| Full name | American Federation of Labor |
|---|---|
| Founded | December 8, 1886 |
| Date dissolved | December 4, 1955 |
| Merged into | AFL-CIO |
| Country | United States |
| Key people | Samuel Gompers John McBride William Green George Meany |
| Office location | New York City; later Washington, D.C. |
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) was elected president of the Federation at its founding convention and was reelected every year except one until his death. As the Knights of Labor faded away, the AFL coalition gradually gained strength. In practice, AFL unions were important in industrial cities, where they formed a central labor office to coordinate the actions of different AFL unions. Most strikes were assertions of jurisdiction, so that the plumbers, for example, used strikes to ensure that all major construction projects in the city used union plumbers. To win they needed the support of other unions, hence the need for AFL solidarity.
Gompers promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL. Focused on higher wages and job security, the AFL fought against socialism and the Socialist party. After 1907 it formed alliances with the Democratic party at the local, state and national levels. The AFL enthusiastically supported the war effort in World War I, and saw rapid growth in union membership and wage rates. The AFL unions lost membership in the 1920s, and did not recover from the doldrums until the New Deal passed the Wagner Act in 1935. The AFL enthusiastically supported the New Deal Coalition led by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.
John L. Lewis led a group of industrial unions to break away in the 1930s to form the CIO. The two federations competed for new members furiously, even violently. The AFL was always larger, and added more members in the very rapid growth period in the late 1930s and World War II era, while avoiding the radicalism of the CIO. William Green was president (1925–1952), but after 1940 the dominant leader was George Meany (1894–1980).
The AFL was always hostile to Communists, especially as they were powerful inside the rival CIO. The AFL boycotted the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) because of its decision to admit Soviet trade unions. The AFL was instrumental in establishing a rival federation, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which eventually won the allegiance of all labor federations save those of the Soviet Union and its satellites. The AFL hailed the Truman administration's Cold War policies and strongly supported American military intervention in the Korean War. Corruption in labor unions became a major political issues in the 1950s. Meany convinced the AFL to expel the racketeer-influenced International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) in 1953, and several other corrupt affiliates, most notably the Teamsters union, several years later. The AFL was at its peak in 1955, when it reunited with the CIO to form the AFL-CIO, which has seen its membership steadily decline since the 1970s but remains active today.
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By the late 1880s there were over 40 international unions, comprising local chapters of skilled craftsmen in specific fields, such as carpenters, printers and cigar makers. They formed the "Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions" (FOTLU) in 1881. By 1886 they were threatened by the explosive growth of the Knights of Labor, a national reform organization that had little interest in such local issues as jurisdiction over specific trades, strikes, qualifications of craftsmen, wage scales, or local working conditions. The Knights wanted to enroll practically everyone, and quest of social reforms. To meet the challenge, FOTLU disbanded and was succeeded by the American Federation of Labor in 1886. The AFL was an umbrella group, designed to assist and coordinate the international unions that comprised its membership. That is, individuals belong to locals of the international union which in turn were members of the AFL.
In April 1886, a circular letter was issued by two FOTLU unions calling on 43 national trade unions to attend an organizing conference in Philadelphia in May. Twenty unions sent delegates and 12 others indicated their approval.[1] The meeting charged the K of L with conspiring with anti-union bosses to provide labor at below going union rates and with making use of individuals who had crossed picket lines or defaulted on payment of union dues and demanded that the K of L cease attempting to organize members of international unions into its own assemblies. The K of L refused to enter into serious discussions.[2]
A followup convention met in December 1886 in Columbus, Ohio in order to construct "an American federation of alliance of all national and international trade unions." Forty-two delegates representing 13 national unions and various other local labor organizations responded to the call, agreeing to form themselves into an American Federation of Labor.[3]
Revenue for the new organization was to be raised on the basis of a "per-capita tax" of its member organizations, set at the rate of one-half cent per member per month (i.e. six cents per year). Governance of the organization was to be by annual conventions, with one delegate allocated for every 4,000 members of each affiliated union. Gompers was elected president at a salary of $1,000 per year. Gompers set up his headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was re-elected every year save 1893 until his death nearly four decades later.[4]
Gompers made use of the existing labor press to generate support for the position of the craft unions against the Knights of Labor. Powerful opinion-makers of the American labor movement such as the Philadelphia Tocsin, Haverhill Labor, the Brooklyn Labor Press, and the Denver Labor Enquirer granted Gompers space in their pages, in which he made the case for the unions against the attacks of employers, "all too often aided by the K of L."[5] Knights soon lost over 95% of its members and lost its importance.
The fledgling American Federation of Labor showed steady growth in its first years, reaching the 250,000 member mark in 1892.[6] The group from the outset concentrated upon the income and working conditions of its membership as its almost sole focus. The AFL's founding convention declaring "higher wages and a shorter workday" to be "preliminary steps toward great and accompanying improvements in the condition of the working people." Participation in partisan politics was avoided as inherently divisive, and the group's constitution was structured to prevent the admission of political parties as affiliates.[7]
This fundamentally conservative "pure and simple" approach limited the AFL to matters pertaining to working conditions and rates of pay, relegating political goals to its allies in the political sphere. The Federation favored pursuit of workers' immediate demands rather than challenging the property rights of owners, and took a pragmatic view of politics which favored tactical support for particular politicians over formation of a party devoted to workers' interests. The AFL's leadership believed the expansion of the capitalist system was the best path to betterment of labor, an orientation making it possible for the AFL to present itself as the conservative alternative to working class radicalism.[8]
The AFL spent most of its energy setting up federations in larger cities that brought multiple unions together, in negotiating jurisdictional disputes between two or more of its unions, and helping member unions with organizational drives, and with establishing themselves in new cities. The AFL itself did not call strikes, but it did assist member unions and their strike operations.[9]
The AFL faced its first major reversal when employers launched an open shop movement in 1903 designed to drive unions out of construction, mining, longshore and other industries. Membership in the AFL's affiliated unions declined between 1904 and 1914 in the face of this concerted anti-union drive, which made effective use of legal injunctions against strikes, court rulings given force when backed with the armed might of the state.
Ever the pragmatist, Gompers argued that labor should "reward its friends and punish its enemies" in both major parties. However, in the first decade of the 20th century the two parties began to realign, with the main faction of the Republican Party coming to identify with the interests of banks and manufacturers, while a substantial portion of the rival Democratic Party took a more labor-friendly position. While not precluding its members from belonging to the Socialist Party or working with its members, the AFL traditionally refused to pursue the tactic of independent political action by the workers in the form of the existing Socialist Party or the establishment of a new labor party. After 1908, the organization's tie to the Democratic party grew increasingly strong.
Some unions within the AFL helped form and participated in the National Civic Federation. The National Civic Federation was formed by several progressive employers who sought to avoid labor disputes by fostering collective bargaining and "responsible" unionism. Labor's participation in this federation, at first tentative, created internal division within the AFL. Socialists, who believed the only way to help workers was to remove large industry from private ownership, denounced labor's efforts at cooperation with the capitalists in the National Civic Federation. The AFL nonetheless continued its association with the group, which declined in importance as the decade of the 1910s drew to a close.
By the 1890s Gompers was planning an international federation of labor, starting with the expansion of AFL affiliates in Canada, especially Ontario. He helped the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress with money and organizers, and by 1902 the AFL came to dominate the Canadian union movement.[10]
The AFL vigorously opposed unrestricted immigration from Europe for moral, cultural, and racial reasons. The issue unified the workers who feared that an influx of new workers would flood the labor market and lower wages.[11] Nativism was not a factor because upwards of half the union members were themselves immigrants or the sons of immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Britain. Nativism was a factor when the AFL even more strenuously opposed all immigration from Asia because it represented (to its Euro-American members) an alien culture that could not be assimilated into American society. The AFL intensified its opposition after 1906 and was instrumental in passing immigration restriction bills from the 1890s to the 1920s, such as the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924, and seeing that they were strictly enforced.[12]
Mink (1986) concludes that the link between the AFL and the Democratic Party rested in part on immigration issues, noting the large corporations, which supported the Republicans, wanted more immigration to augment their labor force.[13]
The AFL reached a zenith of sorts during the administration of Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Particularly during the years of World War I, American unions were given considerable government protection and cooperation between capital and labor was actively sought as the best means of rationalizing and increasing American production on behalf of the war effort. Unions, including the AFL itself, welcomed governmental intervention in favor of collective bargaining during World War I. Unions in the packinghouse industry were able to form due to governmental pressure on the largest employers to recognize the unions rather than face a strike. Expansion of the organized labor movement followed and by 1920 the AFL had nearly 4 million members.
During World War I, the AFL - motivated by fear of government repression, and hope of aid (often in the form of pro-AFL labor policies) - had worked out an informal agreement with the United States government, in which the AFL would coordinate with the government both to support the war effort and to join "into an alliance to crush radical labor groups" such as the Industrial Workers of the World and Socialist Party of America.[14]
After conclusion of the European war in 1919, business launched a vast and coordinated offensive on behalf of the so-called "open shop", and the member unions lost membership at an alarming rate. This trend continued throughout the 1920s.
The organization endorsed pro-labor progressive Robert M. LaFollette in 1924. The campaign failed to establish a permanent independent party closely connected to the labor movement, however, and thereafter the Federation embraced ever more closely the Democratic Party, despite the fact that many union leaders remained Republicans.
The Great Depression were hard times for the unions, and membership fell sharply across the country. As the national economy began to recover in 1933, so did union membership. The New Deal of president Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat strongly favored labor unions. He made sure that relief operations like the Civilian Conservation Corps did not include a training component that would produced skilled workers who would compete with union members in a still glutted market. The major legislation was the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, called the Wagner Act. It greatly strengthened organized unions, especially by weakening the company unions that many workers belonged to. It was to the members advantage to transform a company union into a local of an AFL union, and thousands did so, dramatically boosting the membership. The Wagner Act also set up to the National Labor Relations Board, which used its powers to rule in favor of unions and against the companies. However, the NLRB was later taken over by leftist elements who favored the CIO over the AFL.
The AFL — now led by William Green (president, 1924–1952) — faced increasing dissension within its ranks, led by John L. Lewis of the coal miners. Lewis argued that the AFL was too heavily oriented toward traditional craftsmen, and was overlooking the opportunity to organize millions of semiskilled workers, especially those in industrial factories that made automobiles, rubber, glass and steel. In 1935 Lewis led the dissenting unions in forming a new Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) within the AFL. Both the new CIO industrial unions, and the older AFL crafts unions grew rapidly after 1935. In 1936 union members enthusiastically supported Roosevelt's landslide reelection. Proposals for the creation of an independent labor party were rejected.[15]
Unions now comprised a major compounded of the New Deal Coalition, along with big-city machines, Catholics and Jews, poorer farmers, and the white South. The AFL continued to concentrate its legislative efforts on obtaining political protection for the right of unions to organize and strike, rather than on obtaining social change through legislative action.
The AFL retained close ties to the Democratic machines in big cities through the 1940s. Its membership surged during the war and it held on to most of its new members after wartime legal support for labor was removed. Despite its close connections to many in Congress, the AFL was not able to block the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947.
In 1955, the AFL and CIO merged to form the AFL-CIO, headed by George Meany.
During its first years, the AFL admitted nearly anyone. Gompers opened the AFL to radical and socialist workers and to some semiskilled and unskilled workers. Women, African Americans, and immigrants joined in small numbers. But by the 1890s, the Federation had begun to organize only skilled workers in craft unions and became an organization of mostly white men. Although the Federation preached a policy of egalitarianism in regard to African American workers, it actively discriminated against black workers.[16] The AFL sanctioned the maintenance of segregated locals within its affiliates — particularly in the construction and railroad industries — a practice which often excluded black workers altogether from union membership and thus from employment in organized industries.[17]
In 1901, the AFL lobbied Congress to reauthorize the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and issued a pamphlet entitled "Some reasons for Chinese exclusion. Which shall survive?" The AFL also began one of the first organized labor boycotts when they began putting white stickers on the cigars made by unionized white cigar rollers while simultaneously discouraging consumers from purchasing cigars rolled by Chinese workers.[18]
In most ways, the AFL’s treatment of women workers paralleled its policy towards black workers. The AFL never adopted a strict policy of gender exclusion and, at times, even came out in favor of women’s unionism. But despite such rhetoric, the Federation only half-heartedly supported women’s attempts to organize and, more often, took pains to keep women out of unions and the workforce altogether. Only two national unions affiliated with the AFL at its founding openly included women, and others passed by-laws barring women’s membership entirely. The AFL hired its first female organizer, Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, only in 1892, released her after five months, and it did not replace her or hire another women national organizer until 1908. Women who organized their own unions were often turned down in bids to join the Federation, and even women who did join unions found them hostile or intentionally inaccessible. AFL unions often held meetings at night or in bars when women might find it difficult to attend and where they might feel uncomfortable, and male unionists heckled women who tried to speak at meetings.[19]
Generally the AFL viewed women workers as competition, as strikebreakers, or as an unskilled labor reserve that kept wages low. As such, the Federation often opposed women’s employment entirely. When it did organize women workers, most often it did so to protect men’s jobs and earning power and not to improve the conditions, lives, or wages of women workers. In response, most women workers remained outside the labor movement. In 1900, only 3.3% of working women were organized into unions. In 1910, even as the AFL surged forward in membership, the number had dipped to 1.5%. And while it improved to 6.6% over the next decade, women remained mostly outside of unions and practically invisible inside of them into the mid-1920s.[20]
Attitudes gradually changed within the AFL due to the pressure of organized female workers. Female-domination began to emerge in the first two decades of the 20th century, including particularly the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. Women organized independent locals among New York hat makers, in the Chicago stockyards, and among Jewish and Italian waist makers, to name only three examples. Through the efforts of middle class reformers and activists, often of the Women's Trade Union League, these unions joined the AFL.[21]
From the beginning, unions affiliated with the AFL found themselves in conflict when both unions claimed jurisdiction over the same groups of workers: both the Brewers and Teamsters claimed to represent beer truck drivers, both the Machinists and the International Typographical Union claimed to represent certain printroom employees, and the Machinists and a fledgling union known as the "Carriage, Wagon and Automobile Workers Union" sought to organize the same employees — even though neither union had made any effort to organize or bargain for those employees. In some cases the AFL mediated the dispute, usually favoring the larger or more influential union. The AFL often reversed its jurisdictional rulings over time, as the continuing jurisdictional battles between the Brewers and the Teamsters showed. In other cases the AFL expelled the offending union, as it did in 1913 in the case of the Carriage, Wagon and Automobile Workers Union (which quickly disappeared).
These jurisdictional disputes were most frequent in the building trades, where a number of different unions might claim the right to have work assigned to their members. The craft unions in this industry organized their own department within the AFL in 1908, despite the reservations of Gompers and other leaders about creation of a separate body within the AFL that might function as a federation within a federation. While those fears were partly borne out in practice, as the Building Trades Department did acquire a great deal of practical power gained through resolving jurisdictional disputes between affiliates, the danger that it might serve as the basis for schism never materialized.
Affiliates within the AFL formed "departments" to help resolve these jurisdictional conflicts and to provide a more effective voice for member unions in given industries. The Metal Trades Department engaged in some organizing of its own, primarily in shipbuilding, where unions such as the Pipefitters, Machinists and Iron Workers joined together through local metal workers' councils to represent a diverse group of workers. The Railway Employees Department dealt with both jurisdictional disputes between affiliates and pursued a common legislative agenda for all of them. Even that sort of structure did not prevent AFL unions from finding themselves in conflict on political issues. For example, the International Seamen's Union opposed passage of a law applying to workers engaged in interstate transport that railway unions supported. The AFL bridged these differences on an ad hoc basis.
The AFL made efforts in its early years to assist its affiliates in organizing: it advanced funds or provided organizers or, in some cases, such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Teamsters and the American Federation of Musicians, helped form the union. The AFL also used its influence (including refusal of charters or expulsion) to heal splits within affiliated unions, to force separate unions seeking to represent the same or closely related jurisdictions to merge, or to mediate disputes between rival factions where both sides claimed to represent the leadership of an affiliated union. The AFL also chartered "federal unions" — local unions not affiliated with any international union — in those fields in which no affiliate claimed jurisdiction.
The AFL also encouraged the formation of local labor bodies (known as central labor councils) in major metropolitan areas in which all of the affiliates could participate. These local labor councils acquired a great deal of influence in some cases. For example, the Chicago Federation of Labor spearheaded efforts to organize packinghouse and steel workers during and immediately after World War I. Local building trades councils also became powerful in some areas. In San Francisco, the local Building Trades Council, led by Carpenters official P. H. McCarthy, not only dominated the local labor council but helped elect McCarthy mayor of San Francisco in 1909. In a very few cases early in the AFL's history, state and local bodies defied AFL policy or chose to disaffiliate over policy disputes.
While the organization was founded by socialists such as Gompers and Peter J. McGuire, it quickly became more conservative. The AFL adopted a philosophy of "business unionism" that emphasized unions' contribution to businesses' profits and national economic growth. The business unionist approach also focused on skilled workers' immediate job-related interests, while ignoring larger political issues.
In some respects the AFL leadership took a pragmatic view toward politicians, following Gompers' slogan to "reward your friends and punish your enemies" without regard to party affiliation. Over time, after repeated disappointments with the failure of labor's legislative efforts to protect workers' rights, which the courts had struck down as unconstitutional, Gompers became almost anti-political, opposing some forms of protective legislation, such as limitations on working hours, because they would detract from the efforts of unions to obtain those same benefits through collective bargaining.
Employers discovered the efficacy of labor injunctions, first used with great effect by the Cleveland administration during the Pullman strike in 1894. While the AFL sought to outlaw "yellow dog contracts," to limit the courts' power to impose "government by injunction" and to obtain exemption from the antitrust laws that were being used to criminalize labor organizing, the courts reversed what few legislative successes the labor movement won.
The AFL concentrated its political efforts during the last decades of the Gompers administration on securing freedom from state control of unions — in particular an end to the court's use of labor injunctions to block the right to organize or strike and the application of the anti-trust laws to criminalize labor's use of pickets, boycotts and strikes. The AFL thought that it had achieved the latter with the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914 — which Gompers referred to as "Labor's Magna Carta". But in Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, 254 U.S. 443 (1921), the United States Supreme Court narrowly read the Act and codified the federal courts' existing power to issue injunctions rather than limit it. The court read the phrase "between an employer and employees" (contained in the first paragraph of the Act) to refer only to cases involving an employer and its own employees, leaving the courts free to punish unions for engaging in sympathy strikes or secondary boycotts.
The AFL's pessimistic attitude towards politics did not, on the other hand, prevent affiliated unions from pursuing their own agendas. Construction unions supported legislation that governed entry of contractors into the industry and protected workers' rights to pay, rail and mass production industries sought workplace safety legislation, and unions generally agitated for the passage of workers' compensation statutes.
At the same time, the AFL took efforts on behalf of women in supporting protective legislation. It advocated fewer hours for women workers, and based its arguments on assumptions of female weakness. Like efforts to unionize, most support for protective legislation for women came out of a desire to protect men’s jobs. If women’s hours could be limited, reasoned AFL officials, they would infringe less on male employment and earning potential. But the AFL also took more selfless efforts. Even from the 1890s, the AFL declared itself vigorously in favor of women’s suffrage. It often printed pro-suffrage articles in its periodical, and in 1918, it supported the National Union of Women’s Suffrage.[22]
The AFL relaxed its rigid stand against legislation after the death of Gompers. Even so, it remained cautious. Its proposals for unemployment benefits (made in the late 1920s) were too modest to have practical value, as the Great Depression soon showed. The impetus for the major federal labor laws of the 1930s came from the New Deal. The enormous growth in union membership came after Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 and National Labor Relations Act in 1935. The AFL refused to sanction or participate in the mass strikes led by John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers and other left unions such as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. After the AFL expelled the CIO in 1936, the CIO undertook a major organizing effort. The AFL responded with its own massive organizing drive that kept its membership totals 50 percent higher than the CIO's.
| Union | Date Organized | Date Affiliated | 1925 Members | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asbestos Workers, International Union of Heat and Frost Insulators and | 1887 | 1887 | 2,400 | Journal: Official Journal. |
| Actors and Artistes of America, Associated | 1919 | 1919 | 10,100 | Includes: Actors' Equity Association, American Guild of Musical Artists, American Guild of Variety Artists, Screen Actors Guild. |
| Auto Workers, United | 1935 | 1935 | N/A | Suspended 1936 due to Communist influence; helped form CIO. |
| Bakery and Confectionery Workers of America, International Union of | 1886 | 1887 | 21,800 | Started as Journeymen Bakers' Union. Journal: The Bakers' Journal. |
| Barbers International Union, Journeymen | 1887 | 1888 | 48,000 | Journal: The Journeyman Barber. |
| Bill Posters and Billers of United States and Canada International Alliance | 1902 | 1903 | 1,600 | |
| Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, International Brotherhood of | 1890 | 1890 | 5,000 | Journal: Blacksmiths Journal. |
| Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders, International Brotherhood of | 1880 | 1882 | 17,100 | Two Boilermakers unions amalgamated in 1893, considered the start date of this union by some. Journal: The Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders' Journal. |
| Bookbinders, International Brotherhood of | 1892 | 1892 | 13,600 | Journal: The International Bookbinder. |
| Boot and Shoe Workers' Union | 1895 | 1895 | 36,200 | Journal: The Shoe Workers' Journal. |
| Brewery, Flour, Cereal and Soft Drink Workers of America | 1884 | 1887 | 16,000 | Journal: Brewery, Flour, Cereal and Soft Drink Workers' Journal. |
| Brick and Clay Workers of America, United | 1894 | 1898 | 5,000 | Journal: Union Clay Worker. |
| Bricklayers', Masons and Plasterers' International Union of America | 1865 | 1916 | 70,000 | Journal: The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer. |
| Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, International Association of | 1896 | 1903 | 16,300 | Journal: The Bridgemen's Magazine. |
| Broom and Whisk Makers' Union, International | 1893 | 1893 | 700 | Journal: The Broom Maker. |
| Building Service Employees International Union | 1921 | 1921 | 6,200 | |
| Carpenters and Joiners, Amalgamated Association of | 1869 | 1890 | N/A | AF of L charter revoked by 1912 convention for refusing to amalgamate with Brotherhood of Carpenters. Journal: The Carpenter. |
| Carpenters and Joiners of America, United Brotherhood of | 1867 | 1886 | 317,000 | |
| Cigarmakers' International Union | 1864 | 1887 | 23,500 | Journal: Cigarmakers' Official Journal. |
| Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers' International Union | 1901 | 1902 | 7,800 | Suspended for protracted period in early 1920s for failure to comply with convention decision. Journal: The Headgear Worker. |
| Conductors, Order of Sleeping Car | 1918 | 1919 | 2,300 | Journal: The Sleeping Car Conductor. |
| Coopers' International Union of North America | 1864 | 1892 | 1,300 | Journal: The Coopers' International Journal. |
| Cutting Die and Cutter Makers of America, International Union of | N/A | Suspended for non-payment of dues, 1923 on. | ||
| Diamond Workers' Protective Union of America | 1910 | 1912 | 400 | |
| Elastic Goring Weavers, Amalgamated Association of | 1894 | 1894 | 100 | |
| Electrical Workers, International Brotherhood of | 1891 | 1891 | 142,000 | Journal: The Journal of Electrical Workers and Operators. |
| Elevator Constuctors, International Union of | 1901 | 1903 | 8,100 | Journal: The Elevator Constructor. |
| Federal Employees, National Federation of | 1917 | 1917 | 20,200 | Disaffiliated from AF of L, December 1931. Journal: Federal Employe. |
| Fire Fighters, International Association of | 1918 | 1918 | 16,000 | Journal: International Fire Fighter. |
| Foundry Employees, International Brotherhood of | 1904 | 1904 | 3,500 | Later amalgamated with the Molders. |
| Fur Workers' Union of the United States and Canada, International | 1913 | 1913 | 11,400 | Journal: The Fur Worker. |
| Garmernt Workers of America, United | 1891 | 1891 | 47,500 | Journal: The Garment Worker. |
| Glass Bottle Blowers' Association | 1847 | 1899 | 6,000 | Journal: The Bottle Maker. |
| Glass Workers' Union, American Flint | 1878 | 1912 | 5,300 | Journal: American Flint. |
| Glass Workers, National Window | 1872 | 1918 | 2,000 | |
| Glove Workers' Union of America, International | 1902 | 1902 | 300 | |
| Granite Cutters' International Union | 1877 | 1886 | 8,500 | Journal: Granite Cutters Journal. |
| Hatters of North America, United | 1854 | 1886 | 11,500 | |
| Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers' Union, International | 1903 | 1903 | 61,500 | Now Laborers' International Union of North America. |
| Horseshoers of United States and Canada, International Union of Journeymen | 1874 | 1893 | 2,000 | Journal: International Horseshoers' Monthly Magazine. |
| Hotel and Restaurant Employees' International Alliance and Bartenders' League of America | 1890 | 1890 | 38,500 | Journal: The Mixer and Server. |
| Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, Amalgamated Association of | 1876 | 1887 | 11,400 | Journal: The Amalgamated Journal. |
| Jewelry Workers' Union, International | 1916 | 1916 | 800 | Journal: Jewelry Workers' Monthly Bulletin. |
| Lace Operatives of America, The Chartered Association of | N/A | Suspended c. 1920 for failure to comply with decisions of convention. | ||
| Ladies' Garment Workers Union, International | 1900 | 1900 | 90,000 | Journals: Justice (English); Gerechtigkeit (Yiddish); Giustizia (Italian); |
| Lathers, International Union of Wood, Wire and Metal | 1899 | 1899 | 8,900 | Journal: The Lather. |
| Laundry Workers' International Union | 1900 | 1900 | 5,500 | |
| Leather Workers' International Union, United | 1896 | 1896 | 2,000 | Journal: Leather Workers' Journal. |
| Letter Carriers, National Association of | 1889 | 1917 | 32,500 | Journal: Postal Record. |
| Letter Carriers, National Association of Rural | 1919 | 1919 | 300 | |
| Lithographers of America, Amalgamated | 1882 | 1906 | 5,300 | Journal: Lithographers' Journal. |
| Longshoremen's Association, International | 1892 | 1896 | 31,800 | Journal: The Longshoreman. |
| Machinists, International Association of | 1888 | 1895 | 71,400 | Journal: Machinists Monthly Journal. |
| Maintenance of Way Employees, United Brotherhood of | 1886 | 1900 | 37,400 | Journal: Railway Maintenance of Way Employees' Journal. |
| Marble, Slate and Stone Polishers, Rubbers and Sawyers, Tile and Marble Setters' Helpers, International Association of | 1916 | 1916 | 3,200 | |
| Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, National | 1875 | N/A | Disaffiliated with AF of L, 1923. | |
| Masters, Mates and Pilots of America | 1897 | 1914 | 3,900 | |
| Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen, Amalgamated | 1897 | 1897 | 12,200 | |
| Metal Engravers' International Union | 1920 | 1921 | 100 | |
| Metal Polishers Union of North America, International | 1891 | 1896 | 6,000 | |
| Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, International Union of | 1893 | 1896 | 8,500 | Journal: The Miners' Magazine. |
| Mine Workers of America, United | 1890 | 1890 | 400,000 | Journal: United Mine Workers' Journal. |
| Molders' Union of America, International | 1859 | 1886 | 27,500 | Later amalgamated with Foundry Employees. Journal: International Molders' Journal. |
| Musicians, American Federation of | 1896 | 1896 | 80,000 | Journal: International Musician. |
| Office Employees International Union | 1942 | 1945 | N/A | |
| Oil Field, Gas Well and Refinery Workers of America, International Association of | 1919 | 1919 | 1,200 | |
| Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America, Brotherhood of | 1887 | 1887 | 107,600 | Now International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Journal: The Painter and Decorator. |
| Papermakers, International Brotherhood of | 1892 | 1897 | 5,000 | Journal: Paper Maker Journal. |
| Pattern Makers' League of North America | 1887 | 1894 | 7,000 | Journal: Pattern Makers Journal. |
| Pavers, Rammersmen, Flag Layers, Bridge and Stone Setters, International Union of | 1860 | 1905 | 2,000 | |
| Paving Cutters' Union of the United States | 1901 | 1904 | 2,400 | Journal: Paving Cutters' Journal. |
| Photo-Engravers' Union of North America, International | 1900 | 1904 | 7,200 | Journal: The American Photo Engraver. |
| Piano, Organ and Musical Instrument Workers' Union of America, International | 1898 | 1902 | 600 | |
| Plasterers and Cement Finishers' International Association of the United States and Canada, Operative | 1862 | 1908 | 30,000 | Journal: The Plasterer. |
| Plate Printers' and Die Stampers' Union of North America, International | 1891 | 1898 | 1,200 | Amalgamated with Steel and Copper Plate Engravers' League, late 1925. Journal: The Plate Printer. |
| Plumbers and Steamfitters of the United States and Canada, United Association of | 1889 | 1897 | 39,200 | Journal: Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fitters' Journal. |
| Pocketbook Workers of America, International | 1923 | 1925 | N/A | Journal: International Pocketbook Worker. |
| Postal Employees, National Federation of | 1906 | 1906 | 23,700 | Was National Federation of Postal Employees. Journal: Union Postal Clerk. |
| Potters, National Brotherhood of Operative | 1899 | 1899 | 8,100 | Journal: The Potters' Herald. |
| Powder and High Explosive Workers, United | 1902 | 1902 | 200 | |
| Print Cutters' Association of America, International | N/A | Amalgamated with Timber Workers, 1923. | ||
| Printers and Color Mixers of the United States, International Association of Machine | N/A | Amalgamated with Timber Workers, 1923. | ||
| Printing Pressman and Assistants' Union of North America, International | 1889 | 1890 | 40,000 | Journal: The American Pressman. |
| Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers, International Brotherhood of | 1906 | 1909 | 5,000 | |
| Quarry Workers' International Union of North America | 1903 | 1903 | 3,000 | Journal: Quarry Workers' Journal. |
| Railroad Carmen, Brotherhood of | 1888 | 1900 | 125,000 | Journal: Railway Carmen's Journal. |
| Railroad Signalmen of America, Brotherhood of | 1908 | 1914 | 8,000 | Journal: Signalmen's Journal. |
| Railroad Telegraphers, Order of | 1886 | 1899 | 39,200 | Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher. |
| Railway Clerks, Brotherhood of | 1899 | 1908 | 91,200 | Journal: The Railway Clerk. |
| Railway Mail Association | 1898 | 1917 | 19,100 | Journal: The Railway Post Office. |
| Retail Clerks' International Protective Association | 1890 | 1891 | 10,000 | Journal: Retail Clerks' International Advocate. |
| Roofers, United Slate, Tile and Composition + Damp and Waterproof Workers' Association | 1902 | 1903 | 3,000 | Amalgamated with Slate and Tile Roofers in 1919. Now United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers. |
| Sawsmiths' National Union | N/A | Apparently defunct from 1924. | ||
| Seamen's International Union of America | 1892 | 1893 | 16,000 | Journal: The Seamen's Journal. |
| Sheet Metal Workers' Union, Amalgamated | 1888 | 1890 | 25,000 | Journal: Sheet Metal Workers Journal. |
| Spinners' Union, International | N/A | Apparently absorbed through amalgamation or defunct by 1925. | ||
| Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada | 1893 | 1894 | 20,000 | Journal: General Bulletin. |
| State, County and Municipal Employees, American Federation of | 1932 | 1936 | N/A | |
| Stationary Firemen and Oilers, International Brotherhood of | 1898 | 1898 | 10,000 | Journal: Firemen and Oilers Journal. |
| Steam and Operating Engineers, International Union of | 1896 | 1897 | 25,300 | Now International Union of Operating Engineers. Journal: International Steam Engineer. |
| Steam Shovel and Dredgemen, International Brotherhood of | 1896 | 1915 | N/A | Suspended by AF of L in 1920 due to jurisdictional dispute with Steam Engineers. Journal: Steam Shovel and Dredge. |
| Stereotypers and Electrotypers' Union, International | 1902 | 1902 | 6,800 | Journal: International Stereotypers and Electrotypers' Union Journal. |
| Stone Cutters' Association, Journeymen | 1853 | 1907 | 5,100 | Journal: The Stone Cutters Journal. |
| Stove Mounters' International Union | 1892 | 1894 | 1,600 | Journal: Stove Mounters and Range Workers' Journal. |
| Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, Amalgamated Association of | 1892 | 1893 | 101,000 | Now Amalgamated Transit Union. Journal: The Motorman and Conductor. |
| Switchmen's Union of North America | 1894 | 1906 | 8,900 | Journal: The Journal of the Switchmen's Union of North America. |
| Tailors' Union of America, Journeymen | 1883 | 1887 | 9,300 | Journal: The Tailor. |
| Teachers, American Federation of | 1916 | 1916 | 3,500 | Journal: American Federation of Teachers Monthly Bulletin. |
| Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen and Helpers, International Brotherhood of | 1899 | 1899 | 78,900 | Journal: Official Magazine. |
| Technical Engineers', Architects' and Draftsmen's Unions, International Federation of | 1916 | 1916 | 600 | |
| Telegraphers' Union of America, Commercial | 1902 | 1902 | 4,100 | Journal: The Commercial Telegraphers' Journal. |
| Textile Workers of America, United | 1901 | 1901 | 30,000 | Journal: The Textile Worker. |
| Timber Workers, International Union of | N/A | Disbanded 1923. | ||
| Tobacco Workers' International Union | 1895 | 1895 | 1,400 | Journal: Tobacco Worker. |
| Transferrers' Association of America, International Steel Plate | N/A | Apparently absorbed through amalgamation or defunct by 1925. | ||
| Tunnel and Subway Constructors | 1910 | 1910 | 3,000 | |
| Typographical Union, International | 1852 | 1881 | 71,000 | Journals: The Typographical Journal (English); Buchdrucker-Zeitung (German). |
| Upholsters' International Union of North America | 1882 | 1892 | 7,600 | Journal: Upholsterers' Journal. |
| Wall Paper Crafts of North America, United | 1923 | 1923 | 600 | |
| Wire Weavers' Protective Association, America | 1876 | 1895 | 400 | |
| Wood Carvers' Association of North America, International | 1883 | 1896 | 1,000 | Journal: The International Woodcarver. |
| Union | Date Organized | Date Affiliated | 1925 Members | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locomotive Engineers, Brotherhood of | 1863 | N/A | Journal: Locomotive Engineers' Journal. | |
| Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of | 1873 | N/A | Now part of United Transportation Union. Journal: Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine. | |
| Railroad Conductors, Order of | 1868 | N/A | Journal: The Railroad Conductor. | |
| Railroad Trainmen, Brotherhood of | 1883 | N/A | Journal: The Railroad Trainman. | |
| Railroad Workers, American Federation of | N/A | Journal: The Railroad Worker. | ||
| Railroad Yardmasters, Brotherhood of | 1918 | N/A | ||
| Railway Employees, Brotherhood of | N/A | Journal: Railway Employees' Journal | ||
| Railway Expressmen, Order of | N/A | Journal: The Railway Expressman. | ||
| Sleeping Car Porters, Brotherhood of | 1924 | N/A | ||
| Train Dispatchers Association | 1917 | N/A | Journal: The Train Dispatcher. |
| Union | Date Organized | Date Affiliated | 1925 Members | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clothing Workers of America, Amalgamated | 1914 | N/A | Journals: The Advance (English); Darbas (Lithuanian); Fortschrift (Yiddish); Il Lavoro (Italian); Prace (Czech); Przemyslowa Democracia (Polish); Rabochii Golos (Russian). | |
| Food Workers, Amalgamated | N/A | Journals: Free Voice of the Amalgamated Food Workers; Hotel Worker. | ||
| Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, National | N/A | Journal: The American Marine Engineer. |
| Wikisource has the text of a 1905 New International Encyclopedia article about American Federation of Labor. |