Finding aid for the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80 Records

History of the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80

The Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80 is an AFL-CIO trade union of plasterers in Cleveland. There have been plasterers unions in Cleveland since the 1860s and continuously since the 1890s. Local 80 was issued a charter in 1890 as a member of the International, was dropped in 1898, and issued a new charter in 1899. The national union was founded in 1864, later became an international and in 1914 took into membership the cement finishers who had been members of the Brotherhood of Cement Workers.

Local 80 was located at 737 Prospect Avenue in 1916, moved to 2182 East 9th Street in 1917, and built their own hall in 1925 at 1651 East 24th Street, which is their present address. The Plasterers Building Corporation was formed in 1948 to take over ownership and administration of the plasterers building, which subsequently was sold to the Roofers union in 1978.

The union had worked closely with the Plasterers' Employers Guild, the Plastering Contractors' Association of Cleveland, and the Cuyahoga Plastering Contractors' Association on apprenticeship programs, hiring, working procedures, wages, and grievances, and has signed contracts with individual contractors through these associations.

Membership in the union had been and continued to be predominately Italian through the 1980s. Though the use of drywall has reduced membership since the high mark in the 1950s, Local 80 continues to be an active labor union in Cleveland.

Scope and Content

The Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80 Records, 1920-1977, consist of constitutions, minutes of regular and executive meetings, agreements with the contractors' associations, correspondence, financial reports and records, arbitration and court cases, and membership records.

This collection pertains mainly to the operation and administration of Local 80 from 1923-1969 with most of the correspondence, financial reports, and legal cases from the 1960s.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

All photographs have been removed to PG 341 Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80 Photographs.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4055 Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80 Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada, Local 80 in 1981.

Processing Information

Processed by Dan Ashyk in 1987

Detailed Description of The Collection