Congress of Industrial Organization (C.I.O.)
Scope and Contents
The W. Jett Lauck collection consists of his professional, business and personal papers as an economist, statistician and government consultant on immigration, banking, railroads, coal, and unemployment problems as well as other facets of labor in the United States. Included are correspondence, scrapbooks of news clippings reflecting his activities, labor reports and studies, drafts of congressional bills, legal briefs, and other material concerning labor problems in the United States from its formative World War I years until 1949. They begin with his association with the progressive labor codes of the Taft-Walsh Labor Relations Commission and continue with the Railway Labor Act of 1926; the fight to gain recognition of labor's right to collective bargaining "through representatives of their own choosing" under the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933; the incorporation of its principles in the National Labor Relations Act; and further activity in defense of this act.
Other manuscripts deal with studies of government competition with private business, the American Association for Economic Freedom, the New York Power Authority; branch, chain, and group banking, drafts of speeches, and work diary accounts of activities and meetings with prominent congressional and labor leaders on labor problems and legislation.
The largest portions of the W. Jett Lauck papers deal with cases and arbitrations, chiefly railroad and coal related, his work on various boards and commission and topical files.
His correspondence with individuals heading organizations interested in labor and industrial relations was wide-spread, just as it was with political figures, educators, and labor leaders.
Among the public figures with whom he corresponded are Bernard Baruch, Homer S. Cummings, Clarence A. Dystra, John T. Flynn, Guy M. Gillette, Leon Henderson, Herbert Hoover, Hugh S. Johnson, Jesse Jones, William S. Knudsen, Robert M. Fa Follette, Jr., Franklin K. Lane, John L. Lewis, H.C. Lodge, Jr., William G. McAdoo, James M. Mead, Francis P. Miller, Henry Morgenthau, Karl E. Mundt, Donald Nelson, Judge Ferdinand Pecora, Frances Perkins, Gifford Pinchot, James H. Price, Franklin D. Roosevelt, E.R. Stettinius, Jr., Robert F. Wagner, David I. Walsh, Burton K. Wheeler, and Woodrow Wilson.
The educators include Hardy Dillard, Edward C. Elliot, Frank Graham, J.W. Jenks, Richard R. Mead, Lewis Tyree, Harry F. Ward, H.B. Wells, and Ray Lyman Wilbur; and the labor leaders Jacob Baker, Solomon Barkin, Van A. Bittner, Sophia Carey, David Dubinsky, P.T. Fagan, John P. Frey, William Green, Sydney Hillman, Earl E. Houck, Thomas Kennedy, Donald MacMillan, and A.O. Wharton.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1900-1952
Creator
- From the Collection: Lauck, W. Jett (Lauck, William Jett), 1879-1949 (Analyst, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Work diaries used to keep a record of Lauck’s activities on behalf of a number of organizations, arranged by date in Boxes 216-219. Due to their fragile condition, access to the original diaries is restricted. Researchers should use the diaries on microfilm M-1239-1241.
Biographical / Historical
"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. Created in 1935 by John L. Lewis, who was a part of the United Mine Workers (UMW), it was originally called the Committee for Industrial Organization but changed its name in 1938 when it broke away from the American Federation of Labor.[1] It also changed names because it was not successful with organizing unskilled workers with the AFL.[2]
The CIO supported Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal Coalition, and was open to African Americans. Both the CIO and its rival the AFL grew rapidly during the Great Depression. The rivalry for dominance was bitter and sometimes violent. The CIO (Congress for Industrial Organization) was founded on November 9, 1935, by eight international unions belonging to the American Federation of Labor.
In its statement of purpose, the CIO said it had formed to encourage the AFL to organize workers in mass production industries along industrial union lines. The CIO failed to change AFL policy from within. On September 10, 1936, the AFL suspended all 10 CIO unions (two more had joined in the previous year). In 1938, these unions formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations as a rival labor federation. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not Communists. Many CIO leaders refused to obey that requirement, later found unconstitutional. In 1955, the CIO rejoined the AFL, forming the new entity known as the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)." This summary was taken directly from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Industrial_Organizations
Extent
From the Collection: 212 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Repository Details
Part of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Repository
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
P.O. Box 400110
University of Virginia
Charlottesville Virginia 22904-4110 United States