William Green (labor leader)

William Green (March 3, 1873 – November 21, 1952) was an American trade union leader. Green is best remembered as the President of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952. Green was a strong supporter for labor-management cooperation and was in the frontlines on wage and benefit protections and industrial unionism legislation. As president of the AFL, he continued the development of the federation away from the foundations of "pure and simple unionism" into a more politically-active "social reform unionism."

He was born March 3, 1873 in Coshocton, Ohio, the son of Welsh immigrants. His father was a coal miner.

Green went to work himself in the coal mines in 1889, aged 16. He became involved in the trade union movement as a young miner and gained election as secretary of the Coshocton Progressive Miners Union in 1891. The Coshocton Progressive Miners Union later became a local of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). In 1890, Green became the subdistrict president of the UMWA, and then becoming UMWA Ohio district president in 1906.

In 1910, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he served as both Senate president pro tempore and Democratic floor leader. As Ohio state senator, Green drafted and won passage for a model Workmen’s Compensation Act in 1911. His accomplishments as state senator included Progressive Era legislation, including bills to limit the hours of women wage earners, institute a 1% income tax, elect Ohio's U.S. senators by popular vote and run judicial nonpartisan elections. Green’s experience and accomplishments contributed to his appointment as the UMWA's international statistician in 1911 and then as promotion to secretary-treasurer in 1913. He was named to the AFL's Executive Council in 1914 and became Secretary-Treasurer in 1916. His intensive involvement in labor had him serve as one of five delegates to the Paris Peace Conference in 1918.

In 1924, he became president of the AFL following the death of Samuel Gompers, which he held until his death. In 1933, Green's endeavors persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to appoint him to the Labor Advisory Council of the National Recovery Administration. The following year, Green served on the National Labor Board. Moreover, Harry Truman appointed Green to the National Advisory Committee on Mobilization during the Korean War. He is best remembered for having presided over the split in the AFL which led to the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

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