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Delegates to the 22nd International Convention held in San Francisco, California, in 1946.
1945-1950 Containment and ExpansionThe Second World War ended in August 1945. The Great Depression was over, and despite the devastation and ruin in Europe, Asia and across the Pacific, the world was generally hopeful. The IBEW, like many other North American unions, was far Stronger at the end of’ the war years then it was at the beginning.From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, the IBEW membership almost doubled (from 198,591 to 361,921); and according to International President Ed J. Brown, IBEW members’ performed 95 percent of all the electrical work used and installed in the prosecution of the war effort.” Organizing campaigns were continuing to go well immediately following the war. But antiunion attacks, quietly begun during the war, were beginning to strengthen as the IBEW met at its 22nd International Convention held in San Francisco in 1946—its first convention in five years.
Speaking at the Convention, President Brown said, “Far more disturbing and more dangerous [than government control of U.S. industry] from the long-range point of view is the highly-financed and persistent effort on the part of reactionary forces to shackle labor by permanent restrictive legislation.” Brown was clearly right. Soon after the war, the U.S. government gave up much of the price and production controls it held in most formerly unregulated industries. But within a year of the 22nd Convention, Congress passed (over a presidential veto) the most regressive piece of antiunion legislation the United States had seen since the turn of the century-the ‘Taft-Hartley Act. Before President Brown could begin to rally the membership around a fight against antiunion forces, he faced a difficult battle at home. It seems former-International President Daniel W. Tracy, who resigned from the presidency in 1940 to become assistant secretary of labor, wished to return to IBEW office. In one of the closest presidential elections in IBEW history, the San Francisco Convention elected Brother Tracy. Page 1 of 3 |
1944 D-Day Normandy invasion begins June 6. The G.I. Bill of Rights passes Congress as well as the Railway Labor Act which offered protections to minorities in labor unions. 1945 Russia allies with the U.S. in war against Japan following a meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta Conference. President Roosevelt dies and Harry S. Truman is sworn into office. The atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima leading to Japan's surrender Aug. 15. 1946 In U.S., strikes for increased wages occurred in most employment sectors just as wartime wage and salary controls were about to be lifted by President Truman. Some 400,000 United Mine Workers of America members walk out on strike and railway workers strike and fault commerce. The government takes over the mines. Miners nonetheless win health and welfare benefits. Also, the Employment Act of 1946 becomes law. Employees' Benefit Agreement is signed by NECA and IBEW. |
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