New York City Central Labor Council Records
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Abstract
The collection consists of records of the New York City Central Labor Council (founded, after a merger with the New York City CIO Council, in 1959) as well as some files, including minutes, of its predecessor organization, the Central Trades and Labor Council of Greater New York (chartered in 1920). For the later period (from 1960) the collection includes General Files and extensive files of individual officers of the Council. Files for the 1980s and 1990s are mainly from the offices of Council Secretary Ted H. Jacobsen and Council President Brian M. McLaughlin. They include reference material, reports, correspondence, flyers and copies of proposed legislation on a wide range of topics of concern to the labor movement: housing, health care, safety issues in the workplace, immigrant rights, political campaigns and matters relating to collective bargaining rights. There are also files on the various ethnic labor committees created by the Council beginning in the early 1970s and files on negotiations, strikes and disputes involving individual unions affiliated to the Council. There are files of organizational work for the annual Labor Day parade, march, and mass, which includes permits, meeting notes, promotional material, and financial materials.
Historical Note
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
This is an unprocessed collection; most sections are in original order, as received. Many boxes contain subject files arranged alphabetically within a given year (1995, A-D, etc.).
Scope and Content Note
The collection includes some records (including minutes) of the Council's predecessor organization, the Central Trades and Labor Council of Greater New York. For the later period (from 1960) the collection includes General Files and extensive files of individual officers of the Council. Files for the 1980s and 1990s are mainly from the offices of Council Secretary Ted H. Jacobsen and Council President Brian M. McLaughlin. They include reference material, reports, correspondence, flyers and copies of proposed legislation on a wide range of topics of concern to the labor movement: housing, health care, safety issues in the workplace, immigrant rights, political campaigns and matters relating to collective bargaining rights. There are also files on the various ethnic labor committees created by the Council beginning in the early 1970s and files on negotiations, strikes and disputes involving individual unions affiliated to the Council. There are files of organizational work for the annual Labor Day parade, march, and mass, which includes permits, meeting notes, promotional material, and financial materials.
Subjects
Organizations
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Places
Conditions Governing Access
Materials 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 Records; WAG 049; Box number; Folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
To cite the archived website in this collection: Identification of item, date; New York City Central Labor Council Records; WAG 049; Wayback URL; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by the New York City Central Labor Council in several installments, 1986. The accession number associated with this gift is 1986.042.
The materials that comprise Boxes 290 and 291 were found in the repository in 2014. The accession number associated with these materials is 2014.120.
The New York City Central Labor Council donated an accretion in February 2020. The accession number associated with this gift is 2020.019.
https://www.nycclc.org/ was initially selected by curators and captured through the use of The California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service in 2007 as part of the Labor Unions and Organizations (U.S.) Web Archive. In 2015, this website was migrated to Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. In 2021, http://www.workingtogether.nyc/ was added. The accession number associated with this website is 2021.089. In July 2021, https://www.climatejobsny.org/ was added. The accession number associated with this website is 2022.008. In August 2023, http://laborvotes.nyc/ was added. The accession number associated with this website is 2023.071.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact [repository name, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596] with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Take Down Policy
Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.
If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.
If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the special.collections@nyu.edu.
Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Some boxes have been refoldered, using the original folder titles.
The materials that comprise Boxes 290 and 291 were found in the repository and added to the collection in 2014. Also in 2014, the archived website was added.
In August 2017, one item was prepared to be moved to offsite art storage in September 2017.
During accessioning in February 2020, materials were housed in new boxes, and loose materials were foldered. Three optical discs were identified, inventoried, and imaged. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
In 2022-2012, additional websites were added to the container list.
