The Union Labor Publishing Company was incorporated as a non-profit non-stock corporation on February 14, 1941. At the first meeting of the corporation, held on February 27, the members elected W. D. Hancock, Frank King, Adolph Larsen, Harry Lenhert, George Matson, Aaron Mentch, Jack Schmidt, and Harold Thompson to the Board of Directors. W. D. Hancock, a representative of the Teamsters Union, was the company's first president.
The company was organized for the purpose of publishing Racine Labor, a weekly newspaper which endeavored to bring the views of labor to the people of Racine. The paper served as a public relations agent for Racine's local unions and had a circulation of between 7,000 and 9,000 throughout the period covered by the records. Most of its revenue was derived from advertising. In addition to its weekly editions, the company published special Labor Day and year-end editions. It was also a member of the Union Cooperative Publishing Company of Kenosha which published The Kenosha Labor. Its office was located at 419 Sixth Street in Racine.
Originally the corporation was controlled jointly by the Racine Trades and Labor Council (AFL) and the United Automobile Workers Council #8 (CIO) until 1951 when Council #8 was dissolved and replaced by the Racine County Industrial Union Council. After 1959 the corporation was controlled by representatives of all local unions subscribing to the paper with proportional representation based on the number of members in the unions. Loren Norman was editor of the paper throughout the period covered by the records. Harold Thompson was the company's secretary from 1941 to 1963 and Frank King served as treasurer from 1941 to 1961. Norbert Pell became president of the corporation in 1946 and served in that capacity until 1949 when Gilbert Niesen replaced him. Niesen was president until 1959 when Dean Jensen succeeded him.
