's Bureau was established in

the Department of Labor by act of Congress.The Kansas Court of Industrial Relations

provided the first experiment in compulsory

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arbitration in the United States. (Held un-constitutional in part in 1923.)The Transportation Act provided for a

tripartite Railroad Labor Board and termi-nated Federal control of railroads on March 1.

1921 The Supreme Court held that nothing in theClayton Act legalized secondary boycotts orprotected unions against injunctions broughtagainst them for conspiracy in restraint oftrade. (Duplex Printing Press v. Deering.)An act restricting the immigration of aliens

into the United States and establishing thenational origin quota system was approved.The International Seamen's Union (AFL)

and Marine Engineers Beneficial Association(AFL) lost a 52-day strike against wagereductions.The President's Conference on Unemploy-

ment placed the main responsibility for unem-ployment relief upon local communities.The Arizona law forbidding injunctions in

labor disputes and permitting picketing washeld unconstitutional under the fourteenthamendment. (Truax v. Corrigan.)

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1922 The United Mine Workers was held notresponsible for local strike action and strikeaction was held not a conspiracy to restraincommerce within the Sherman Anti-TrustAct. Labor unions, however, were heldsuable for their acts. (Coronado Coal Co. v.UMWA.)A 2Y2-month unsuccessful nationwide strike

of railway shopmen against wage reductionsbegan July 1.

1924 Samuel Gompers, president of the AFL,died on December 13.

1926 The Railway Labor Act, passed on May 20,required employers to bargain collectivelyand not discriminate against their employeesfor joining a union. The act also providedfor the settlement of railway labor disputesthrough mediation, voluntary arbitration, andfact-finding boards.

1927 The Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers'Compensation Act was enacted.The Journeymen Stone Cutters' action in

trying to prevent purchase of non-union-cutstone was held to be an illegal restraint of

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interstate commerce. (Redford Cut Stone Co.v. Journeymen Stone Cutter8' A8sociation,et al.)

1929 The Hawes-Cooper Act governing the ship-ment of convict-made goods in interstatecommerce was approved.The Communist-inspired Trade Union

Unity League was formed in September. Itwas dissolved in 1935.

1930 The Railway Labor Act's prohibition ofemployer interference or coercion in the choiceof bargaining representatives was upheld bythe Supreme Court. (Texa8 & N. 0. R. Co. v.Brotherhood of Railway (9lerks.)

1931 The Davis-Bacon Act provided for the pay-ment of prevailing wage rates to laborers andmechanics employed by contractors and sub-contractors on public construction.

1932 The Anti-Injunction (Norris-LaGuardia)Act prohibited Federal injunctions in labordisputes, except as specified, and outlawed"yellow-dog" contracts.

Wisconsin adopted the first unemploymentinsurance act in the United States.

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1933 Section 7 (a) of the National Industrial Re-covery Act provided that every NRA codeand agreement should guarantee the right ofemployees to organize and bargain collectivelythrough their representatives without inter-ference, restraint, or coercion by employers.(Title I of act declared unconstitutional inSchecter v. U. S. on May 27, 1935.)The Wagner-Peyser Act created the United

States Employment Service in the Depart-ment of Labor.

1934 The first National Labor Legislation Con-ference was called by Secretary of LaborFrances Perkins to obtain closer Federal-State cooperation in working out a soundnational labor legislation program. Annualconferences have been held regularly since1934 except in 1953 and 1955.The United States joined the International

Labor Organization.1935 The National Labor Relations (Wagner)

Act established the first national labor policyof protecting the right of workers to organizeand to elect their representatives for collectivebargaining.

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The United Automobile Workers Union wasfounded by the AFL.The Bituminous Coal Conservation (Guf-

fey) Act was passed to stabilize the industryand to improve labor conditions. (Laborrelations provisions declared unconstitutionalon May 18, 1936.)The Federal Social Security Act was ap-

proved August 14.The Committee for.Industrial Organization

(ater the Congress of Industrial Organiza-tions) was formed on November.9 by severalAFL international unions and officials tofoster industrial unionism.

1R36 In the first large "sitdown" strike, theUnited Rubber Workers (CIO) won recogni-,tion at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.The Anti-Strikebreaking.(Byrnes) Act de-

clared it unlawful "to transport or aid intransporting strikebreakers in interstate orforeign commerce."The Public Contracts (Walsh-Healey) Act

established labor standards on Governmentcontracts, including minimum wages, over-time compensation for hours in excess of 8

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a day or 40 a week, child and convict labor pro-visions, and health and safety requirements.

1937 General Motors Corp. agreed to recognizethe United Automobile Workers (CIO) as thebargaining agent for its members, to dropinjunction proceedings against strikers, not todiscriminate against union members, and toestablish grievance procedures.

United States Steel Corp. recognized theSteel Workers' Organizing Committee as thebargaining agent for its members. A 10-percent wage increase and an 8-hour day and40-hour week were negotiated.The National Labor Relations Act was held

constitutional. (NLRB v. Jones & LaughlinSteel Corp.)Ten people were killed and 80 were wounded

in a Memorial Day clash between police andthe members of the Steel Workers' OrganizingCommittee at the plant of the Republic SteelCo. in South Chicago.The National Apprenticeship Act author-

ized the Secretary of Labor to promoteapprenticeship.

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The Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 wasapproved, followed by the Carriers TaxingAct of 1937. (Similar laws of JHne 27, 1934,and August 29, 1935, had been declared un-constitutional.)The 5-week "Little Steel"strike was broken

on July 1 when Inland Steel employees re-turned to work without union recognition orother gains.

1938 The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 wasamended to provide a Federal Maritime LaborBoard.The Fair Labor Standards Act provided

minimum wages and time and a half for hoursover 40 a week. (Amended October 26, 1949,raising the minimum hourly wage to 75 centseffective January 25, 1950.)The Railroad Unemployment Insurance

(Crosser-Wheeler) Act was passed.

1940 A sitdown strike was held not to be anillegal restraint of commerce under the Sher-man Anti-Trust Act in the absence of intentto impose market controls. (Apex HosieryCo. v. Leader.)

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1941 Actions by the carpenters' union in juris-dictional disputes were held to be protectedfrom prosecution under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by the Clayton Act. These actionswere construed in light of Congress' definitionof "labor dispute" in the Norris-La GuardiaAct. (U. S. v. Hutche8on.)The UAW (CIO) won recognition at Ford

Motor Co. after a 10-day strike. The unionand the company signed a union-shop agree-ment-the first with a major automobilemanufacturer.The President on December 24 announced

a no-strike pledge by the AFL and CIO forthe duration of the war.

1942 The President established the National WarLabor Board to determine procedures forsettling disputes.The NWLB laid down the "Little Steel"

formula for wartime wage adjustments (i. e.,based on a 15-percent rise in living costs fromJanuary 1, 1941, to May 1, 1942).The Stabilization Act authorized the Presi-

dent to stabilize wages and salaries, as far as

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practicable, based on September 15, 1942,levels.

1943 The President by an Executive order createda Committee on Fair Employment Practices,empowering it to "conduct hearings, makefindings of fact, and take appropriate stepsto obtain elimination" of "discrimination inthe employment of any person in war indus-tries or in Government by reason of race,creed, color, or national origin."The War Labor Disputes (Smith-Connally)

Act, passed over the President's veto, author-ized plant seizure if needed to avoid -inter-ference with the war effort.

1944 The Railway Labor Act, authorizing a laborunion chosen by a majority to represent acraft, was held to require union protection ofthe minority in that class. Discriminationagainst certain members on ground of racewas held enjoinable. (Steele v. Louisville &Nashville Railroad.)

1945 The CIO affiliated with the newly formedWorld Federation of Trade Unions. (It with-drew in 1949.) The AFL held that the labor

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organizations of Soviet Russia were not "freeor democratic" and did not affiliate with theWFTU.The President's National Labor-Manage-

ment Conference convened in Washington,D. C., but produced few tangible results.

1946 The United Steelworkers (CIO) ended a1-month strike and established a "first round"wage pattern increase of 18% cents an hour.The Employment Act of 1946 committed

the Government to take all practicable meas-ures to promote maximum employment,production, and purchasing power.The United Automobile Workers (IO)

ended a 3X-month strike against GeneralMotors Corp. by negotiating an hourly wageincrease of 18% cents, after a Presidentialfact-finding board had recommended 19%cents.Locomotive Engineers (hid.) and Railroad

Trainmen (Ind.) ended a national 2-daystrike following an injunction and under threatof legislation to draft the workers. Theyaccepted the 18% cents-an-hour increase re-commended by the President.

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The UMWA bituminous-coal miners won ahealth and welfare fund from the FederalGovernment which had seized the mines, thefund to be financed from payments by opera-tors of 5 cents a ton of coal produced.The President provided for the termination

of all wartime wage and salary controls.1947 The Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibition

against issuance of injunctions in labor dis-putes was held inapplicable to the Govern-ment as an employer. (U. S. v. John L.Lewis.)A nationwide telephone strike started on

April 7 for industrywide bargaining. Settle-ments began April 25 on an individual-company basis.The Portal-to-Portal Act was approved,

"to relieve employers and the Governmentfrom potential liability . . . in 'portal-to-portal' claims."The Labor Management Relations (Taft-

Hartley) Act was passed (June 23) over thePresident's veto.

1948 Mississippi became the forty-eighth Stateto enact workmen's compensation legislation.

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The President appointed the Commissionon Labor Relations in the Atomic EnergyInstallations, which, on April 18, 1949, recom-mended establishment of a panel to protectfree collective bargaining in atomic plants.The Federal Government's first National

Conference on Industrial Safety met in Wash-ington, D. C.

1949 The United States Supreme Court, bydenying review of a lower. court's action,upheld a decision that the Labor Manage-ment Relations Act requires employers tobargain with unions on retirement plans.(Inland Steel Co. v. United Steelworkers ofAmerica (CIO).)

Settlement of a steel industry-United Steel-workers (CIO) strike on -the basis of non-contributory $100 monthly pensions at age65, plus death, sickness, and accident benefits,followed a recommendation by a Presidentialfact-finding board that employers contribute6 cents an hour toward pensions and 4 centsan hour toward social insurance for eachworker.

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The CIO anti-Communist drive culminatedin expulsion of two unions at its annual con-vention. Trial and explusion of nine otherunions followed early in 1950.The free, democratic trade unions of various

countries, including the CIO in the UnitedStates, withdrew early in 1949 from theWorld Federation of Trade Unions, which hadbecome Communist dominated.A new worldwide labor organization-the

International Confederation of Free TradeUnions (JCFTU)-with the AFL, CIO, andUnited Mine Workers participating, wasformed at a meeting in December at London,England, of labor representatives from 60countries.

1950 A 5-year contract with no reopening pro-visions was negotiated by the United Auto-mobile Workers (CIO) and the GeneralMotors Corp. It provided for pensions, auto-matic cost-of-living wage adjustments, guar-anteed annual increases, and a modifiedunion shop. (Revised in 1953.)The AFL launched a year-long series of

observances commemorating the centennial

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of Samuel Gompers' birth on January 27,1850.A United Labor Policy Committee com-

posed of representatives of the AFL, CIO,and railroad unions was formed in Decemberfor the purpose of presenting labor's views tothe Government on problems arising fromthe national emergency. The AFL withdrewfrom the Committee in August 1951, therebydissolving the group formed in December1950.The Defense Production Act, authorizing

the President to curb inflation and promote de-fense production, was approved September 8.

1951 The International Association of Machinistsreaffiliated with the AFL in January afterbeing independent since 1945 due to jurisdic-tional disputes. In August, the AmericanFederation of Hosiery Workers, formerly anaffiliate of the AFL United Textile Workers,rejoined the AFL as a separate union. Duringthe year, the CIO established the United De-partment Store Workers Union and the UnitedRailway Workers of America.

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The Inter-American Regional Workers Or-ganization (ORIT) of the International Con-federation of Free Trade Unions was estab-lished at a meeting in Mexico City in January.It claims to represent 17 million workers inNorth, South, and Central America.Labor representatives withdrew in February

from all participation in the Government'smobilization and stabilization program in pro-test over what they felt was labor's secondaryrole in its operation. They voted to returnin April after being given a stronger voice inpolicymaking.The CIO participated with the AFL as

part of the United States delegation to theInternational Labor Conference of the ILOfor the first time since 1946.The first amendment to the Taft-Hartley

Act, permitting negotiations of union-shopagreements without previous polls of em-ployees, became law in October. The unionshop for workers on the Nation's rail and airlines had previously been approved underthe National (Railway) Mediation Act inJanuary.

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1952 A Presidential emergency board, in Febru-ary, recommended agreement on the unionshop between the railroads and nonoperatingrailroad unions representing about 1 millionworkers.Three unions of railroad operating em-

ployees and the carriers reached an agreementon wage increases and working rules in May.Federal operation of the railroads was broughtto an end, after being in effect since August1950.A strike of nearly 8 weeks' duration ended

in July when the United Steelworkers ofAmerica (CIO) signed agreements with basicsteel producers employing about 500,000workers. Following the companies' rejectionof Wage Stabilization Board recommenda-tions, the Government seized the steel in-dustry. The strike began after a districtcourt granted an injunction restraining theseizure order, but it was halted at the requestof the President pending review of the deci-sion by the United States Supreme Court. Thestrike was resumed after the Supreme Courtheld that the President exceeded his constitu-

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tional powers when he ordered the seizure.Wage and price controls were extended

until April 30, 1953, by a revised DefenseProduction Act. The act established a newtripartite Wage Stabilization Board withoutdisputes-settlement authority.

Presidents of the two principal labor federa-tions, Philip Murray of the CIO and WilliamGreen of the AFL, died in November. TheAFL executive council elevated GeorgeMeany, former secretary-treasurer of thefederation, to the presidency. Walter P.Reuther, president of the United AutomobileWorkers, was named president of the CIO bythe CIO convention.Martin P. Durkin, president of the Plumb-

ers and Pipe Fitters Union (AFL), wasdesignated by President-elect Eisenhower tobe Secretary of Labor in the new Cabinet.Mr. Durkin was the first active union officialand the fourth unionist to be named Secretaryof Labor since the establishment of the De-partment of Labor in 1913.

1953 President Eisenhower on February 6ordered the end of Government controls on

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wages and salaries. At the same time, heordered prices decontrolled on a considerablelist of consumer goods. All remaining pricecontrols were terminated on March 17.The Supreme Court of the United States

upheld the right of the International Typo-graphical Union (AFL) to compel a newspaperto pay for the setting of type not used, andof the American Federation of Musicians(AFL) to demand that a local "standby"orchestra be employed when a travelingorchestra was hired for an engagement. Thecourt said that neither practice violated the"featherbedding" ban in the Labor Manage-ment Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act.Martin P. Durkin resigned as Secretary of

Labor on September 10. On October 8,President Eisenhower appointed James P.Mitchell, who had served as Assistant Secre-tary of the Army for Manpower, to succeedMr. Durkin.The American Federation of Labor and the

Congress of Industrial Organizations, meetingin their respective conventions, approved ano-raiding pact to extend for 2 years from

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January 1, 1954. The agreement is bindingonly upon those member unions accepting it.Both organizations hailed the pact as the firststep towards organic unity.The convention of the American Federation

of Labor on September 22 revoked the 60-year-old charter of the International Long-shoremen's Association, charging corruptionwithin the union. A new union was immedi-ately chartered by the AFL. A bitterstruggle for representation in the East Coastlongshore industry, between the old ILA andthe newly chartered AFL union, took place onthe docks, in the courts, and in NLRB hearingrooms during the last 3 months of 1953. (Fol-lowing a representation election in which theAFL union was defeated, the unaffiliated ILAwas certified by the NLRB in August 1954as collective-bargaining agent for the dockworkers.)

1954 Organic unity between the AFL and CIOmoved swiftly toward accomplishment as aresult of action taken during the year. A"no-raiding" agreement was activated in

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June. After a series of meetings, unity com-mittees of the two federations agreed in Octo-ber upon merger without resolving in advancethe jurisdiction of competing AFL and CIOunions. (Unity committees and the execu-tive boards of the AFL and CIO approved theterms of the merger in February 1955.)Major railroads and the unions of nonop-

erating railroad workers negotiated an agree-ment to provide comprehensive health andinsurance benefits, to be financed by contri-butions from employers and workers.' Thisaction raised the total number of workerscovered by some type of health, welfare, andpension plan under collective bargaining toapproximately 12,000,000.

In his message to Congress on January11, 1954, President Eisenhower recommendedthat Congress initiate a thorough study ofwelfare and pension funds with a view toprotecting and conserving these funds. In-vestigations by State and Federal committees,which uncovered instances of fraud and mis-management on the part of local union officials

I Employers took over full cost in 1966.

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in the administration of welfare and pensionfunds, prompted the AFL and CIO to act toend such abuses and to establish standardsfor fund management and control.Unions increased their efforts to end, or

prevent the passage of, State "right to work"laws, which ban union membership as a quali-fication for employment. These laws werein effect in 17 States at the end of 1954.Secretary of Labor Mitchell, in an address tothe CIO convention, expressed his oppositionto such laws.

Proposals for guaranteed annual employ-ment or wage plans were developed by theUnited Automobile Workers, the Steelwork-ers, the Electrical Workers, and the RubberWorkers, all CIO unions.The AFL and CIO resumed active partici-

pation in the work of the U. S. ForeignOperations Administration in the revitalizedOffice of Labor Affairs, with labor missionsand advisory posts abroad. American unionsalso continued to participate actively in inter-national labor affairs through their affiliationwith the International Confederation of FreeTrade Unions (ICFTU).

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1955 The Fair Labor Standards Act was amendedto raise the minimum wage for coveredworkers from 75 cents to $1 an hour, effectiveMarch 1, 1956.

In June, the Ford Motor Company andthe United Auto Workers (then CIO) nego-tiated a new 3-year agreement which estab-lished a supplementary unemployment com-pensation plan financed by company contri-butions of 5 cents an hour. Payments underthe plan to eligible laid-off workers were tostart on June 1, 1956. By the end of 1955,similar plans were negotiated for more thana million workers including the remainder ofthe auto industry.The founding of the American Federation

of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organ-izations (the AFL-CIO) on December 5,1955, brought into one center unions repre-senting approximately 16 million workers-over 85 percent of the membership claimed byall unions in the United States. The lastconventions of the separate organizations,held on December 1 and 2, approved themerger agreement, a new constitution, and

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an implementation agreement designed to com-bine the two federations without dissolvingeither organization. The first convention ofthe AFL-CIO elected its president (GeorgeMeany), secretary-treasurer (William F.Schnitzler), and 27 vice presidents, 17 ofwhom had been proposed by the AFL and 10by the CIO. Under the constitution, these29 officers constitute the executive council,the governing body between the biennialconventions.Mergers among AFL-CIO affiliates, while

encouraged, are not to be dictated by thefederation; conflicts among unions competingin the same field are likewise to be adjustedvoluntarily. Existing State, territorial, andlocal bodies previously established by theCIO and the AFL are required to mergewithin 2 years. The constitution providedfor an industrial union department to promotethe interests of unions organized on an indus-trial basis. It was organized during theconvention week, with 69 affiliated unions,including 38 former AFL unions.

41U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 1956

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