United States 1938

Synopsis

Formed in 1935 as a group within the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the Committee for Organization (CIO) clashed with its parent organization for the next several years. The leaders of the CIO felt that the organization must begin to recognize the masses of unskilled workers in large industries such as steelmaking and automobile manufacturing, whereas the AFL remained committed to its craft unionism approach, in which only skilled workers were organized. These ideological differences gradually were accompanied by a power struggle between leaders of the two groups. The AFL leadership finally expelled the CIO and its member unions in 1937, opening the way for the CIO to create its own federation. At a constitutional convention held in Pittsburgh from 14 to 18 November 1938, the CIO changed its name to the Congress of Industrial Organizations and took its place as a significant national...