The United Furniture Workers of America (UFWA) was a 20th-century

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ( ...

, founded as a breakaway from the

Upholsterers International Union of North America The Upholsterers International Union of North America (called the UIU or UIUNA) was a North American labor union of upholsterers. It was founded in 1892 when eight small met at a conference in Chicago and agreed to combine. It affiliated with t ...

by a group of labor activists, who included Emil Costello (a

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

state legislator and president of the UIU local at

Simmons Bedding Company The Simmons Bedding Company is an American major manufacturer of mattresses and related bedding products, based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company was founded in 1870, and is one of the oldest companies of its kind in the United States. Simmons' fl ...

's original factory in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

) in 1937. The UFWA advocated

industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...

and affiliated with the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

(which had formed in 1936). Facing declining membership, even after President

Carl Scarbrough Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

moved the union's headquarters from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

pursuing a policy of aggressively organizing in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

(where most

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

jobs had gone), in cooperation with other unions such as their former rivals the Upholsterers and the

International Woodworkers of America International Woodworkers of America (IWA) was an industrial union of lumbermen, sawmill workers, timber transportation workers and others formed in 1937. History The IWA was formed when members of the Sawmill and Timber Workers’ Union divis ...

, in 1987 the UFWA merged with the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried and Machine Workers (IUE) to form the

International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers The International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) was a North American labor union representing workers in the electrical manufacturing industry. While consistently using the acronym IUE, it took on several full names during its history, origin ...

.Scheinman, Sarah, ed. by Peter T. Alter and Rachel Juris, 2011 "Historical note" in ''United Furniture Workers of America records of Midwest districts and Chicago Local 18-B, 1936-1981 (bulk 1950-1970):Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center'' Chicago History Museum, Research Center, 2011
/ref> The IUE in turn later affiliated with the

Communication Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 ...

(CWA) as "IUE-CWA."

Presidents

:1937: Morris Muster :1946: Morris Pizer :1970: Fred Fulford :1974: Carl Scarborough

References

Defunct trade unions in the United States Furniture industry trade unions {{US-trade-union-stub

Presidents

See also

References