The union dated its origins to August 26, 1935, when the United Auto Workers (UAW) was established.
As it was associated with the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), it was suspended by the American Federation of Labor the following year, and it was expelled in May 1938, but a minority, led by Homer Martin, and representing locals outside the Detroit area, was re-admitted in June 1939.
The UAW which had been aligned with the CIO also affiliated, and this led the former AFL union to change its name, becoming the AIW the following year.
[4] However, it lost members throughout the following decade, as industry moved overseas or to areas in the American South where the union was weaker.
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