This collection documents the work of the AFL and AFL-CIO with various international labor organizations. The major portion of the collection has to do with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), but groups of records having to do with the international trade union federations and trade secretariats and with the work of individual staff members also appear. Types of materials include minutes, correspondence, near print, publications, and photographs.
The Organizing Department was given responsibility for administering charter records in the 1970s. This collection contains copies of AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO state charters and related correspondence gathered or generated by the AFL-CIO Organization and Field Services Department. AFL charter materials date 1890-1955, CIO materials from 1937-1956, and AFL-CIO materials from 1956-1985. The bulk of all materials date from the 1930s to the 1950s
This is a ten volume collection of charter books that was maintained by the AFL Office of the Secretary-Treasurer from 1891-1966. These volumes record the chartering of federal labor unions, newly chartered state and local central bodies, and in some cases national and international unions affiliated with the AFL. The New York City Truck Drivers Union, as well as Canadian locals have some representation in these records.
The AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department and its predecessor organizations were formed with the goal of eliminating discrimination in employment, and the department was charged with processing and tracking discrimination complaints. This collection documents the department's work from 1956-1984 and consists of case files, compliance dockets, summary reports, correspondence, conference and meeting records, and subject files.
This collection primarily documents AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department director Boris Shishkin's civil rights activities, particularly his participation on federal government committees. Shishkin was also the civil rights spokesperson for the AFL prior to the merger, when it had no civil rights department. Document types include correspondence, surveys, and press clippings.
The AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education (COPE) was founded in 1955 to encourage workers to participate in political life. While COPE may have compiled voting statistics and published some of the printed material, this collection contains mostly secondary material issued by others and collected by office staff. The materials consists of correspondence, voting statistics, printed materials, and clippings pertaining to election campaigns, politicians, and political issues.
The Department of Organization and Field Services for AFL and CIO and then AFL-CIO was responsible for promoting cooperation between national and local union bodies, as well as advocating for union victories in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections. These records document the relationships between local central bodies and their parent federation. Types of materials include charters and local documents.
The Information Department was the publishing and press release arm of the AFL-CIO. This collections contains printed record copies of the major news publications issued by the AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO, including The C.I.O. News, A.F. of L. Reporter, AFL-CIO News, and American Federationist.
