Category: Labor

The 1919 STEEL STRIKE traces its origins back to 1918, when efforts were first made to try and unionize the steel industry. By the summer of 1919, there was a steel union "in every important mill town." When U.S. Steel refused to negotiate with the union, union leaders called for a national strike on 22 Sept. 1919. On that date, 18,000 workers in 16 unions went on strike in Cleveland.

9TO5, NATIONAL ASSN. OF WORKING WOMEN, with 25 local chapters, representatives in 200 cities, and headquarters in Cleveland from 1977-93, advocates equal pay and rights for WOMEN in the workplace. It has worked closely with its research and training arm, the 9to5 Working Women Education Fund.

The AMALGAMATED CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS UNION was organized nationally in 1914 as the independent Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA). An early supporter of industrial unionism, the ACWA scored some initial success when it came to Cleveland in the 1910s, but organizing was hindered by a recession in the industry in the 1920s.

The AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, CLEVELAND AREA LOCAL, (APWU), the largest major postal union active in the city in 1995, represented an amalgamation of earlier unions established for specific groups of postal employees. The APWU, with over 2,800 members in Cleveland, was created in 1971 after the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 established the U.S. Postal Service as an independent government agency.

The BLACK TRADES COUNCIL was founded in June 1991 by George D. Edwards, an African-American pipefitter, to remedy the historical underrepresentation of minorities and women in the various building trades. As a nonprofit agency chartered by the state of Ohio in 1992, the Black Trades Council was financially supported by a consortium of minority contractors and tradesmen and was partially staffed by volunteer instructors.

The BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, founded as the Brotherhood of the Footboard by Michigan Central Railroad engineers in 1863, is the oldest labor organization in the U.S. In 1870 the BLE chose Cleveland as its headquarters city, due to its central location for servicing U.S. and Canadian members. The union was conservative in nature, often eschewing strikes notwithstanding rank-and-file sentiments.

CATHOLIC LABOR EDUCATION in Cleveland operated from 1939 until the early 1970s. Cleveland was one of the most prominent and long lasting centers of Catholic labor schools in the United States.

The CIO "PURGE" CONVENTION took place in Cleveland 31 Oct.-4 Nov. 1949. Delegates to this national CIO convention voted to remove leftist and Fascist unions and union leaders from the organization.

The CLEVELAND CITIZEN began a career on 31 Jan. 1891 that eventually made it "America's oldest labor paper." It was founded on $30 capital by MAX S. HAYES and Henry C. Long, both members of the Cleveland Typographical Union No. 53.

The CLEVELAND FEDERATION OF LABOR, the craft wing of the Cleveland AFL-CIO, was the first successful coalition of tradesmen in the city. Chartered by the American Federation of Labor in 1887, the organization was called the Central Labor Union (CLU).

The CLEVELAND GRAPHITE BRONZE SEIZURE, 6 Sept.-11 Nov. 1944, put the Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co. plants (see CLEVITE, GOULD) under U.S. Army control after a strike crippled war production there.

The CLEVELAND INDUSTRIAL UNION COUNCIL was the Cleveland affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). In 1933 the drive to organize workers along industry-wide lines intensified after the National Industrial Recovery Act gave workers the right to form unions.

The CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER GUILD, LOCAL 1, antedated the formation of the American Newspaper Guild (ANG) by several months. During the Depression, a group of CLEVELAND PRESS reporters, led by Robert L. Bordner and Garland Ashcraft, met to discuss salary cuts and other adverse job conditions. On 20 Aug.

The CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER STRIKE OF 1962, the city's third, turned out to be the most consequential in the history of local journalism. It was triggered by a walkout of drivers (Teamsters Local 473) at the PLAIN DEALER on the night of 29 Nov.

The CLEVELAND RECORD was published by members of the CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER GUILD to alleviate the news blackout that accompanied their strike of the CLEVELAND PRESS and PLAIN DEALER on 29 Nov. 1962.

The CLEVELAND REPORTER was established midway through a 4-week newspaper strike in Nov. 1956, as a substitute for Cleveland's 3 closed dailies. The tabloid made its first appearance on 5 Nov. 1956, 3 days after publication ceased on a combined edition of the Plain Dealer, News, and Press. It was published by striking newsmen and printers, using the facilities of the United Publishing Co.

The CLEVELAND ROLLING MILL STRIKES occurred during the summer of 1882 and 1885 and involved skilled workers who were largely of British origin, as well as Polish and Czech unskilled laborers who were working in the company's facilities near present-day Jones Rd. and Broadway. In May 1882, the Amalgamated Assn.

The CLEVELAND TEACHERS' UNION was chartered in Cleveland in 1934 as the American Fed. of Teachers Local 279; its name was changed in 1940. The union was organized to counter the problems of layoffs, transfers, class size, long hours, and low wages, which had worsened during the Depression. Between 1932-33, teachers' salaries were cut by 40%. Teachers were sometimes paid in scrip, and sometimes not at all.

The CLEVELAND UNION LEADER arose amid the labor disputes of the 1930s to provide a voice for industrial union organization. It was launched on Labor Day, 3 Sept.

The CLEVELAND WORSTED MILL STRIKE (22 Aug. 1955-18 Jan. 1956) was called by the newly formed local of the Textile Workers Union of America (CIO) at the company's main plant at 6114 Broadway—part of an ongoing effort to secure a contract and a $.07 ¹/ 2 per hr. wage increase.

The COALITION OF BLACK TRADE UNIONISTS (CBTU) was founded in 1973 by AFRICAN AMERICAN union workers displeased with the policies and practices of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the nation's la

The CONDUCTORS' STRIKES OF 1918-1919 was a series of both threatened and actual labor strikes that pitted organized women – the female streetcar conductors’ union, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL), and leading suffragists – against the powerful