Congress of Industrial Organizations Timeline of Events

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Congress of Industrial Organizations

The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not Communists. Many CIO leaders refused to obey that requirement, later found unconstitutional...

Timeline of Events

1935

11.8.1935

A dozen labor leaders come together to announce the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), an organization charged with advancing industrial unionism.

11.9.1935

The Congress of Industrial Organizations is founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey by eight trade unions belonging to the American Federation of Labor.

1938

11.18.1938

Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

1955

12.5.1955

The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.