Guide to the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union Records, 1929-1959 AIS.1996.04
- Repository
- ULS Archives & Special Collections
- Title
- Pittsburgh Central Labor Union Records
- Creator
- Central Labor Union (Frederickstown, Pa.)
- Collection Number
- AIS.1996.04
- Extent
- 2.5 Linear Feet (2 boxes; 7 microfilm reels)
- Date
- 1929-1959
- Abstract
- The Pittsburgh Central Labor Union, known first as the Iron City Central Council or the Iron City Central Trades Council, was founded in Pittsburgh in 1901 as a central labor federation for the various Pittsburgh unions. This collection documents the activities of the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union, primarily through minutes of executive board and membership meetings, from 1929 to 1959. In 1961, the PCLU merged with three other central labor federations to form the Allegheny County Labor Council.
- Language
- English .
- Publisher
- ULS Archives & Special Collections
- Address
- University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
History
The Pittsburgh Central Labor Union (PCLU), known at the time of its founding as the Iron City Central Council of the American Federation of Labor or the Iron City Central Trades Council, was established in a meeting at the Grand Army of the Republic Hall, 238 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh, on October 20, 1901. Its first officers were C. A. Winslow of the Carpenters District Council, president; James Keeler of the Coopers, vice-president; Charles Q. Lafferty of the Printers, secretary; James B. McLaughlin of the Stogie Makers, financial secretary; and Joseph M. Fink of the Boilermakers, treasurer.
Like other "central labor bodies" across the state and nation, the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union represented an effort, within the recently created structure of the American Federation of Labor (founded in Pittsburgh in 1881), to coordinate the activities of the member unions with regard to matters such as political endorsements, promotion of the union label, and organization of Labor Day parades and demonstrations. It was hoped that this organization would enable the union community to speak with greater unanimity and authority. Building trades workers, bartenders and food service workers, garment workers, mine workers, steel workers, and other workers, could and did participate in the Central Labor Union's meetings and activities.
Early initiatives of the organization included a campaign for the construction of a Labor Temple, on the corner of Washington Street and Webster Avenue, as a place for union offices and meetings. Such buildings were springing up in other cities around the country at about this time, financed, as in Pittsburgh, through subscription by affiliated unions. The Pittsburgh Labor Temple was dedicated on Labor Day, 1910, and more than 30 local or regional labor organizations promptly established headquarters there. The Labor Day event, often in the early days called a "demonstration," rather than a "parade," remained a focus of Central Labor Union activity for six decades, and this emphasis has been continued by its successor, The Allegheny Labor Council.
Another achievement was the bi-weekly publication of the Iron City Trades Journal, in 1909. The publication reported on meetings of the PCLU, the doings of the various affiliates and issues of concern to labor generally. The name of the newspaper was later changed to the National Labor Journal. In the 1920's the paper's focus became both more national and more conservative.
This shift mirrored changes within the Central Labor Union. Internally, the PCLU's history was relatively placid, but in the aftermath of the post-WWI Strikes and the repression of immigrant "radicals," a split developed within the local labor movement between "progressive/conservatives" and those accused of being themselves radicals. During the 1920's, the former almost always prevailed.
In 1937, when the CIO split off from the AFL, the Pittsburgh Central Union also witnessed the departure of some of its industrial union affiliates. These formed themselves into a CIO central labor body known as the Steel City Industrial Union Council (SCIUC). Patrick Fagan, President of District 5 of the United Mine Workers, led the charge out of the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union into the SCIUC. In this new CIO council, miners from the United Mine Workers of America, steelworkers from the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, and electrical workers from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, were represented alongside members of new service sector unions like the State, County and Municipal Workers or the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers.
Within the PCLU, the forces most opposed to any compromise with the CIO movement gained the upper hand, as evidenced by the election of Leo Abernathy of the Bill Posters Union, an AFL hardliner, to the Presidency in 1938 over a more moderate incumbent, Charles Miller. In the 1940's, the PCLU was headed by Michael John Dorsey of the Tile Layers and in the 1950's by John Feigel of Typographical Union No. 7.
The breach between the PCLU and the Steel City Industrial Union Council was finally healed in 1961. In 1955, the AFL and CIO had merged on a national level to form the AFL-CIO; in 1960, the Pennsylvania State AFL and CIO also merged. This set the stage for a local merger. The PCLU, the SCIUC, the McKeesport Central Trade Union (AFL) and the Tarentum District Industrial Union Council (CIO) joined forces to create a unified, countywide labor federation, the Allegheny County Labor Council.
Scope and Content Notes
The minute books form the core of this collection and provide a unique thread for Pittsburgh-area labor history in the three decades covered (more or less from the New Deal through the Eisenhower years). The minutes of the executive board alternate with the minutes of membership meetings (referred to as "regular meetings"). There are also minutes of occasional "special meetings". The minutes record basic decisions and votes of the body. Appeals for funding for strike support or to boycott certain products are received from local organizations and from distant ones. Spokespeople for various causes and candidates for office seeking endorsements appear before the Board or the Membership. All of the major labor disputes of these decades, from the Taxi Strike of the early 1930's to the 1946 Duquesne Light Strike, to the 1959 Steel Strike compel the attention of the PCLU and are taken note of in the minutes. Historical events such as the Great Depression, the New Deal, the rise of the CIO, World War II, Taft-Hartley, the Cold War, and the Korean War are referred to in the minutes.
The Dues/Delegate Ledger is a compendium of PCLU affiliates in 1937 on the eve of the split between the AFL and CIO. As noted, a number of PCLU affiliates bolted to the new Steel City Industrial Union Council. The departing unions are indicated in this volume with a pencil notation "Withdrew, [date]." Furthermore, the ledger lists the names of delegates from the various affiliates to the PCLU in 1937, the address and usual meeting times of the different affiliates and the names and addresses of some of their officers. The Officers Role or Attendance Book checks off the meetings attended by the officers, members of the executive board, trustees and other officials of the PCLU between 1943 and 1951.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Acquisition Information
The Records of the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union were acquired as part of the Records of the Pittsburgh Typographical Union No. 7 (AIS 199108), Gift of John Feigel, 1991.
Preferred Citation
Pittsburgh Central Labor Union Records, 1929-1959, AIS.1996.04, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Previous Citation
Pittsburgh Central Labor Union Records, 1929-1959, AIS.1996.04, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Records of the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union (A.F. of L.), 1929-1959, UE/Labor 96:4, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Records of the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union, 1929-1959, UE/Labor 96:4, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Processing Information
This collection was processed by David Rosenberg in 2004.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Dan Horvath on May 5, 2004. Information about the collection title and the controlled access terms was extracted from the MARC record in the University of Pittsburgh catalog Voyager ID number: 4306367
Copyright
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Existence and Location of Copies
The entire collection was also microfilmed which exists in the Archives Service Center.
Subjects
- Pittsburgh Central Labor Union
- Allegheny County Labor Council
- Allegheny County (Pa.) -- Politics and government
- Labor unions -- Pennsylvania -- Allegheny County
- Labor Day -- Pennsylvania -- Allegheny County
- Labor