The International Chemical Workers' Union (ICWU) was a

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representing workers in the chemical industry in the United States and Canada.

History

The union's origins lay in the Chemical Workers' Council, established by the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

(AFL) in 1937, bringing together local unions in the Mid West. In 1940, this was replaced by the International Council of Chemical and Allied Industries Union, led by H. A. Bradley and based in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

. On September 11, 1944, the council was chartered by the AFL as the ICWU. In 1955, the union transferred to the new AFL-CIO, and by 1957, it had 84,299 members. In 1968, the union joined the

Alliance for Labor Action The Alliance for Labor Action (ALA) was an American and Canadian national trade union center which existed from July 1968 until January 1972. Its two main members were the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a ...

, which led to it being expelled from the AFL-CIO the following year, though it was readmitted in 1971. By 1980, the union's membership had fallen slightly, to 65,800.{{cite book , title=Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations , date=1980 , publisher=United States Department of Labor , location=Washington DC , url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/bls/bls_2079_1980.pdf , access-date=3 May 2022 On July 1, 1996, it merged into the

United Food and Commercial Workers' International Union The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

Presidents

:1940: H. A. Bradley :1954: Edward R. Moffett :1956: Walter L. Mitchell :1968: Thomas E. Boyle :1975: Frank D. Martino

References

Chemical industry trade unions Trade unions established in 1940 Trade unions disestablished in 1996