ABSTRACT
When the International Union of Operating Engineers gathered for its twenty-sixth convention in Bal Harbour, Florida, on April 1, 1960, it was riding high and was two-thirds of the way through the greatest period of membership growth and economic power in its then sixty-four year history. The union’s membership had climbed from less than 60,000 in 1940 to more than 302,000 in 1960, and its net worth had increased from a little over $300,000 to more than $19 million. Although there was no simple measure of its bargaining power, that also had increased apace, as had the wages, fringe benefits, and job security of its membership.
