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John L. Lewis, charismatic leader of the United Mine Workers, began to organize the unorganized in the early 1930s. Frustrated at AFL opposition to unionization of the semiskilled and unskilled workers in American factories, mines, and mills, Lewis went to the AFL national convention at Atlantic City, New Jersey, in October 1935 determined to act. Toward the end of a tumultuous meeting, when "Big Bill" Hutcheson, the head of the carpenters' union, cursed him, Lewis marched across the floor and punched the stocky carpenter with such force that he fell to the ground. Soon both men were wrestling on the floor. This fight signaled the immense tensions between unionized skilled workers and nonunionized mass-production factory workers. Three weeks after the fight, Lewis established the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), which was expelled from the AFL soon thereafter. In 1938 Lewis and his followers — retaining the same acronym — changed...
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This section contains 161 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
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