From Governor Charles Martin to James Bain

This letter from Oregon Governor Charles H. Martin to James R. Bain refers to a contentious dispute between competing labor unions and business owners that affected lumber-mill workers and businesses in Portland between 1937 and 1939. Martin’s correspondence was prompted by a letter that he had received from N.A. Leach of Kerr Gifford & Co., Portland, a majority of which is quoted herein . Martin was investigating the possibility of calling a special grand jury to investigate union-related violence in Multnomah County. Bain was the Multnomah County district attorney, and he later became a circuit court judge.

In the 1930s, when union membership expanded radically nationwide, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) competed to represent workers. The CIO, originally called the Committee for Industrial Organization, broke ranks with the AFL in 1935 after that organization decided to focus on representing skilled craftsmen rather than the unskilled workers in heavy industry and mass production.

The rift was bitter, and the AFL responded with hostility. One of many battles between the unions was fought in Portland after employees at six large sawmills switched from the AFL to the CIO. Many employers—as well as Gov. Martin, who was known for generally opposing labor unions—originally sided with the AFL. AFL members boycotted and picketed the mills, causing worker lockouts and shutdowns. In the course of the struggle, police arrested people from both unions for violence and property destruction. The conflict between the unions waned in the late 1939 when members accepted a tentative agreement to coexist peacefully while entering into negotiations for a more lasting peace. The two unions united in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO, with a membership of about 16 million workers.

Further Reading:
Murrell, Gary. “Hunting Reds in Oregon, 1936-1939.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 100, 1999: 374-401.

Cherny, Robert W. “The Making of a Labor Radical: Harry Bridges, 1901-1934.” Pacific Historical Review 64, 1995: 363-388.

Written by Kathy Tucker, © Oregon Historical Society, 2002.