Thomas Inglis Kidd (December 12, 1860 – November 7, 1941) was a Scottish-born American labor union leader.
Thomas I. Kidd | |
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| Born | Thomas Inglis Kidd December 12, 1860 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | November 7, 1941 (aged 80) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
| Occupation | Labor leader |
| Political party | Populist |
Biography
editBorn in Edinburgh, Kidd began working as a laborer when he was ten years old, before becoming a woodworker. In 1885, he emigrated to the United States, settling in Nebraska, before moving to Denver.[1] There, he founded a local union of woodworkers, which in 1890 joined the new Machine Wood Workers' International Union of America. Kidd was elected as secretary of the new union, and also became editor of its journal, the Machine Wood Worker. In 1892, he moved to Chicago, where he was a leading supporter of the Populist Party.[2]
In 1896, Kidd took his union into a merger, which formed the Amalgamated Woodworkers' International Union of America. He became secretary of the new union, and also editor of its journal, The International Wood Worker. From 1899, he was a vice president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). In 1904, he stood down from his union, to become a full-time organizer for the AFL.[2] However, in 1907, he left the union movement entirely, to become a sales representative for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, and was promoted to become a branch manager in 1913.[3]
References
edit- ^ Crane, Virginia Glenn (1998). The Oshkosh Woodworkers' Strike of 1898. Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Commission. ISBN 9780966919509.
- ^ a b The Samuel Gompers Papers. University of Illinois Press. 1986. ISBN 9780252033896.
- ^ "Thomas Inglis Kidd". The New York Times. November 9, 1941. p. 52.
- ^ "Thomas I. Kidd". Wisconsin State Journal. Milwaukee. UP. November 8, 1941. p. 2. Retrieved May 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.