Harold J. Gibbons

Who was Harold J. Gibbons?

Harold Joseph Patrick Gibbons was an American trade unionist and labor leader.

Born the youngest of 23 children in Archibald Patch, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, he nonetheless matriculated at the University of Chicago. He became a St. Louis union leader of Warehousemen, when St. Louis was America's fifth largest entrepot because of its situation on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and a major rail hub. The Warehousemen and Department Store Worker merged into United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, and that local union merged into Teamsters Local 688 in St. Louis. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was the third of three international trade union vice presidencies he held. He was also a vice president of the teachers' union and the AF of L. He was a delegate to Democratic National Convention from Missouri in 1952. He was vice-president of the Alliance for Labor Action to promote social concerns and to organize the unorganized. He was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP.

The St. Louis union was considered to be one of the most progressive in the United States. It initiated health care centers for members, vacation centers at Lake of the Ozarks, and militated for good pension plans for its members. Under Gibbons the Union researched and submitted plans for the desegregation of schools which was promoted by the editorial page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gibbons and Local 688 were also noted for their support of public housing, and were instrumental in the construction of the large Council Plaza housing development, which has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places since 2007.