Green, William

(born March 3, 1873, Coshocton, Ohio, U.S.—died Nov. 21, 1952, Coshocton) U.S. labour leader, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). He was a coal miner from age 16. He worked his way up through the union hierarchy and was elected president of the AFL in 1924, a post he kept until his death. The formation in 1935 of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), headed by John L. Lewis, led to bitter public disputes between the two men, ending in the expulsion of the CIO from the AFL in 1936. See also AFL-CIO; labour union.

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