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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
At present the New Jersey State Federation of Labor claims approximately 250,000 dues-paying members, organized in about 1,000 local
unions. There are 21 central labor bodies in the State, which include most
of the A. F. of L. local unions in the respective county districts. Strong-
holds of organized labor are Newark, Passaic, Elizabeth, Trenton, Paterson
and Camden.
Of recent origin is the work of the Committee for Industrial Organization, which established a special North Jersey Council early in 1937, later
supplanted by the Greater Newark Industrial Council. Similar councils
have been set up in Trenton and Camden. The C.I.O., with a State-wide
membership estimated (1939) at 175,000, is attempting to organize on an
industry-wide basis thousands of workers who have been neglected by
craft unions. The committee's immediate objectives in the State are the
textile, steel, heavy machinery, and electrical industries.
Although Governor Harold Hoffman warned early in 1937 that he
would tolerate no sit-down strikes involving the C.I.O., a number of such
strikes, as well as ordinary walk-outs, have been called successfully. The
organization's drive continued virtually unimpeded until December 1937
when it launched an offensive against the open-shop refuge of Jersey
City. Police of that city seized distributors of literature, prevented mass
meetings, and jailed organizers. However, in April 1938 the ban against
the distribution of literature was lifted.
The American Newspaper Guild's successful strike in 1934-35 against
the Newark Ledger (the Nation's first large-scale strike of newspapermen)
not only established the Guild as a labor power but also broke ground for
the subsequent C.I.O. drive to organize white-collar workers. Including
the Guild, C.I.O. affiliates in this field late in 1937 numbered approximately 2,700 members. Among these were office, professional and insurance workers, architects, engineers, chemists and technicians, State and
municipal employees, retail clerks and professional medical workers. The
A. F. of L. has also organized teachers and has retained a portion of the
unionized office workers. An independent white-collar union is the State
chapter of the National Lawyers' Guild.
Because New Jersey remains "The Garden State," the unionization of
agricultural and allied workers constitutes an important labor objective.
The first farm labor organization in the State developed in 1934 from a
strike at Seabrook Farms in Cumberland County. Although the A. F. of L.
subsequently chartered agricultural locals in three other counties, in 1937
the New Jersey membership of 1,500 helped to organize the international
union of United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers,
which immediately affiliated with the C.I.O.
To one other class of workers the C.I.O. opened wide the door to full-
fledged unionism. In line with its drive for industrial unionism, the C.I.O.
offered Negroes equal membership with whites and established locals in
fields where Negro employees predominate. Organizers have been conspicuously successful with junk yard, novelty and felt, and domestic workers. The A. F. of L. responded by increasing the Negro membership of
the International Union of Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers
and by organizing building service workers. The great mass of Negro .
labor, spread over light industry and mercantile establishments, still remains unorganized.
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