DIRECTORY OF LABOR UNIONS in the United States ► 1950 National and International Unions State Labor Organizations Bulletin No. 980 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Bureau of Labor Statistics Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis DIRECTORY OF LABOR UNIONS IN THE UNITED STATES National and International Unions State Labor Organizations 1950 Bulletin No. 980 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Maurice J. Tobin, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 25 cents Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Letter of Transmittal U nited States D epartment of Labor, B ureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D . C., June SO, 1950. The Secretary of Labor: I have the honor to transmit herewith the Bureau’s 1950 Directory of Labor Unions in the United States, which was prepared in response to the many requests for up-to-date information about labor organi­ zations. This Directory is a revision of Bulletin No. 937, issued June 1948. It lists all known national and international unions, and State labor bodies, and gives general information about the unions and the structure and activities of the American labor movement. The Directory was prepared in the Bureau’s Division of Industrial Relations by Theodore W. Reedy and William Paschell under the supervision of Nelson M. Bortz. E wan Clague, Commissioner. Hon. M aurice J. T obin, Secretary of Labor. (ID Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Bulletin No. 980 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Contents Page The 1950 Directory_____________________________________________________ 1 Membership and size_______________________________________________ 2 Frequency of union conventions and publications___________________ 4 Research and education directors___________________________________ 5 Major affiliation changes since June 1948___________________________ 5 American Federation of Labor and its departments______________________ 7 Congress of Industrial Organizations____________________________________ 13 Railway Labor Executives’ Association________________________________ 1 15 National and international unions_________________________________ - ____ 16 State labor organizations: State (AFL) federations of labor___________________________________ 52 State (CIO) industrial union councils_______________________________ 57 Finding index of unions listed in directory_______________________________ 61 Appendix: Questionnaire to national and international unions (B. L. S. 2116)________________________________________________________________ 67 (in) Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Centennial Ptrtfibap ^nmberSarp Samuel <©ompers, 1850-1924 ^resibent, Smeritatt Jfcberation of Hafaor, 1886-1894; 1895-1924 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Directory of Labor Unions in the United States The 1950 Directory This issue of the Directory of Labor Unions in the United States is based primarily on information obtained by questionnaires sent to national and international unions in the autumn of 1949.1 Wherever possible, it has been corrected to include changes which have occurred through early 1950. Data on membership and the number of locals generally relate to the first 6 months of 1949. In all, 209 unions are listed, including 107 affiliates of the American Federation of Labor, 33 affiliates of the Congress of Industrial Organi­ zations, and 69, usually called independents, unaffiliated with either of the 2 major labor federations.2 Among the independent unions are the four train and engine service (“ operating” ) railroad brotherhoods. Other unaffiliated unions in­ clude those which at one time or another have been identified with the AFL or CIO. Noteworthy examples are the United Mine Workers of America and the International Association of Machinists. The 107 member unions of the AFL, oldest and largest federation, founded in 1881, range in size from under 100 to approximately 1,000,000 members. The CIO, founded in 1938, has 33 international unions presently affiliated and generally is similar in structure to the AFL. Several other groups of unions have banded together to form loose federations. Perhaps the largest of these is the Confederated Unions of America, which describes itself as a national federation of independent unions. According to claims made in the testimony of representatives of the CUA before a congressional committee in May 1949, it had 70 affiliated unions and “ over 100,000” members. The Railway Labor Executives’ Association is a voluntary associ­ ation of the chief executive officers of 21 AFL, CIO, and independent organizations which represent most of the organized railway workers 1 A copy of the questionnaire sent to the national and international unions is reproduced in the appendix to the Directory. 2 It was not possible to include all independent unions in the Directory. Names and locations of these unions are not always available and, in addition, some unions did not reply to the questionnaire, or pro­ vided insufficient information. For purposes of the Directory, independent or unaffiliated unions were included where information existed that the union had at least two locals and held collective bargaining agreements with at least two employers. Exceptions were made in several instances where it was shown that, despite the absence of local branches, the union had negotiated at least 10 agreements with different employers and reported 1,000 or more members. Unions expelled from the CIO and which are currently unaffiliated are included in the group of “ independents.” (i) Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 in the United States and Canada. While not a federation in the sense of those groups listed above, it functions as a coordinating and policy-directing body in legislative and other fields of mutual concern to organized railroad workers. Both the AFL and the CIO maintain State and city organizations which the locals of their affiliated unions within an area are expected to join. These State and local groups assist in organizing campaigns, consider problems of mutual interest, and are actively interested in legislation favorable to workers. At the beginning of 1950, the AFL had 50 State federations of labor, including Alaska and Puerto Rico, and 811 city central bodies. The CIO reported 41 State industrial union councils, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 245 city and county councils. A listing of the State AFL and CIO groups, together with their officers, begins on page 52. Membership and Size Unions vary in their definition of membership. Some include as “ members” only employed workers whose dues are not in arrears for more than a specified period. Other unions include members who are retired or inactive, temporarily unemployed, or in the armed services. In some instances apprentices are included. Some unions measure their size in terms of all workers covered by their collective bargaining agreements, irrespective of how many workers actually pay dues to the union. Membership is frequently reported on a “ per capita” basis, i. e., the actual number of members on whom dues are remitted for a given period, either by a local to its parent union or by the parent union to an affiliated body such as the AFL or the CIO. In a strict sense, the membership data of the separate unions are not comparable, particularly between major federations, and an estimated total obtained by adding the data for the separate unions cannot be regarded as an exact measurement of the total union strength in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics addressed a special questionnaire to all unions, requesting information on membership based on the average number of dues-paying members in the first 6 months of 1949 (see copy of questionnaire, p. 67). Many unions (170) provided membership information on this basis, and this information appears in this Directory. For several other unions, membership data were obtained from publications or reported per capita payments to a parent federation. In no case, however, are the membership data to be construed as verified Government statistics. An estimate based on membership information supplied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics by many unions and on other available Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 3 sources would place the total trade-union membership in the United States in 1949 as between 14 and 16 million.3 Thirty-five of the two hundred and seven unions for which some membership information was available had more than 100,000 mem­ bers each. Of the remaining 172, almost one-half fell within the 10,000 to 100,000 member range, and one-quarter had less than 5,000 members (table 1). Six unions claimed over 500,000 members each. This distribution closely resembles that shown in the June 1948 Directory. A larger group, however, is included in the “ under 1,000” classification, because information for several small unions was in­ cluded for the first time. Approximately 20 percent of the 204 national and international unions which furnished information on the number of locals had more than 500 locals each (table 2). Almost 50 percent had fewer than 100 locals. In all, it is estimated that more than 70,000 local unions are affiliated with these 204 unions. Table 1.— Number of National and International Unions, by Affiliation and by Size of Membership, December 1949 1 To tal Affiliated Affiliated Inde­ Number of members with A F L with C IO 2 pendent Number Percent Under 1,000 _ _ ______ 10 12 22 10. 6 1,000 and under 5,000 12 1 18 31 15. 0 5,000 and under 10,000. 7 4 11 22 10. 6 10,000 and under 25,000 17 4 5 26 12. 6 25,000 and under 50,000 18 9 8 35 17. 0 50,000 and under 100,000 21 13 2 36 17.