Branch 139 of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers (AFHW) represented employees of the Royersford Needle Works, manufacturers of needles, sinkers, and other parts for knitting machinery. Royersford, a town northwest of Philadelphia, is in an antiunion area that the AFHW did not organize success-fully until the 1930's. Branch 139 was chartered in 1937.
The AFHW responded to the industry's economic uncertainty by adopting policies intended to make unionization contribute to industry stabilization. In 1929, the union agreed to arbitration of all disputes that could not be settled locally. Union policy also emphasized job security over dramatic wage and benefit increases. Demands and strikes that might threaten production were discouraged in order to safeguard jobs.
The activities of Branch 139 were routine with few problems requiring arbitration or continuing concern, until 1955. During contract negotiations that year, the Needle Works representative reported that the company had last shown a profit in 1951. The union requested a federal mediation office audit, which, when completed, verified the company's report. Although the Needle Works began converting from hourly to piece rates in 1958, the AFHW persuaded the local against taking a strike vote. In 1959, Carl Lieberknecht, Inc., a Reading, Pennsylvania, subsidiary of Howe Precision Products (itself a division of Howe Sound Products, a mining company) bought the Needle Works and began to transfer its operations to Royersford. The Reading plant's needle department had been organized by the Steelworkers Federation (SWF), an independent union which had won them higher wages and such benefits as a pension plan. The Royersford workers' lower wages threatened their jobs.
The SWF challenged the AFHW's right to represent Royersford workers, and a vigorous campaign ensued. The AFHW emphasized SWF internal mismanagement and lack of accountability, and portrayed SWF promises as pie-in-the-sky which would put the company out of business. The AFHW won an election ordered by the National Labor Relations Board in a runoff. It then negotiated an improved contract.
However, business did not improve for the Royersford Needle Works. In 1961, Branch 139 estimated that 75 percent of its members were laid off. Contract extensions continued until the Needle Works closed permanently in April 1963. Branch 139 was then dissolved.
See also: Records of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Wisconsin Historical Society (Mss 62); and Rogin, Lawrence, “Making History in Hosiery: The Story of the AFHW,” c1938, 31 pp.
