The Cleveland Convention Center labor dispute of 1963 was a dispute between the United Freedom Movement (UFM) and four local unions belonging to the AFL–CIO over the unions' institutional racism against African Americans. The dispute occurred during the construction of the Cleveland Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The dispute erupted on June 25, 1963, when the UFM (a coalition of African American civic groups and their supporters) threatened to begin picketing the convention center construction site. After a series of preliminary stop-gap agreements, a final agreement was reached on July 20 in which the unions agreed to admit blacks as members. This agreement collapsed within four days, and a new, more extensive agreement was reached on August 4 after intervention by the United States Department of Labor. Difficulties ensued implementing this agreement, but the threat of picketing ended on September 15. The August 4 agreement was hailed by civil rights groups and the government as a breakthrough in race relations in the American labor movement.
Approving a convention center in 1960 After four years of effort, the Cleveland City Council approved on June 6, 1960, construction of a $10 million ($ in dollars), convention center beneath the northern sections of the Cleveland Mall. The project also included a reception pavilion, which would be erected against the west side of the existing Public Auditorium.; ; On November 9, 1960, Cleveland voters approved the bond levy to build this convention center.
Groundbreaking for the convention center occurred on July 17, 1961, and site preparation began on July 19. The foundation neared completion on May 25, and the underground convention center's floor and walls were completed at the end of July 1962. Structural work on the exhibit hall, roof, and reception pavilion began in August 1962.
Structural steel for the roof began arriving in the spring of 1963. Work was progressing so well, in May 1963 construction officials estimated that the convention center—whose total cost was now estimated at $14 million ($ in dollars)—would be completed in August 1964. The roof of the convention center began to be erected in early summer.
Conflict erupts On June 24, 1963, the United Freedom Movement (UFM), a local civil rights organization, announced it would begin picketing the convention center construction site within five to seven days. The issue was racism: Some labor unions, which controlled all the work at the site through what was effectively a closed shop, refused to permit African Americans as members. The UFM and NAACP pointed out that there were just 27 African Americans at work on the site out of a total workforce of 300. The Cleveland Community Relations Board, supported by Cleveland Mayor Ralph S. Locher, Chamber of Commerce president Curtis Lee Smith, and Cleveland Federation of Labor president Patrick J. O'Malley, met with UFM representatives on Friday, June 28, in attempt to head off Monday's picketing. At the meeting, the UFM demanded that four unions which had no African American members—Electricians' Local 38, Plumbers Local 55, Sheet Metal Workers Local 65, and Structural Iron Workers Local 17—hire minority workers immediately. The four unions claimed they were not discriminating, but simply could not find workers qualified to pass the licensure tests required by union rules. The talks failed, and it was unclear if the UFM would picket prior to the next planned meeting, on July 11.
On July 2, plumbing contractor The Smith & Oby Company agreed to hire to black plumbers from the union list. Plumbers Local 55 agreed to meet on July 19 to screen applicants. Cleveland Urban League executive director Ernest C. Cooper called the decision a "major breakthrough", a "decision [that] would set a national precedent". The UFM and unions continued to meet daily until July 14. While the Iron Workers pledged to put African Americans on the job, the plumbers and electrical workers only pledged to screen applicants for union membership. Mayor Locher admitted that this was not progress. As the UFM called for "thousands" picketers to show up at the site on July 15, Thomas E. McDonald, president of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL–CIO (BCTD), asked the organization to back off on its demand for immediate change.
UFM agreed to postpone its planned July 15 picketing, but refused to any additional meetings unless outside help was brought in. Mayor Locher subsequently called for help from AFL–CIO national president George Meany and President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity chairman Hobart Taylor, Jr. The UFM also demanded that the plumbers local admit and place on the job at least two journeymen plumbers, and that the electrical workers admit and place on the job at least three journeyman electricians. As the UFM and local unions waited Meany and Taylor's response, the plumbers and sheet metal workers agreed to admit African Americans as journeymen. The UFM praised these decisions, and agreed to a July 19 meeting. But that meeting would be the last if no final agreement was reached, it said. It would seek to stop construction completely through mass picketing, and Mayor Locher worried that critical bond issues already scheduled for the November ballot would fail if that happened. Meany sent Donald S. Slaiman, director of the Civil Rights Division of the AFL–CIO, to sit on the July 19 meeting.
At its membership meeting on July 19, Plumbers Local 55 voted to halt processing of African American applications for examination, and to refuse to allow African Americans whose application had been accepted to be examined.
July 20 agreement by unions to admit blacks No final agreement was reached on July 19, but the electrical workers union agreed to admit two African American apprentices. The iron workers and sheet metal workers agreed to take similar action. The talks were productive enough that the parties agreed to meet on July 20. At a six-hour session, attended by Slaiman and Cicero Scott of the U.S. Department of Labor, the plumbers union agreed to process 15 or 16 journeymen applications for craftsman membership. Plumbing contractor Smith & Oby agreed to hire at least two black journeymen as well.
On Monday, July 22, Smith & Oby hired two African Americans, William R. Baker and Theodius Hilliard, Jr. But Plumbers Local 55 refused to allow the two to join the union despite the agreement reached on Saturday. The union claimed it had agreed to only "further process" 15 applications, not to grant membership to anyone. On July 23, 55 plumbers, pipefitters, and asbestos workers walked out on strike to protest the hiring of the two non-union workers. An early morning meeting with Locher proved fruitless. At midday, Edward F. Domas, general organizer for the United Association (UA; the national plumbers union), flew to Cleveland. He met with local union leaders and Locher in the afternoon, at which time the local's leaders agreed to admit two African Americans as members. Domas emerged from the meeting blaming inadequate notice from the contractor for the labor dispute.
After the July 23 concessions, Frank Evans, labor consultant to the UFM, said the body would seek to end all federal aid to all projects which discriminated.
Collapse of the July 20 agreement On July 24, the 55 striking plumbers went back to work after Domas threatened to import UA members from other areas to replace them if they did not. But the July 20 agreement began to fall apart. IBEW Local 38 reneged on its agreement to put two black apprentices on the job. Sheet Metal Workers Local 65 had admitted to membership the lone African American to apply, but the contractor refused to hire him for fear of violating union seniority rules. At an emergency meeting called on July 25 by Locher, IBEW local 38 backed down and agreed to process two African American applications for apprenticeships on July 26 (effectively affirming the agreement reached July 20). The local also agreed to employ at least two black apprentices at job sites in the city thereafter.
On July 26, the agreement further eroded after Plumbers Local 55 refused to admit any African Americans as journeymen. Local union officials said that while it would process applications for journeyman, applicants were required by union rules to have at least five years of experience as an apprentice. Furthermore, the application processing committee only met quarterly. If accepted by the processing committee, applicants would need to pass a manual and written examination, which was administered only when there were enough applicants (about 15 or so) to justify administering the exams. But the UFM countered that past racist practices by the local meant that, even if a black person were admitted to apprentice or journeyman status, it would be years until they were admitted to full master craftsman status—even though they might be fully qualified today.
Domas, city and UFM officials, and Local 55 officers met for three hours on July 27 to discuss the situation. The meeting ended with no agreement. Afterward, Local 55 officers declared a "holiday", announcing that no members of the union needed to report to work until the "holiday" was declared over. The walkout affected plumbers across the region, and stopped work on a wide range of large, important projects. The Cleveland Plumbing Contractors Association said its members would fire anyone who didn't report to work. Domas supported that decision, and said the international union was bringing plumbers in from other areas to keep work going. He also hinted that the international union might fine the local's leaders, or impose a trusteeship on the local. The "holiday" lasted until the evening of July 29, when Local 55 officers ordered their members back to work. During the walkout, at least 90 percent of all plumbers on commercial jobs in the greater Cleveland area were on strike. The back-to-work order was only partially successful. While plumbers returned to most jobs, none did so at the convention center construction site, where 30 percent of the plumbing work remained incomplete. Locher, Domas, and representatives from Smith & Oby met in a 45-minute emergency session that evening.
On July 31, Smith & Oby discovered that no union plumbers were working at any of its jobs throughout the area. Leaders of Local 55 met with Smith & Oby officials on the morning of July 31 for two-and-a-half hours. After the meeting ended, the company agreed to fire Baker and Hilliard. The company and Local 55 then jointly asked Baker and Hilliard to submit applications to be apprentices. The UFM denounced these actions and threatened to begin picketing. Locher called Smith & Oby's decision "wrong", while Domas declared it was the contractor's responsibility to hire the two men. The dispute now threatened the entire project. Other contractors at the convention center construction site said layoffs might occur if the plumbers did not return to work. Domas also appeared to withdraw his threat of trusteeship.