Oil Workers' International Union (OWIU) Convention Photographs

The union was first originally established as the International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well, and Refinery Workers of America in 1918 after a major workers' strike in the Texas oil fields in late 1917, which led to numerous mortalities.] It affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) when they granted the occurrence of local unions of oil workers at a convention held in El Paso, TX and officially set up the international union for oil workers in 1918.[3] Beginning with only 25 members, the newly established union underwent much success in the first few years of establishment. In just a few years they were already organizing and negotiating well thought out contacts that would affect thousands of oil workers in only three states California, Texas, and Oklahoma. Its membership grew to 30,000 as the oil industry grew rapidly in the United States in 1921, which was considered their first high peak but the Great Depression reduced its ranks to just 350 in the beginning of 1933. With the several local unions that had been established, only one local – LB local 128- managed to not miss a single meeting. The union began to increase in size and activity again once the NRA was passed in 1933.] The NRA, under the New Deal, guaranteed the right of workers to organize. At the end of 1933, and even through the depression, several thousands of oil workers joined and rejoined the union and dispersed into several dozen locals. At this point being a part of the union became really important for the oil industry. In 1937, the union changed its name to the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU). The union was one of the first that affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization in early 1938, and AFL President William Green revoked the union's AFL charter. CIO helped the union grow significantly between the years of 1940-1946. Memberships grew due to large strategic groups that were brought into the union, but soon after growth began to slowly decrease after 1946. Due to the expanding in memberships and in the union itself, the OWIU extended its membership into Canada in 1948. They expanded into Canada so that they could improve wages and working conditions. After 1948, due to wages and working conditions being outrageous, Canadian workers reaped the benefits of these changes from the union and soon after started to receive wages close behind those in the US. The impressive movement even far surpassed wages of other industries in Canada as well. -- Wikipedia - 2021.04.23