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Founding of the United Association
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With both national groups declining, a number
of local union leaders were considering other ways to unite the
nation's pipe trades. The problems were growing, not fading
away - how to treat traveling members, build apprenticeship and
provide mutual strike aid. The goal was clear. The trade
needed the strength which could only come from a single, united
international union.
One of the most influential leaders was
Patrick Quinlan, head of an independent local in Boston.
Quinlan, a prolific letter writer, began corresponding with Richard
A. O'Brien, a leader of the Washington, D.C. local, and
secretary-tresurer of the National Assembly. They agreed on a
new organization which would combine the best features of the
two groups, and persuaded a number of other leaders to support
their views.
As a result, a preliminary meeting was called
in the summer of 1889. It included representatives from the
two warring groups as well as from a number of local independent
unions. Over 100 delegates attended. An executive
committee was given authority to call for a special convention in
Washington that fall to form a new international union covering the
United States and Canada.
The organizing convention did not go
smoothly. Some of the delegates from the International
Convention walked out when the new organization voted against taking
over the debt of their Milwaukee cooperatives. Most other
delegates remained, however, and on October 11, 1889, they adopted a
new constitution and the United Association was born. Quinlan
was elected president and O'Brien was elected
secretary-tresurer. Canada was also represented at the
convention and two Canadian locals joined in 1890. |
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The original name was the United
Association of Journeymen Plumbers, Steam Fitters and Steam Fitters' Helpers of the United States and Canada. After several constitutional
changes over the years, the present name was adopted
at the 1946 convention: The United Association of Journeyman
and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of
the United States and Canada.
The leaders of the new organization were confident that the time
was right, and that locals throughout both countries would support it. The new UA did grow, but only slowly.
The International Association did not die and many locals
remained independent. Still, by 1899, 10 years after the
founding, the UA listed 189 locals, had a sizable
treasury, and was moving forward.
The depression of 1893-1897 hurt. So
did the fact that the new UA was still a federation of locals rather
than an effective national union with securepolicy authority and funding.
As the new union proved itself able to deal with core issues,
however, it began to build its strength. The first issue was
how to handle traveling journeymen. After several efforts
failed, the UA convention revised its constitution in 1896 to give
the secretary-treasurer responsibility for approving transfers of
members from one local to another. Special transfer cards had
to be accepted by the admitting local. This was a major step
forward, despite the fact that it covered only UA locals. |
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The next significant move was to give the UA
access to reliable funding from its locals and to current lists of
their members. Without these resources, the international
was a paper tiger. The key breakthrough was at the 1900
convention, when the stamp system of dues collection was
installed. The UA sold stamps at 2 cents each to the locals,
the stamps to be affixed to the record of each member as their
weekly dues were paid. This gave the UA greater control over
its locals and provided money for international operations.
The process of "nationalization", as it was called, continued at
the 1902 convention, when the delegates approved a system of sick,
death and strike benefits. A full membership referendum gave
authority to the UA executive committee to pay strike benefits only
when a strike was approved. In 1907, the convention gave the
international organization the right to decide trade line
jurisdiction. The UA was growing stronger. |
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Next... Union Consolidation... |
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