The '''Industrial Union Department''' (IUD) was a division of the AFL-CIO, bringing together industrial unions.

==History== In 1955, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), forming the AFL-CIO. The CIO had been founded to promote industrial unionism, and the new federation created a department to bring together industrial unions. Its initial leadership was similar to that of the CIO, and most of its affiliated membership came from former CIO unions, although 35 AFL unions affiliated, compared to 31 CIO unions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Loftus |first1=Joseph |title=Industrial unit of labor set up |work=New York Times |date=December 8, 1955}}</ref>

By 1985, the department had 57 affiliates, representing about 5.5 million members. At the time, it spent about one-third of its funds on organizing, providing co-ordinators to direct the organizing activities of member unions, with a focus on the south. It also arranged consolidated bargaining across unions with members in a single company, and campaigned on health and safety, which resulted in the Occupational Safety and Health Act. It also campaigned for national industrial policy, and produced analyses of international trade and pensions policy.<ref name="samuel">{{cite book |last1=Samuel |first1=Howard |title=Statement of the Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO |date=1985 |publisher=AFL-CIO |location=Washington DC}}</ref><ref name="weinstock">{{cite journal |last1=Weinstock |first1=Deborah |last2=Failey |first2=Tara |title=THE LABOR MOVEMENT’S ROLE IN GAINING FEDERAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS TO PROTECT AMERICA’S WORKERS |journal=New Solutions |date=2014 |volume=24 |issue=3}}</ref>

The department was disbanded in 1999.<ref name="weinstock" />

==Leadership== ===Presidents=== :1955: Walter Reuther<ref name="samuel" /> :1968: I. W. Abel<ref name="samuel" /> :1977: Jacob Clayman<ref name="samuel" /> :1979: Howard D. Samuel<ref name="samuel" /> :1992: Peter DiCicco

===Secretary-Treasurers=== :1955: James B. Carey<ref name="samuel" /> :1965: ''Post vacant''<ref name="samuel" /> :1973: Jacob Clayman<ref name="samuel" /> :1979: Elmer Chatak<ref name="samuel" /> :Joseph Uehlein

==References== {{Reflist}}

==See also== *Industrial Union Department v. American Petroleum Institute

{{AFL-CIO}} {{Authority control}}

Category:American organizations established in 1955 Category:1999 disestablishments in the United States Category:AFL-CIO Category:Industrial unions Category:Trade unions established in 1955 Category:Trade unions disestablished in 1999