Interational Fishermen and Allied Workers of America records, circa 1938-1953

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Summary

Creators:
International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America
Abstract:
Records of the International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America, a trade union on the Pacific Coast of the United States. The collection documents the activities of the union from its founding in 1939 through the early 1950s.
Extent:
Number of containers: 19 cartons, 2 cardfile boxes, 1 oversize box (linear feet: 26)
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America records, BANC MSS 75/6 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The records of the International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America union document the activities and relationships of the union from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. The collection is organized into twelve series: correspondence; minutes; agreements; grievances; disputes; legal matters; membership and elections; sardine and other fish studies; publications, notices, reports, and press releases; financial; and Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of American Union (FTA). The correspondence series consists of correspondence with the union's various locals; correspondence to and from union officials and offices; correspondence to and from other unions; correspondence to and from Congress of Industrial Organization officers and offices; and other correspondence with assorted boards, committees and offices. Minutes documents meetings of a range of boards, committees and councils though most are from Local 34 in San Francisco. Included in the Legal Matters series are materials on the IFAWA's anti-trust case (1946-1952). Membership records include lists of members and an index card file of members. The collection also includes (in the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of America series) materials relating to the battles between the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the American Federation of Labor over cannery workers in the mid-1940s. There are also items relating to disputes between the FTA and IFAWA in 1945. Financial records consist mainly of fish market account files and assessment files (primarily for Local 34).

Biographical / historical:

The International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America (IFAWA) was a trade union on the Pacific Coast of the United States active from 1939 until the late 1950s. IFAWA grew out of an earlier amalgamated fishermen's union, the United Fishermen's Union (UFU), which was established in 1937 as an affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. In May of 1939, the UFU and three other CIO-affiliated fishermen's unions merged to form the International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America. IFAWA was also CIO-affiliated and its emergence was spurred by the rise of industrial fishing (with a focus on canning) and by a national movement of industrial unionism during the 1930s. IFAWA was one of many unions representing different kinds of workers on the West Coast's waterfront, a center of radical unionism during the 1930s and 1940s. IFAWA brought to fruition the idea of a Pacific coast union that would represent all workers from catch to cannery in the fisheries industries in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. For the first time, fisheries workers joined together across the craft boundaries that had dominated West Coast fishermen's organizing since the late-nineteenth century. At its peak, IFAWA represented approximately 30,000 workers. IFAWA's early years coincided with World War II, which brought challenges in the form of changing demographics, the drafting of many of the union's members into the military, and increasing suspicion of the union's Communist Party ties. In 1950, IFAWA became one of eleven unions expelled from the Congress of Industrial Organizations, in part because of its connections to the Communist Party. During the same year, IFAWA merged with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Acquisition information:
The International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America records were gifted to the Bancroft Library by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in 1973.
Processing information:

Processed by Lara Michels in January 2104.

Accruals:

No additions are expected.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America records, BANC MSS 75/6 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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