Locals, 1934-1970 and undated

The Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America consists of more than 100 locals. These organizations are scattered up and down the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts of the United States. They also stretch along major American riverways and even extend up to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Among their many responsibilities and functions, the locals serve as bargaining units during contract negotiations, as organizers to recruit more members for the IUMSWA and to unionize more shipyards, and as vehicles of communication between the union's national office and officers and individual union members. The locals' advocacy and activities are documented through their correspondence; bylaws; leaflets; newspaper clippings; disaffiliation case files; and appeal case files for individual members. Also included is coverage of the locals' linkages with the various employers of marine and shipbuilding workers, through such records as agreements, contract negotiations, strike notifications, and arbitration files. The files have been arranged first by local number, then alphabetically by document type.

A number of locals have been particularly active throughout the history of the IUMSWA and extensive documentation appears in this series for several of them, including:

A complete list of locals and their locations appears at the end of this finding aid.