New York City Central Labor Council Oral History Collection
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Abstract
The New York City Central Labor Council Oral History Collection consists of interviews and meetings with labor union leaders, recorded on audiocassette. The interviews contain oral histories of union organizers, some of who were active at the time the organization was charted by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in the 1920s. Other recordings document NYC-CLC meetings held between 1999-2006.
Biographical / Historical
The New York City Central Labor Council had its origins in the Central Trades and Labor Council of Greater New York City, chartered in 1920 by the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The Council represented AFL-affiliated local unions in the New York City area. After the split between the AFL and the newly-formed Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the mid-1930s, CIO unions in the city were represented by a separate CIO Council. The Central Trades and Labor Council merged with the New York City CIO on February 19, 1959 to form the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. This move followed the 1955 national merger of the AFL and the CIO, and the 1958 merger of New York state-level AFL and CIO bodies.
The New York City Central Labor Council is an organization comprised of nearly 400 local union affiliates. It only acts on local activities and concerns. It issues no statements on AFL-CIO policy and does not participate in the affairs of its local affiliates or their parent organizations. Its purpose, according to its constitution, is to further the rights of workers to organize in unions and bargain collectively; to advocate legislation which is beneficial to workers and oppose that which is not; to correct abuses and to insure the workers their just rights. It also has the broader purposes of helping all workers to improve their working conditions and raise their standard of living; to preserve workers' rights to act together for mutual aid and advancement; to further the cause of trade unions; and to strengthen civil rights. It acts as the central body of the City's labor movement, providing assistance and education through its various committees and councils.
The regular activities of the New York City Central Labor Council are directed by its executive officers, Executive Board, and Delegates' Council meetings. The planning and execution of programs and conferences is the province of a number of standing and special committees. These committees are composed of members from affiliated local unions, and each has its own officers and advisory staff. And is responsible for conducting specific programs and conferences. An important special committee is the Labor Day Parade Committee.
Harry Van Arsdale, Business Manager of International Brotherhood of Electricians Local 3, was elected the president of the Central Trades and Labor Council of the AFL in 1957. With the merger in 1959 he became the president of the Central Labor Council. During his presidency (1957-1986), the council established many committees and programs such as the Rehabilitation Council (1963), Hispanic Labor Committee (1970), and the Black Trade Unionists Leadership Committee (1972). After Harry Van Arsdale Jr.'s death in 1986, his son, Thomas Van Arsdale was elected to the post of president. During the Van Arsdales' tenure the Council campaigned to organize taxicab drivers, helped to found a worker education program (the Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. Center for Labor Studies at Empire State College, SUNY), mobilized the labor movement to confront the City's fiscal crisis of the late 1970s, and generally worked to foster a spirit of solidarity throughout the many disparate sectors of the New York City labor movement
Thomas Van Arsdale was succeeded as president by Brian M. McLaughlin, also of IBEW Local 3, in 1995; and Gary LaBarbera of the Teamsters union was elected to replace McLaughlin in June 2007, with Ed Ott serving in the newly created position of Executive Director.
The Council's web site is http://www.nycclc.org/
Arrangement
The recordings from 1987 are organized by the last name of the interviewee; recordings made between 1999-2006 are organized by date.
Transcripts for multi-part interviews with born-digital materials are listed only under part one of the interview.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of 50 audiocassettes organized into two parts. One part is a collection of recorded interviews with labor union leaders, an oral history project that was contracted by the New York City Central Labor Council in 1987. The second part is a mix of oral histories and recorded NYC CLC meetings that occured between 1999 and 2005. Discussions cover labor issues in New York City dating from the origins of the organization in the 1920s to 2006.
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Materails are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by the New York City Central Labor Council, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date; New York City Central Labor Council Oral History Collection; OH 007; Box number; Folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by New York City Central Labor Council in several installments in circa 1986. The accession number associated with this gift is 1986.037.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The digitization of this collection was completed in 2017. To date, the recorded content has not been fully described.
In 2025, individual listings for original recording, transcript/interview summary, and/or access copy were added to each interview subject in the inventory. Entries for unidentified audio recordings were also added to the inventory.
