Days after some of these photos were taken, workers at the plant -- still on strike -- held a vote on whether to switch union representation. UE was forced out after local officers refused to sign federal affidavits vowing they weren't Communists, a requirement of the then-new Taft-Hartley Act.

Labor historians have written about the national impacts of World War II wildcat strikes and the push against the no-strike pledge (you can find a PDF of the great Martin Glaberman's book on the topic here: libcom.org/article/wart...)

Local workers -- plumbers, bus drivers and factory workers, among many others -- carried out wildcat strikes throughout the war. I wrote a brief piece on local 1943 coal strikes here:
redpgh.com?p=59

Further walkouts rattled the company after union leaders were fired, reportedly with the support of United Steelworkers officials (national unions maintained a no-strike pledge during World War II).

(Source: Communist Collection of A.E. Forbes, Pitt special collections)

Among the gifts:

Stores shut down across 13 major cities, including Pittsburgh, which is absolutely a union town!

Is the South Fork mentioned here the one near Johnstown? Just curious

Back when I was working in news in Altoona, I avoided this dispute by always writing "west-central Pennsylvania" so no one could yell at me

One of these days I need to research a more detailed history of Italian anarchism in Pittsburgh. Errico Malatesta supposedly caused a stir here when he refused to wear Italian colors at a banquet.

@mgouldhawke.bsky.social, have you come across any Malatesta writings that reference time spent here?