James B. Carey
| James B. Carey | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 12, 1911 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | September 11, 1973 (aged 62) Silver Spring, Maryland |
| Occupation | Labor union leader |
James Barron Carey (August 12, 1911 – September 11, 1973) was an American labor union leader; secretary-treasurer of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) (1938–55); vice-president of AFL–CIO (from 1955); served as president of the United Electrical Workers (UE) (1936–41) but broke with it because of its alleged Communist control. He was the founder and president (1950–65) of the rival International Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers. President Truman appointed Carey to the President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946. Carey was labor representative to the United Nations Association (1965–72). Carey helped influence the CIO’s pullout from the WFTU and the formation of the ICFTU dedicated to promoting free trade and democratic unionism worldwide.
James Barron Carey, of Irish descent, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 12, 1911, one of the eleven children of John C. and Margaret (Loughery) Carey. His father was a paymaster at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. Carey attended St. Theresa's Parochial School. The family moved to Glassboro, New Jersey where he graduated from Glassboro High School. At the age of fourteen he was making trellises in a local factory after school hours and during summers; while still in school he worked part-time as an apprentice projectionist in a Glassboro motion picture theater. The head projectionist, who was an officer in the film operators' union, reportedly gave Carey the theory and practice of the labor movement.
Carey got a job in 1929 as an electrical worker in the radio laboratory of the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company (later the Philco Corporation), and began taking evening courses in electrical engineering at Drexel Institute.
Carey and six other workers at the Philco plant started the "Phil-Rod Fishing Club," primarily for the purpose of organizing a union. Discontinuing his studies at Drexel Institute, during 1931-32 Carey he attended the University of Pennsylvania Wharton (Evening) School of Finance and Commerce, where he took courses in industrial management, business forecasting, and finance. Under the impetus of the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933, the radio factory set up a "Company Congress" to meet NRA collective bargaining requirements.
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