The United Furniture Workers of America (UFWA) was a 20th-century American labor union, founded as a breakaway from the Upholsterers International Union of North America by a group of labor activists, who included Emil Costello (a Wisconsin state legislator and president of the UIU local at Simmons Bedding Company's original factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin) in 1937. The UFWA advocated industrial unionism and affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (which had formed in 1936).
Facing declining membership, even after President Carl Scarbrough moved the union's headquarters from New York City pursuing a policy of aggressively organizing in the Southern United States (where most furniture jobs had gone), in cooperation with other unions such as their former rivals the Upholsterers and the International Woodworkers of America, [1] in 1987 the UFWA merged with the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried and Machine Workers (IUE) to form the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers. [2]
The IUE in turn later affiliated with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) as "IUE-CWA."
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors. The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada representing about 8,000 members. CWA has several affiliated subsidiary labor unions bringing total membership to over 700,000. CWA is headquartered in Washington, DC, and affiliated with the AFL–CIO, the Strategic Organizing Center, the Canadian Labour Congress, and UNI Global Union.
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the United Steelworkers represents workers in Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States. The United Steelworkers represent workers in a diverse range of industries, including primary and fabricated metals, paper, chemicals, glass, rubber, heavy-duty conveyor belting, tires, transportation, utilities, container industries, pharmaceuticals, call centers, museums, and health care.
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), is an independent democratic rank-and-file labor union representing workers in both the private and public sectors across the United States.
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices. The NewsGuild-CWA now represents workers in a wide range of roles including editorial, technology, advertising, and others at newspapers, online publications, magazines, news services, and in broadcast. The current president is Jon Schleuss.
The United Federal Workers of America (UFWA) was an American labor union representing federal government employees which existed from 1937 to 1946. It was the first union with this jurisdiction established by the Congress of Industrial Organizations. In 1946 it merged with other unions to form the influential United Public Workers of America. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which led to the Supreme Court decision in United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75 (1947).
The State, County, and Municipal Workers of America (SCMWA) was an American labor union representing state, county, and local government employees. It was created by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1937 along with United Federal Workers of America. SCMWA's leaders Abram Flaxer and Henry Wenning had been leaders of the Association of Workers of Public Relief Agencies (AWPRA) in New York City prior to the formation of SCMWA.
The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU), often known as the Confed is a trade union confederation in the United Kingdom.
T-Mobile Workers United (TU) is an organization of T-Mobile USA and Metro by T-Mobile employees joining together for a voice and fair treatment at work. It represents currently 500 members and is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di), a large German service-sector union. TU is also supported by a coalition of community and labor groups around the world.
The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) is a labor union representing employees in television, radio, film, and media production. A division of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), NABET represents about 12,000 workers organized into about 35 local unions ("locals").
James Barron Carey was a 20th century American labor union leader, secretary-treasurer of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, vice president of AFL–CIO and served as president of the United Electrical Workers, but broke from it because of its alleged Communist control. He was the founder and president of the rival International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (1950–1965). President Truman appointed Carey to the President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946. Carey was labor representative to the United Nations Association (1965–1972). He helped influence the CIO's pullout from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the formation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dedicated to promoting free trade and democratic unionism worldwide.
The Upholsterers International Union of North America was a North American labor union of upholsterers. It was founded in 1892 when eight small met at a conference in Chicago and agreed to combine. It affiliated with the American Federation of Labor in 1900. In 1929, a convention voted to change the name to Upholsterers, Carpet and Linoleum Mechanics' International Union of North America but the other name remained in common use. Their official organ was the Upholsters' Journal; as of 1936, it was estimated that they had 11,500 members.
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.
Emil Antonio Costello was an American furniture worker and labor union activist from Kenosha, Wisconsin who served one term as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Kenosha County. While he was elected as a Progressive, he was frequently accused of being a communist or fellow traveler who urged others to join the party.
The International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) was a North American labor union representing workers in the electrical manufacturing industry. While consistently using the acronym IUE, it took on several full names during its history originally the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers and after 1987, the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers.
Morris Iushewits or Iushewitz was a union activist and leader of the Newspaper Guild, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO).
The United Office and Professional Workers of America (UOPWA) (1937–1950) was a CIO-affiliated union and one of the white-collar unions formed by the CPUSA-breakaway party of Lovestoneites.
The 1969–1970 General Electric strike was a nationwide labor dispute between General Electric and its workers as represented by the AFL–CIO affiliated International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) and the independent United Electrical Workers (UE). Involving 164,000 workers on average, it was the largest and most impactful strike in North America in 1969 in terms of the number of days lost. It began on October 27, 1969, and was won by the workers after 102 days on the picket line. The strike brought together the two rival unions in the most meaningful way since UE was expelled from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1949.