CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF POSTAL EMPLOYES. 1923.
[np: 1923]. Original printed title wrappers, and staples. 23, [1 blank] pp. Fine.
From the Association's web site [now called the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees].
"Hazardous working conditions, discrimination, self determination and the need for job protection were the key elements for the establishment of the National Alliance of Postal Employees in 1913 by 35 black railway mail clerks who met at the foot of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee to form a union for the immediate purpose of preventing the elimination of blacks from the railway mail service.
"At the time of the National Alliance's founding, the practices and policies of the existing craft unions excluded blacks from their membership. This attitude persisted well into the sixties. Since its October 6, 1913 founding, the Alliance, which was the first industrial union in the federal service, has kept its doors open to all eligible persons regardless of race, sex, creed or religion-- a factor which distinguishes NAPFE from the old line craft unions in the postal and federal service. . .
"A great majority of the railway mail clerks were black. The Railway Mail Service was operating with dangerous wooden cars which guaranteed casualty in train wrecks. As a result, competition for the hazardous positions was slight and blacks were more readily hired as railway clerks until the railways conversion from wooden to steel railway cars in 1913.
"With the advent of steel cars, a concerted effort was made to eliminate black railway mail workers. Since the Railway Mail Association excluded blacks from its membership, black workers did not have the benefit of an industrial organization to appeal to for their defense. This was the situation facing black workers when a call went out to black railway mail clerks in August 1913 to convene in Tennessee in October for the purpose of joining forces to combat the discrimination they were encountering.
"Thirteen states were represented at that first meeting on October 2, 1913 at the foot of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee when the National Alliance of Postal Employees was founded. The major concerns of that founding meeting were: to provide a beneficiary department and an insurance department to enable black railway clerks to make suitable provisions for their families; to launch a national journal dedicated to the interests of black railway mail clerks; and to establish means to effectively present their grievances and petitions to the Post Office Department."
OCLC 65115311 [2- Yale Law, US Dept. of Labor] as of December 2024. Item #40590
Price: $750.00