UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Collections

During the mid-twentieth century, the American Labor Movement reached a pinnacle of power and influence within society. The extent of labor's reach was often seen in its concerted efforts to secure better pay, better working conditions and reliable pensions for its members. This digital repository enables scholars to study broad trends in U.S. labor and industrial relations by providing access to original materials from a variety of authors, organizations and government agencies, which together provide a multi-disciplinary perspective on the life and times of the labor movement between 1945 and 1980. The collection includes original documents, pamphlets, company publications, union …

Institution: UC Berkeley, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Collections

The California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, was founded in 1901 as the California State Federation of Labor. It was the most important successor to several earlier labor organizations, such as the Federated Trades Council of San Francisco, and the Knights of Labor in Los Angeles. The state federation played an early role in coordinating labor union activities throughout the state. The digital collection provides access to 100 years of proceedings of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, selected documents related to the Congress of Industrial Organizations and its merger with the Federation, and legislative voting records. The collection also includes California AFL-CIO …

Institution: UC Berkeley, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Collections

The Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) was founded in 1944 when University of California President Gordon Sproul and California Governor Earl Warren together planned the inception of the Institutes of Industrial Relations to be founded at Berkeley and Los Angeles. Governor Warren asked President Sproul to enlarge the University's educational base in labor and industrial relations, and so facilitate, "open and honest labor-management relationships." The publications of IRLE capture a cross-section of viewpoints and perspectives about work and working life during the second half of the twentieth century, revealing policy and political objectives, the everyday experience of …

Institution: UC Berkeley, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Collections