The Congress of Industrial organizations (CIO)

Question 1

What caused the formation of the Congress of Industrial organizations (CIO)?

Answer 1

In 1934, thirty AFL leaders called for the creation of unions of industrial workers. When the the AFL convention of 1935 refused, the head of the United Miner Workers, John L. Lewis, led a walkout that produced the CIO.

Question 2

Why does GM recognize unions in 1937?

Answer 2

In December 1936 the United Auto Workers (UAW), a CIO union, unveiled the sit-down. Rather than walking out of the plant, enabling management to bring in strikebreakers, workers halted production but remained inside. In the UAW’s first sit-down strike, 7,000 General Motors employees seized control of the Fisher Body plant in Cleveland. Sit downs soon spread to GM plants in Flint, Michigan, the nerve center pf automobile production. When local police tried to storm the Flint plants, workers fought them off. The democratic governor, Frank Murphy, who had been elected with strong support from the CIO, declared his unwillingness to use force to dislodge the strikers. On February 11th 1937 General Motors agreed to negotiate with the UAW.

Question 3

By the end of 1937 how many members did the UAW have

Answer 3

400,000

Question 4

Who was the UAW

Answer 4

It stands for the United Auto Workers and was a Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) union

Question 5

What was the CIO’s view of women in the work place?

Answer 5

it organized female workers but adhered to the idea that women should be supported by men. The vice president of the United Auto Workers said that the working wives of husbands employed should be barred from industry.

Question 6

What was the CIO’s view on ethnic and racial inclusiveness?

Answer 6

It avidly promoted ethnic and racial inclusiveness, breaking with AFL’s tradition of exclusionary unionism. It embraced cultural pluralism.