MS-36 Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO Records

Introduction

The Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO Records date from 1947 to 1970. These labor records include constitutions, minutes, correspondence, financial records, and other material relating to the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations and their merger.

The records of the Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO were surveyed in A Bibliography of Sources for Dayton, Ohio, 1850-1950(Dayton: Wright State University, 1971, p. 79) which was compiled by Carl Becker, Jacob Dorn, and Paul Merriam. Steven Gietschier, a field representative for the Ohio Historical Society’s Ohio Labor History Project, visited the office in April of 1976 to inventory the records and suggest that they be deposited at Wright State University to be processed, housed, and made available to researchers. The records were donated to the University without restrictions and were transferred on June 21, 1976.

Agency History 

The Dayton-Miami Valley Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations: “Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO” is made up of what once was the Montgomery County Industrial Union Council (affiliated with the CIO) and the American Federation of Labor Central Labor Union.

The American Federation of Labor was established in 1886 to organize skilled workers into national unions composed of members of the same craft with similar objectives: shorter hours, higher wages, and better working conditions. The AFL Central Labor Union was organized in 1899.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed on a national level in 1935 to organize semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the mass production industries neglected by the AFL: steel, automobile, textile, rubber, clothing, and electrical industries. Ohio formed the Ohio State Industrial Union Council (Ohio CIO Council) which was affiliated with the CIO in accordance with the terms of a charter granted by the CIO, and the Montgomery County Industrial Union Council was in turn granted a charter in 1940.

The AFL and the CIO merged on a national level in 1955. Under the provisions of Article XIV, Section 5 of the AFL-CIO Constitution adopted by the first Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO on December 5, 1955, under Section 3 (i) and 6 (g) of the Merger Agreement and under Rule 5 (b) of the Rules governing Local Central Bodies; local central bodies which had been affiliated with the AFL-CIO were required to merge within two years. In 1957, at the state level, the two unions merged.

The Dayton Central Labor Union and Montgomery County Industrial Union Council could not agree upon terms of merger. Because of this, the national organization with George Meany as President, revoked the charters of the two groups on Oct. 19, 1959 and appointed two special representatives to supervise the merging of the councils and the drafting of a proposed constitution. A special “Founding Convention” was held on Dec. 5, 1959 and the merger eventually was accepted, after initial rejection by the AFL. Included in the records is information on the Industrial Union Council dating back to 1946 and including the constitution and charter, minutes of meetings, reports of committees, and financial records.

Information on the Dayton Central Labor Union is very meager and dates from the years 1954-1959 – the period during whish the AFL and CIO were attempting mergers. There is nothing prior to these years. Correspondence, minutes, and the Union notebook comprise the records for the few folders of this Union. Information on the merger of the AFL-CIO on the local level, which was done while George Meany was President, fills two folders and is quite extensive. The records are divided into five series, broken down into topical divisions within the series and placed in separate folders.

Scope and Content

The Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO Records deal with material relating to the local AFL and CIO Unions and their merger in 1959. The bulk of the material within this collection is from 1950 to 1960.

Most of the material is on the Industrial Union Council, from 1945 to 1959. It contains the constitution and charter of the union, the minutes of delegate and executive meetings, reports of the various committees, and is in general very helpful to the researcher.

The materials concerning the Dayton Central Labor Union is very sketchy, most from 1955-1959. It is primarily made up of minutes and correspondence. There is nothing prior to 1954, perhaps because the AFL opposed the merging of the two groups at a local level and did not give records to the union after it merged.

The two folders of information on the merger of the AFL-CIO at a local level is most informative and helpful to the researcher.

Also in the collection is information on the Lakewoods, a housing foundation for AFL-CIO senior citizens which includes minutes of meetings, plans, and financial information.

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