Machinist locals existed in Kansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, and Hamilton, Ontario.
Its most ambitious work, however, was undertaken with the leadership of Frank and Tor Cedervall, who were to become the chief organizer of the MMWIU and Cleveland branch secretary, respectively.
The Cedervalls tempered the IWW's long-ranging revolutionary vision with a focus on membership retention, addressing "bread and butter" issues like wages, and attempting to win recognition of union shops.
The Act contained explicit anti-communist provisions (later found to be unconstitutional) and banned many of the IWW's key tactics, such as secondary strikes.
Frank Cedervall, a proponent of signing the pledge for tactical reasons, then advocated that the MMWIU should disaffiliate from the IWW, as the Lumber Workers Industrial Union had as a result of the E-P split in 1924.
Despite legal as well as direct action tactics (such as picketing equipment sales auctions and a three-month strike in 1978), the campaign dragged on until 1980, when the National Labor Relations Board forced management to negotiate with the union.