Congress of Industrial Organizations

American

noun

a federation of affiliated industrial labor unions, founded 1935 within the American Federation of Labor but independent of it 1938–55. C.I.O., CIO

Congress of Industrial Organizations British

noun

CIO. (in the US) a federation of industrial unions formed in 1935. It united with the AFL in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Congress of Industrial Organizations

Union leaders formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations, organizing mass-production industries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025

Women flocked to the industrial unions of the upstart Congress of Industrial Organizations amid the economic despair and labor militancy of the 1930s.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2021

That continued when it joined the rival Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955 under George Meaney.

From Reuters ● Aug. 24, 2021

In the first contested AFL-CIO presidential election since the organization was formed in 1955 from the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, Sweeney defeated Donahue in October 1995.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2021

While the A. F. of L. dragged its feet, the dissidents withdrew and formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

From The Black Experience in America by Coombs, Norman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023