Leather Workers' International Union of America

The Leather Workers' International Union of America (LWU) was a labor union representing workers in the leather industry in the United States and Canada.

The union was founded on January 14, 1955, as the Leather Workers' Organizing Committee.[1] Its founding affiliates were some former locals of the International Fur and Leather Workers' Union, which had opposed that union's merger into the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen.[2] On November 2, it was chartered by the Congress of Industrial Organizations as the LWIU.[1]

In December 1955, the union affiliated to the new AFL-CIO, and by 1957, it had 5,743 members.[3] Its membership fell to only 2,110 in 1980,[4] and on February 3, 1992, it merged into the Office and Professional Employees' International Union.[1]

Presidents

1955: R. J. Thomas
1955: Richard B. O'Keefe
1971: Arthur Cecelski
1980s: James L. Sawyer

References

  1. ^ a b c "Inactive Organizations" (PDF). UMD Labor Collections. University of Maryland. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  2. ^ Chaison, Gary (1973). "Federation Expulsions and Union Mergers in the United States". Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations. 28 (2).
  3. ^ Directory of National and International Labor Unions in the United States (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Labor. 1957. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  4. ^ Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations (PDF). Washington DC: United States Department of Labor. 1980. Retrieved 3 May 2022.