Chattanooga Building Trades Council Records now open for research
The Southern Labor Archives, part of GSU Library’s Special Collections and Archives department, announces the opening of the Chattanooga Building Trades Council records.
The records, 1901-1968, of the Chattanooga Building Trades Council are composed primarily of correspondence, limited financial records, and work agreements. The bulk of the collection is made up of correspondence between the council and selected constituent locals as well as national level organizations, including the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the War Labor Board.
Originally created to settle jurisdictional disputes between rival craft unions, the Chattanooga Building Trades Council lost much of its authority with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act and creation of the National Labor Relations Board in 1947. The Chattanooga council followed the national pattern of transitioning into a new role, negotiating with local general contractors over wage scales while serving as the administrative nexus between the national labor relations board and the individual craft unions. Following the 1955 merger of the American Federation of Labor with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Chattanooga Building Trades Council became a subsidiary of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department. The Chattanooga unit served to help place unionized workers in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s many projects as well as building the Tullahoma Air Force base.
For more information about the Southern Labor Archives or other holdings in the Special Collections and Archives department, please contact us at 404.413.2880 or archives@gsu.edu.