John L. Lewis

John L. Lewis was an American labor leader who led the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960 and helped found the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Philip Murray: Philip Murray was a labor leader who succeeded Lewis as president of the United Mine Workers and led the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Murray was Lewis’s deputy in the mineworkers’ union and became CIO president after Lewis resigned.
United Mine Workers of America: The United Mine Workers of America is a labor union representing coal miners and other workers. Lewis led this union for four decades and used it as the base of his influence.
Congress of Industrial Organizations: The Congress of Industrial Organizations was a federation of unions formed to organize workers in mass-production industries. Lewis helped establish the CIO in 1935 and served as its first president.
Battle of Blair Mountain: The Battle of Blair Mountain was a 1921 armed conflict between coal miners and state and federal forces in West Virginia. The conflict illustrates the violent resistance confronting miners’ unionization during Lewis’s rise.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 to 1945. Lewis initially supported Roosevelt’s labor reforms, then led a major strike against his wartime policies.
Industrial Workers of the World: The Industrial Workers of the World is a labor union founded in 1905 that sought to organize workers across industries. Its industrial-union approach resembles Lewis’s organizing strategy, though their organizations and politics differed.
Flint sit-down strike: The Flint sit-down strike was a 1936–1937 General Motors workers’ occupation that won union recognition. CIO organizing methods Lewis championed helped make this landmark victory possible.
Little Steel strike: The Little Steel strike of 1937 was a CIO campaign against several steel companies that ended in defeat. Lewis’s drive to organize mass-production workers faced a stark setback in this campaign.
William Green: William Green was an American labor leader who headed the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952. Green opposed Lewis’s effort to organize industrial workers through the CIO.
Collective bargaining: Collective bargaining is negotiation between employers and workers’ representatives over employment conditions. Lewis’s organizing campaigns aimed to secure bargaining power for miners as a group.

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