Inventory of the International Association of Machinists, Lodge 284 Records, 1917-1966, bulk 1940-1949
Finding aid prepared by Labor Archives and Research Center staff, revised by Tanya Hollis in 2013.
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
1999, Revised 2014
Descriptive Summary
Title: International Association of Machinists Lodge 284 records
Date (inclusive): 1917-1966,
Date (bulk): bulk 1940-1949
Collection number: larc.ms.0066
Accession number: 1991/103
Creator:
International Association of Machinists. Lodge 284 (Oakland, Calif.)
Extent: 3.0 cubic ft. (2 cartons, 1 box)
Repository:
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English.
Abstract: Records of Oakland-based International Association of Machinists, Lodge 284, including business agent, apprenticeship training,
contracts and agreements files. The earliest material in the collection is the 1917 minutes ledger. The most recent material
is 1966 correspondence in the Agreements Series. Most of the records in the collection are from the 1940s. Of the nine minutes
ledgers, two date from 1917-1920 and seven date from 1941-1949. Documents in the Agreements Series range from the 1940s to
the 1960s. The Business Agent files are primarily from 1948 although there are items dating from 1942 through 1950.
Location: Collection is available onsite.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing
to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Labor Archives & Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], International Association of Machinists, Lodge 284 Records, larc.ms.0066, Labor Archives and Research
Center,
San Francisco State University.
Separated Material
A file of California State Federation of Labor weekly newsletters was removed from the collection to be placed with LARC periodical
holdings.
Related Material
Related collections in the Labor Archives include the records of the International Association of Machinists, Lodge 68 and
the Automotive Machinist Union, Lodge 1305.
Acquisition Information
These records were donated by International Association of Machinists, Lodge 284 in 1991.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Amy Holloway in the fall of 1998.
History
The International Association of Machinists (IAM) Lodge 284 was originally founded around the turn of the twentieth century.
The early Lodge 284 has been characterized as militant due to its history of acting without sanction from the Grand Lodge.
In his dissertation
The San Francisco Machinists from Depression to Cold War, 1930-1950(1988), Richard Prime Boyden states that the Oakland Lodge was founded by members of San Francisco Lodge 68 (Boyden, pp.186-187).
Joint by-laws for the two Lodges are included in the 1908 journal in the collection for Lodge 68. Throughout the years, Lodge
284 and Lodge 68 worked together; and in 1936, when Lodge 284 faced suspension from the International Association of Machinists,
Lodge 68 led supporters.
The International Association of Machinists (IAM) was founded in 1888. San Francisco Lodge 68 was organized in 1885, even
before the IAM, and became the oldest local. In 1895, the International Association of Machinists affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor (AFL), which was founded in 1881.
Boyden notes that in the early decades of the century, both the San Francisco and Oakland lodges were known as 'boomer lodges',
"stronger and more militant", because a number of their members were 'eastern men' (Boyden, p. 71). The International Association
of Machinists did not officially integrate until 1948 when its executive council ordered the qualification that members be
white be stricken from the union's initiation ritual. Although the American Federation of Labor required that no statement
of a color line be explicit in an affiliate's constitution, many unions, including the International Association of Machinists,
excluded people of color unofficially through their initiation rituals. In the 1917 and 1919 minutes, Lodge 284's support
of Chinese exclusion from employment and industry is noted. Women are mentioned in the journals, first as members of the Ladies
Auxilary in 1917 and later as employees/union members receiving strike benefits. In the International Association of Machinists,
women members were formally accepted in 1911. Mark Perlman touches on the issues of race and gender in his book
Democracy in the International Association of Machinists (1962). He is also the author of
The Machinists: A New Study in American Trade Unionism(1961).
The predominant strikes or conflicts in the early minutes (1917-1919 and 1919-1920) refer to the Marchant Company and the
Hall and Scott Company. The 1917-1919 minutes ledger mentions a resolution to strike in early 1919 with or without sanction
(p. 482). Much of the 1919-1920 ledger documents recommendations for $6.40 for an 8 hour day, a 44 hour week and retroactive
pay based on the Macy Award, which had fixed a wage level for shipyards (p.5, 45). Robert Edward Lee Knight mentions the Macy
wage schedule in his book
Industrial Relations in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1900-1918 (Knight, pp.360-61).
In 1936, there was a walkout of machinists on both sides of the Bay. IAM President Wharton had already taken on a number of
issues with the Oakland and San Francisco locals. He demanded that they join with other locals in forming a district organization
and they refused. Also, 284 refused to accept a new production worker classification. Wharton had given conditional sanction
to the strike, but after negotiating with a leading employer in the strike, Atlas Diesel, Wharton withdrew sanction. His action
emboldened strikers. The national office ordered the strikers back to work and encouraged police to harass the pickets. The
strikers sent Lodge 68's Ed Dillon to negotiate with Wharton. Dillon "hinted that western machinists might secede from the
International Association of Machinists rather than lose this strike" (Boyden, p. 179). Wharton ordered the Oakland local
suspended. "The entire regional labor movement rallied to the machinists' defense," providing 284 with funds and other support
(Boyden, p.179).
At the National Convention in Milwaukee, "the Oakland strike commanded the most attention" (Boyden, p.181). Ed Dillon made
the main speech in Oakland's defense, however when asked by Wharton if he and the appellants would abide by the convention's
decision, Dillon's " refusal to commit himself in advance to support an unfavorable decision caused a large majority of votes
to go against the Oakland strikers" (Boyden, p. 186). The remaining strikers returned to work and the next year the local
received a new charter from the CIO to become Local 1304 of the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee.
The Oakland and San Francisco machinists' lodges, one CIO, the other AFL, continued to operate jointly...despite the...enmity
between the rival federations. [IAM and AFL] officials would for the next ten years relentlessly pursue twin goals of destroying
Local 1304 and purging the militant leadership of Lodge 68.
(Boyden, p. 187)
When Lodge 284 was suspended, Local 1304 SWOC-CIO organized in many shops which had previously been under the jurisdiction
of Lodge 284. As noted, Lodge 68 began working with Local 1304, although it met with the regrouped Lodge 284 also. Lodge 284
and Local 1304 rivaled each other for members.
Throughout the history of the International Association of Machinists and the American Federation Labor, there has been an
effort to retain the status of the skilled worker. The Congress of Industrial Organizations, with its focus on industry not
craft, has highlighted that issue of status as a limit in the AFL's ability to represent all employees. In IAM Lodge 284,
workers came to gain employment at three general levels: journeyman, specialists and production workers.
There is much information about apprenticeship training in Dave Wilson's Business Agent files of the late 1940s. There were
numerous joint committees of the East Bay and with San Francisco which focused on the apprentice training issue. The proposal
for the formation of the junior college system in Alameda-Contra Costa Counties came about in 1948.
Over the years, Lodge 284 operated offices or met at 453 8th Street, Oakland; Moose Hall at 12th and Clay; the Labor Temple;
Danish Hall at 164 11th Street; Cooks Union Hall at 1608 WebsterStreet; and 1117 Webster Street.
Lodge 284 has been affiliated with: International Association of Machinists, District Lodge No. 115 and its locals; Metal
Trades Council; Iron Trades Council; California Conference of Machinists; California State Federation of Labor; and the Central
Labor Council of Alameda County.
The jurisdiction of Lodge 284 includes machinists employed as welders, diemakers, diecasters, tool crib attendants, oilers
and screw machinists. Its geographic jurisdiction includes Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville and San Leandro. Employers
include Aircraft Engineering and Maintenance Co., Albert Wright Screw Products, Caterpillar Tractor Co., Food Machinery Corporation,
Hall Scott Motor Car Co., and Leslie and Morton Salt Cos., and Marchant Calculating Machine Co.
Arrangement
The IAM Lodge 284 collection is organized into eleven series: Minutes, Committees, Grievances, Print Material, Business Agent
Administrative Files, District 115, Grand Lodge, Affiliations, Agreements, War Labor Board, Artifacts.
Scope and Content
The earliest material in the collection is the 1917 minutes ledger. The most recent material is 1966 correspondence in the
Agreements Series. Most of the records in the collection are from the 1940s. Of the nine minutes ledgers, two date from 1917-1920
and seven date from 1941- 1949. Documents in the Agreements Series range from the 1940s to the 1960s. The Business Agent files
are primarily from 1948 although there are items dating from 1942 through 1950.
There is one committee file, the Labor Day Parade and Picnic Committee of 1947. Other committees mentioned throughout the
minutes ledgers include Strike Committees, Trial Committees (which address grievances with strike breakers, business agents
or other members), and Social Committees.
Researchers interested in labor's stance on ethnic groups and women will find information about this in Lodge 284's minutes
ledgers. In the 1917-1919 ledger there is mention of a motion regarding the lodge's stand against Chinese immigration (p.77,
91, 479). The 1919-1920 journal also mentions the exclusion of the Chinese (p.166). The October and November, 1942 minutes
of the 1941-1942 ledger mention the "woman question" in trainee programs. The "colored question" is mentioned in the September
21, 1943 minutes of the 1943 ledger. The April-November 1945 journal addresses women with mention of female Caterpillar employees
(May 8), and the physical condition of women workers (July 24). The December 4, 1945 minutes mention that a statement by the
West Coast NAACP on the labor situation is received but the letter is tabled (May 21, 1946). Addendums taped into the bound
minutes journals were removed for conservation purposes and photocopies were put in their stead. The originals are in folders
following each journal.
The Business Agent and the Agreements Series represent the bulk of the collection, with 22 and 44 files respectively. Aside
from the Minutes Series with its 9 ledgers and 7 accompanying folders, the other eight series contain from 1-5 files each.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of
this collection in the library's online public access catalog:
Machinists--California--Oakland--History.
Machinists--California--San Francisco--History.
Machinists--Labor unions--California--Oakland--History.
Machinists--Labor unions--California--San Francisco--History.
International Association of Machinists. Lodge 284 (Oakland, Calif.)
International Association of Machinists. Lodge 68 (San Francisco, Calif.)
Series 1:
Minutes
1917-1949
Extent:
9 volumes and 7 files
Scope and Contents
The 9 ledgers of minutes cover 1917 to 1920 and 1941 to 1949. The ledgers include membership minutes, Executive Board minutes
and Joint Executive Committee minutes (with members of Lodges 284 and 68). The minutes provide information about members,
officers, committees, finances, strikes (including information about strike pay for female employees), social events (including
dances), and activities of other unions. Historical events of the time are reflected in the minutes, most notably World Wars
I and II and anti-communist investigations of the 1940s.
Box 1, Folder 1
Minutes
February 16 1917-January 2 1919
Box 1, Folder 2
Minutes
1919 January 9-1920 April 20
Box 1, Folder 3
Minutes
1941 April 15-1942 December 22
Box 1, Folder 4
Minutes
1943 January 16-1943 December 21;
1944 January 4-March 15
Box 1, Folder 5
Minutes
1945 April 3-1945 November 27
Box 1, Folder 6
Minutes
1945 December 4-1946 June 8
Box 1, Folder 7
Minutes
1946 June 25-1946 December 11
Box 1, Folder 8
Minutes
1947 December 2-1948 June 15
Box 1, Folder 9
Minutes
1948 June 22-1949 February 22
Series 2:
Labor Day Parade and Picnic Committee
1947
Extent:
1.0 folder
Scope and Contents
The Labor Day Parade and Picnic Committee file includes a letter of invitation to IAM members from the Committee Chairmen,
progress reports and notes from meetings, and a flyer listing event activities.
Box 1, Folder 10
Labor Day Parade and Picnic Committee
1947
Series 3:
Grievances
Extent:
1.0 folder
Scope and Contents
The Grievances file contains "Statement of Grievance" forms for three individuals, memoranda and a petition regarding grievances
at Friden Calculating Machine Company. The file also includes citations of appeals, with individual requests to be assigned
other duties and local committee decisions.
Series 4:
Print Material
1943
Extent:
2.0 folders
Scope and Contents
Print Material includes memoranda and notices regarding shop meetings, the issue of continued affiliation with the AFL, and
contract representation in Bethlehem Shipyard, Alameda. Also included are special issues of a lodge newsletter (undated, c.
1943) about production during war with lists of members who had gone into military service and company updates.
Series 5:
World War II Print Material
Extent:
4.0 folders
Scope and Contents
World War II Print Material includes two 1943 issues of In fact, a weekly newsletter, which states that it "exposes native
fascism, corrupt press and labor baiters"; an Office of War Information clip sheet entitled "American Labor: Producing for
Attack"; War Labor Board Orders and Directions; and a brochure on the War Labor Disputes Act.
Box 1, Folder 15
Office of War Information
1943
Series 6:
Business Agent Administrative Files
1947-1948
Extent:
22.0 folders
Scope and Contents
The Business Agent records consist of the files of two business agents, Miles Irwin and Dave Wilson. Irwin's files include
business agent reports, CMTA negotiations, correspondence, and Bay Area committee information. The focus of Wilson's files
is apprentice training, including information on apprentices, standards, schools in Oakland and Berkeley, the Alameda-Contra
Costa Counties junior college proposal, committees and state agencies.
CMTA Joint Negotiations (folder 1)
CMTA Joint Negotiations (folder 2)
Box 2, Folder 3
Irwin, Miles N.
1949-1950
IAM Bay Area Coordinating Committee
Alameda County Committee for NEPH (National Employment for the Physically Handicapped)
The Alameda County Junior College Proposal
Box 2, Folder 6
Wilson, David M.
1946-1948
Box 2, Folder 7
Wilson, David M.
1942-1948
Box 2, Folder 9
Wilson, David M.
1946-1948
Box 2, Folder 10
Wilson, David M.
1945-1948
Box 2, Folder 11
Wilson, David M.
1947-1948
Joint Apprenticeship Graduation Committee of the East Bay, Correspondence
Joint Apprenticeship Graduation Committee of the East Bay, Minutes
Joint East Bay-West Bay Machinists' Apprenticeship Committees
Machinist Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, Membership
Machinist Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, Memoranda
Box 2, Folder 16
Wilson, David M.
1947-1948
Machinist Joint Apprenticeship Committee of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, Minutes
San Francisco Machinists Joint Apprenticeship Committee
Box 2, Folder 18
Wilson, David M.
1947-1948
State of California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Apprenticeship Standards
Box 2, Folder 19
Wilson, David M.
1944-1948
State of California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Apprenticeship Training (California Apprenticeship Council)
Box 2, Folder 20
Wilson, David M.
1947-1948
Box 2, Folder 21
Wilson, David M.
1947-1948
Automatic Screw Machine Operation
Box 2, Folder 24
Wilson, David M.
1945-1948
Industrial Accident Commission
Shop Stewards, Correspondence
Western Conference of Machinists
Series 7:
IAM District Lodge 115
1943-1948
Extent:
2 files
Scope and Contents
This series includes minutes and publications for District Lodge 115. The minutes chart union communication and negotiations,
listing the names of Lodge 284 representatives in attendance. Publications include organizing brochures and shop meeting notices.
Series 8:
IAM Grand Lodge
1943-1948
Extent:
1 folder
Scope and Contents
The Grand Lodge series includes memoranda from International President H. W. Brown and other officers to lodges and their
representatives. Subjects include a petition for the Anti-Poll Tax Bill, withdrawal from the AFL, and a 1948 stipulation regarding
wages. Also included are a few circulars signed by General Secretary-Treasurer Eric Peterson including one regarding the 22nd
convention. There is also a memorandum from Grand Lodge Representative Charles B. Truax regarding communist rumors about Local
68. Publications include a brochure on aircraft workers and recruitment brochures. Non-IAM documents include a copy of the
Boilermakers' 1948 contract Agreement.
Box 2, Folder 29
IAM Grand Lodge
1943-1948
Series 9:
Other Unions
1943
Extent:
5 files
Scope and Content Note
The series includes a file on Local 824 of Richmond with a union newsletter and notes for a proposal of a joint 824 and 284
newsletter. A Local 1304 notice warns workers that another union, possibly 284, is attempting to recruit workers although
1304 had approached them first. Other files are on Office Workers Union Local 20744, Pile Drivers Union Local 34, and Washington
Machinists Council.
Box 2, Folder 32
Office Workers Union, Local 20744
Box 2, Folder 33
Pile Drivers Union, Local 34
1943
Box 2, Folder 34
Washington Machinists Council
1948
Series 10:
Agreements
1947-1961
Extent:
44 files
Scope and Content Note
This series contains proposed contract agreements, agreements with the California Metal Trades Association and agreements
with companies in the Bay Area. Files include correspondence and arbitration documents as well as contract information. Dates
listed reflect the earliest and latest documents on file.
Box 2, Folder 37
California Metal Trades Association
1948
Box 2, Folder 38
California Metal Trades Association
1947
Contract Application and Interpretation
Box 2, Folder 39
California Metal Trades Association
1946-1952
Erection and Construction Machinists Rate
Box 2, Folder 40
California Metal Trades Association
1948
Box 2, Folder 41
California Metal Trades Association
1949
Box 2, Folder 43
Aircraft Engineering and Maintenance Co.
1958-1960
Box 2, Folder 44
Airpower Overhaul Inc.
1965-1966
Box 2, Folder 45
Albert Wright Screw Products
1952-1965
Box 2, Folder 46
Army Port Contractors
1942
Box 2, Folder 47
Associated Metals Co. of California
1965
Box 2, Folder 48
Associated Tool Co.
1953-1961
Box 2, Folder 49
Bacon American Corporation
1957-1963
Box 2, Folder 50
Bay Area Scale Service
1957-1961
Box 2, Folder 51
California Grinding Works
1963-1965
Box 2, Folder 52
California State Brewers Institute
1953-1955
Box 2, Folder 53
Caterpillar Tractor Co.
1937-1951
Box 2, Folder 54
Chris Craft Corporation
1965
Box 2, Folder 55
Dix Chemical Service
1955
Box 2, Folder 57
Dymo Industries, Inc.
1962-1964
Box 2, Folder 58
Fluor Maintenance Inc.
1958-1959
Box 2, Folder 59
Food Machinery Corporation
1953-1965
Box 2, Folder 60
Hall Scott Inc.
1956-1957
Box 2, Folder 61
Hall Scott Motor Car Co.
1946
Chronological record of negotiations, proposals
Box 2, Folder 62
Hall Scott Motor Car Co.
1947
Wage plan, contract negotiation
Box 2, Folder 63
Hobart Sales and Service
1959-1960
Box 2, Folder 65
Hydra Shear, Inc.
1961-1963
Box 2, Folder 66
Independent Iron Works Inc.
1956-1959
Box 3, Folder 1
Kraft Foods Company
1954-1956
Box 3, Folder 2
Leslie Salt Co., Contract, (folder 1)
1942-1947
Box 3, Folder 3
Leslie Salt Co., Contract, (folder 2)
1942-1947
Box 3, Folder 4
Leslie Salt Co., Correspondence
1943-1947
Box 3, Folder 5
Leslie Salt Co. and Morton Salt Co., Arbitrations
1943- 1947
Box 3, Folder 6
Lyco Machine Works
1953-1955
Box 3, Folder 8
Monadnock Mills
1963-1965
Box 3, Folder 9
National Motor Bearing Co.
1937-1940
Box 3, Folder 10
Production Engineering Co.
1942-1943
Box 3, Folder 11
Production Engineering Co.
1943-1944
Box 3, Folder 12
Western Electro Mechanical Co.
1945
Series 11:
Artifacts
undated
Extent:
1 file
Scope and Content Note
The Artifacts are three 35.5" x 10" thin, board signs with "International Association of Machinists, Oakland Lodge No. 284"
printed on them. They appear to be cut from the top of union posters or picket signs.
Box 3, Folder 13
International Association of Machinists, Oakland
undated
