The Shoe Workers' Protective Union (SWPU) was a

trade 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 involved in making footwear in the United States. The union was founded in 1899, when the

Boot and Shoe Workers' Union The Boot and Shoe Workers' Union was a trade union of workers in the footwear manufacturing industry in the United States and Canada. It was established in 1895 by the merger of three older unions. It was affiliated with the American Federation o ...

's Haverhill, Massachusetts branch split away. In 1917, it absorbed several small unions and thereafter opened admission to all workers in the industry. In 1924, it was joined by the United Shoe Workers of America union. Over the following years, it gradually absorbed the Amalgamated Shoe Workers of America union, one city at a time. By 1926, the union had 16,000 members. In 1933, the union merged with the National Shoe Workers' Association, the Shoe and Leather Workers' Industrial Union, and some local unions, to form the

United Shoe and Leather Workers' Union The United Shoe and Leather Workers' Union (USLWU) was a labor union representing shoe and bootmakers in the United States. The union was founded in 1933, when the Shoe Workers' Protective Union (SWPU) merged with the National Shoe Workers' Associ ...

(USLWU). However, a substantial minority of the union disagreed with the merger and continued as the SWPU. In 1937, this merged with the USLWU, to form the

United Shoe Workers of America The United Shoe Workers of America (USWA) was a trade union representing workers involved in making shoes and other leather goods. History The union was founded in 1937, when the United Shoe and Leather Workers' Union merged with the Shoe Workers ...

.{{cite book , last1=Zahavi , first1=Gerald , title=Workers, Managers, and Welfare Capitalism , date=1988 , publisher=University of Illinois Press , location=Urbana , isbn=0252014448 , page=153–154

References

Defunct trade unions in the United States Footwear industry trade unions Trade unions established in 1899 Trade unions disestablished in 1937