Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union

North American trade union

The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) was a trade union in the United States which existed between 1917 and 1999. At the time of its dissolution and merger, the International represented 80,000 workers and was affiliated with the AFL–CIO.

The union was first originally established as the International Association of Oil Field, Gas Well, and Refinery Workers of America in 1918 after a major workers' strike in the Texas oil fields in late 1917. It affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) when they granted the occurrence of local unions of oil workers at a convention held in El Paso, Texas, and officially set up the international union for oil workers in 1918. Beginning with only 25 members, the newly established union underwent much success in the first few years of establishment. In just a few years they were already organizing and negotiating well thought out contacts that would affect thousands of oil workers in only three states California, Texas, and Oklahoma. Its membership grew to 30,000 as the oil industry grew rapidly in the United States in 1921, which was considered their first high peak but the Great Depression reduced its ranks to just 350 in the beginning of 1933. With the several local unions that had been established, only one local – LB local 128 – managed to not miss a single meeting. The union began to increase in size and activity again once the NRA was passed in 1933. They expanded into Canada so that they could improve wages and working conditions. After 1948, due to wages and working conditions being outrageous, Canadian workers reaped the benefits of these changes from the union and soon after started to receive wages close behind those in the US. The impressive movement even far surpassed wages of other industries in Canada as well. Due to the impact that this action had on the workers of these companies, several of the division leaders from District 50 met with the CIO executive board in June 1942. They wanted to break away from District 20 and unite back into CIO so they wanted to discuss the chance of creating an international union for their industry alone. The UGCCWU had broken away from the United Mine Workers of America in September 1942, and won a charter from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Over the next several years, members slowly but steadily increased but finally hit their peak in 1950 when members quickly grew. Finally, when UGCCWA merged with OWIU almost 100,000 workers represented those in the gas, coke, and chemical industry. In 1956, after only one year of the merge, OCAW represented approximately 210,000 workers. During this time, it represented more workers than any other union in the oil and chemical field. The OCAW had one important objective and main focus of their union, the improvement of living conditions of those who work in oil, chemical and related industries. OCAW went about achieving this by collective bargaining and participating in community activities, political action, and educational work. OCAW lost approximately 50 percent of its membership between 1980 and 1995, primarily because oil companies closed nearly half the refineries in the US. OCAW sought a merger with larger unions in an attempt to survive. A planned merger with the United Mine Workers of America was rejected on February 24, 1988, just two hours before the unions planned to announce the merger agreement. OCAW finally merged with the 250,000 member United Paperworkers International Union on January 4, 1999, to form the Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE). OCAW gained a final victory as an independent union seven months after the merger, when the federal government acknowledged for the first time that nuclear weapons production during the Cold War likely caused the illness and even deaths of thousands of atomic mining, refining, and production workers. The government agreed to seek legislation to compensate workers and their survivors for their medical care and lost wages. The admission of complicity and legislative relief had long been sought by OCAW. PACE merged with the United Steelworkers in 2005 to form the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (although the merged union is still more commonly known as the United Steelworkers). OCAW members are scattered throughout several "bargaining conferences", the industry divisions internal to the United Steelworkers. These include the Chemical Industry, Energy and Utilities, Manufacturing, Mining, and Pharmacies and Pharmaceuticals conferences. Robert Wages, president of OCAW from 1991 to 1999, is currently retired. Kip Phillips a former Vice President is now a Vice President at large with the USW.