November 9 - Remembering Philip Murray

On this day in Labor History the year was 1952. 

That was the day that the labor movement lost Philip Murray. 

Philip was born in Scotland in 1886 to an Irish Catholic family. 

His father was a coal miner and a union leader. 

Philip followed his father into the mines at just the age of ten years old.

The Father and son made the trip to the Pennsylvania coal fields together, when Philp was sixteen. 

They saved enough money, and then sent for the rest of their family. 

One day Philip got into an altercation with one of his bosses. 

Not only was he fired, his family was kicked out of their company home.

From that point on Philip was dedicated to the union cause as the only hope for working people. 

He rose through the ranks of the United Mine Workers, becoming Vice President by the time he was thirty-three. 

He worked closely with legendary United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis. 

During the 1930s there became a nation-wide drive to organize industrial workers. 

Philip was appointed to lead the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, a key sector for the industrial effort. 

The steelworker campaign met with historic success.

They reached a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, the giant of the industry. 

Philip went on to become the first President of the United Steelworkers of America, as well as President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. 

Under his leadership industrial labor became a powerful force. 

But that force was checked by the passage of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. 

The anti-communist hysteria of the Red Scare also took its toll on the CIO, forcing Philip to expel some of the most radical unions from the organization.