PRESIDENT OF THE AFL-CIO

Reunion of Labor.

To many Americans in the 1950s, the term organized labor meant George Meany, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) after his election in 1952. Meany orchestrated the reunification of that union with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1955. As president of the newly unified AFL-CIO, Meany led the campaign to rid the union of its gangster elements.

Early Career.

Organized labor was a part of Meany's life since his childhood. His father had been the president of the Bronx's local chapter of the Plumbers International union. Young Meany regularly spent Sunday afternoons watching the informal union meetings that took place in his home. After he left school, and against his father's wishes, Meany became an apprentice plumber. Before long he also followed his father into union affairs, and in 1922 he won election to a full-time post as...