Green, William (1873–1952)

US labour leader. He was president of the American Federation of Labor (1924–52), and helped shape the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) and the National Labor Relations Act (1935). An opponent of industrial unionism, he forced out the unions that then formed the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO); he would struggle with the CIO to the end of his life. He was the epitome of the respectable, responsible labour leader who chose to restrain the more radical approach to management and labour relations.

Green was born in Coshocton, Ohio. A coal miner from age 16, he rose in the union ranks and served in the Ohio senate (1911–15). He was secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America (1913–24). In 1949 he attended a conference in London, England, that formed the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions to promote non-Communist labour unions in Europe.