Allan Shaw Haywood (January 9, 1888 – February 21, 1953) was an English-born American labor union leader.
Born in Monk Bretton, in England, Haywood began working with his father in a local coal mine, at the age of 13, and joined the Yorkshire Miners' Association. In 1906, he emigrated to the United States, still working in mining, initially in Witt, Illinois, and then in Taylorville, Illinois. He immediately joined the United Mine Workers of America, and soon became a full-time organizer for the union. He became vice-president of his sub-district, then president, and then represented his district on the national executive. [1] [2]
The president of the United Mine Workers, John L. Lewis, was a leading figure in the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), and Haywood strongly supported the initiative. He was seconded to the United Rubber Workers of America in 1936, as an adviser, then in 1937, he became the CIO's regional director for New York City. During this period, he also chaired the Utility Workers Organizing Committee, and was president of the New York State Industrial Union Council. [2]
In 1939, Haywood was appointed as the CIO's director of organization, and from 1942 was also a vice-president of the federation. He travelled the country, speaking and negotiating on behalf of the CIO, and became known as "Mr CIO". At various times, he chaired organizing committees for telephone workers, federal workers, paper workers, and railroad workers. During World War II, he also served on the advisory committee to the Council of National Defense, and the labor advisory committee of the Office of Price Mobilization. [2]
In 1951, Haywood was given the title of executive vice-president of the CIO, officially its second-in-command. The following year, he stood for the presidency of the federation, but was defeated by Walter Reuther. He died of a heart attack the following year, while giving a speech in Wilkes-Barre. [1] [2]
Industrial unionism is a trade union organising method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations. De Leon believed that militarized Industrial unions would be the vehicle of class struggle.
William Dudley Haywood, nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of America. During the first two decades of the 20th century, Haywood was involved in several important labor battles, including the Colorado Labor Wars, the Lawrence Textile Strike, and other textile strikes in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
John Joseph Sweeney was an American labor leader who served as president of the AFL–CIO from 1995 to 2009.
Philip Murray was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and the longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
Linda Chavez-Thompson is a second-generation Mexican-American and union leader. She was elected the executive vice-president of the AFL-CIO in 1995 and served until September 21, 2007. She was also a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1997 to 2012 and served as a member of the board of trustees of United Way of America. She was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Texas in the 2010 election.
Daniel Joseph Tobin was an American labor leader and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1907 to 1952. From 1917 to 1928, he was treasurer of the American Federation of Labor. He served on the federation's Executive Council beginning in 1934, and served until his resignation in 1952.
Matthew Woll was president of the International Photo-Engravers Union of North America from 1906 to 1929, an American Federation of Labor (AFL) vice president from 1919 to 1955 and an AFL-CIO vice president from 1955 to 1956.
Joseph Curran was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. He was founding president of the National Maritime Union from 1937 to 1973, and a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was one of two precursor labor organizations to the United Steelworkers. It was formed by the CIO on June 7, 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the United Steel Workers of America. The Steel Labor was the official paper of SWOC.
The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Latino organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win federation. It was founded in 1972 to provide Latino trade union members in the United States with a more effective voice within the AFL-CIO, to encourage Latino participation in the democratic process, and to encourage the organization of Latino workers into labor unions.
Leo W. Gerard is a retired steelworker and Canadian and American labour leader. He was elected president of the United Steelworkers (USW) in 2001, becoming the second Canadian to head the union. He served in the role until July 2019. He also served on the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO.
David John McDonald was an American labor leader and president of the United Steelworkers of America from 1952 to 1965.
Emil Rieve was an American labor leader. He was president of the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) from 1939 to 1956, a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) from 1939 to 1955, and a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 to 1960.
Adoph F. Germer was an American socialist political functionary and union organizer. He is best remembered as National Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America from 1916 to 1919. It was during this period that the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party emerged as an organized faction. Germer was instrumental as one of the leaders of the SPA's "Regular" faction in orchestrating a series of suspensions, expulsions, and "reorganizations" of various Left Wing states, branches, and locals and thereby controlling the pivotal 1919 Emergency National Convention of the SPA, and thus forcing the Left Wing to establish new organizations of their own, the Communist Labor Party of America and the Communist Party of America.
The United Public Workers of America (1946–1952) was an American labor union representing federal, state, county, and local government employees. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal executive branch employees from engaging in politics. In United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75 (1947), the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Hatch Act, finding that its infringement on the Constitutional rights was outweighed by the need to end political corruption. The union's leadership was Communist, and in a famous purge the union was ejected from its parent trade union federation, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, in 1950.
Wyndham Mortimer was an American trade union organizer and functionary active in the United Auto Workers union (UAW). Mortimer is best remembered as a key union organizer in the 1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike. Mortimer was the First Vice President of the UAW from 1936 to 1939. A member of the Communist Party USA from about 1932, Mortimer was a critic of the efforts of the conservative American Federation of Labor to control the union and was a leader of a so-called "Unity Caucus" which led the UAW to join forces with the more aggressive Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
The Pennsylvania AFL–CIO is a federation of labor unions in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in the United States. It is an affiliate of the AFL–CIO. It was formed on June 9, 1960, by the merger of two predecessor bodies, the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor and the Pennsylvania Industrial Union Council. It can trace its history through its predecessor bodies to 1890.
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by John L. Lewis, a leader of the United Mine Workers (UMW), and called the Committee for Industrial Organization. Its name was changed in 1938 when it broke away from the AFL. It focused on organizing unskilled workers, who had been ignored by most of the AFL unions.
John Vernon Riffe was an American labor unionist.