The Florida Labor Advocate March 1950 – December 1950 has been added to Chronicling America!
The Florida Labor Advocate was a union newspaper published by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in Tampa, Florida. The weekly paper was the “Official Organ of Tampa Central Trades & Labor Assembly” and claimed to be the oldest official labor paper with the largest paid circulation in southwest Florida. The paper began publishing in summer 1930 and ceased publication on May 30, 1958.
The weekly newspaper covered state and national labor news from a clearly pro-union, pro-labor perspective. According to the Advocate, Tampa had the largest per capita union membership of any city in America. The Advocate published meeting information, event calendars, personal news, and editorials concerning many local unions and associated ladies’ auxiliaries in Tampa, most frequently those for electricians, typographers, sign painters, carpenters, postal workers, and cigar workers. Less frequently, the Advocate also published news from state, national, and international AFL-affiliated unions including the AFL Seafarers International Union and the United Textile Workers.
Besides union practicalities, the Advocate published news and editorials on workers’ rights, workplace safety, Social Security reform, wages, unemployment, health and accident insurance, legislation affecting workers, state and national politics, visits from political candidates and speakers, and the effects of the Cold War on labor, prices, and the economy. It frequently published appeals to vote in local, state, federal, and union elections and published legal notices and tax rolls from Hillsborough County.
The newspaper featured a “For Women Only” column by Polly Edison of the AFL which mixed classic women’s column content on household management, especially concerning food prices and children’s nutrition, with labor and political content emphasizing voting and healthcare reform. In May 1950, the newspaper added syndicated content including celebrity and sports news, recipes, trivia, and film synopses.
In November 1950 the Advocate added a Spanish-language section for cigar workers written by the Comité Consultivo Conjunto, publisher of the tobacco union newspapers El Internacional, Boletin de El Internacional, and El Internacional published in Tampa, Florida.
Spanish-language section of the Florida Labor Advocate, November 10, 1950.
National news from the AFL were also published in the Miami Citizen, the Miami Labor Citizen and the Labor Citizen.
Bibliography:
- Typographical Journal, October 1930, p. 432.
- Manteiga, Roland. “As We Heard It.” La Gaceta [Tampa, Fla.], June 6, 1958, p12. https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028296/02183/zoom/11
