AFL-CIO Community Service Activities records

Until World War II labor's concern in the field of health and welfare was fragmented among various committees dealing with subjects such as housing, social security, education, unemployment, and legislation. The war, with its insatiable demand for relief funds, provided the stimulus for organized labor to develop the organizational means for concentrating its health and welfare efforts more efficiently. In 1938 the AFL formed the Labor League for Human Rights as its relief arm to "help mobilize organized labor in its fight against tyranny and barbarism." AFL vice-president Matthew Woll was associated with the League from its inception and served as its highest official, first under the title of chairman and later as president. Just before Pearl Harbor the CIO, at the urging of its president, Phillip Murray, authorized the formation of a similar organ, the National Committee for American and Allied War Relief.

The two labor groups also sought to enhance their effectiveness by coordinating their efforts with those of other organizations. During the summer of 1942 they reached a working agreement with the Community Chests and Councils, Inc. The effects of the agreement were far-reaching: labor representatives became involved not only in fund-raising but also in policy decisions. The Labor League and the War Relief Committee were among the groups whose pressure in 1943 resulted in the establishment of the National War Rind, a body designed to improve the coordination of fund-raising efforts for war relief and domestic services.

Although overseas aid continued during the early postwar period (particularly through the Labor League's Free Trade Union Committee which sought to restore labor organizations abroad), labor's emphasis shifted toward involvement with social welfare agencies in domestic affairs as the war neared its end. Labor representation on boards of social agencies increased markedly. The CIO acknowledged this change in 1945 by renaming its War Relief Committee the Community Services Committee. Irving Abrahamson, head of the New Jersey CIO, continued as chairman and Leo Perlis, who had become national director of the War Relief Committee in 1944 remained in that capacity. The Community Services Committee established the policy that the welfare of union members would better be served by cooperation with existing agencies than by the creation of separate organizations. Consequently, one of its chief projects was the development of a union counseling program which trained union members to act as referral agents to existing community agencies. Strike relief programs developed along similar lines.

As early as 1945 the AFL's Labor League for Human Rights opened a bureau in New York City to offer information and referral services to union members concerned with social and health problems. The League served a function comparable to that of the CIO’s Community Services Committee at the national level although it did not match the extensiveness of the CIO's local programs. In 1953 the AFL executive council called for the establishment of local committees "to increase the effectiveness of union efforts in the area of community affairs." This was followed in 1954 by the formation of a national Community Relations Committee.

The wartime cooperation with the Community Chests and Councils, Inc. led to the establishment in January, 1947, of a labor participation department within the CCC. This created a new figure, the labor staff representative who, as a liaison, spoke for the interests of organized labor and promoted increased labor participation in fund drives. The concept was applied at both the national and local level to other organizations as well, notably the American Red Cross.

These cooperative efforts of the community service repre¬sentatives of the AFL and the CIO facilitated the unification that came with the merger of the parent organizations in December, 1955. AFL-CIO president George Meany appointed a thirteen-man Community Services Committee chaired by Joseph Beirne, president of the Communications Workers of America, to direct the affairs of the new department known as Community Service Activities (CSA). Meany also appointed Leo Perlis to serve as national director with responsibility for day-to-day operations.

With its increased manpower and organization, CSA was able to expand its fund-raising and counseling activities as well as its cooperation with other organizations. Additionally, it developed a variety of new projects focusing on areas as diverse as retirement problems, rehabilitation, assistance for Hungarian and Cuban refugees, and polio vaccinations. Labor's changing societal role in the 196O's is reflected in the increased emphasis on leisure, recreation, and earlier retirement.

Prior to 1955 the CIO used "Community Services Committee" in a generic sense covering all aspects of its health, welfare, and recreation program. Probably for that reason there was a tendency for several years after the merger of the AFL and CIO to let "Community Services Committee” refer to the overall program as well as to the committee which functioned as its board of directors. But for the most part "Community Service Activities" and "Department of Community Services" have been employed alternatively as the generic term. For purposes of clarity and consistency this description will refer to the AFL-CIO's overall program as "Community Service Activities" (CSA). "Community Services Committee" should be understood to apply to the committee, i.e. the smaller governing body (except when referring to the CIO organ).