BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : COALITION OF BLACK TRADE UNIONISTS - IS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN TRADE UNION MEMBERS :

            BLACK    SOCIAL   HISTORY                                                                                                          

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

CBTU

Full name	Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Founded	1972
Head union	William Lucy, president
Affiliation	AFL-CIO
Office location	Washington, D.C.
Country	United States
Website	www.cbtu.org

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) is a nonprofit organization of African American trade union members affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

CBTU was started in September 1972 when more than 1,200 black union officials and rank and file members from 37 national unions met in Chicago, Illinois to discuss the role of black trade unionists in the labor movement. At the time, it was the largest single gathering of black unionists in the history of the American labor movement.^{[citation needed]} Five black labor leaders (William Lucy,Nelson Edwards, William Simons, Charles Hayes and Cleveland Robinson) called the new organization the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

They believed AFL-CIO President George Meany had been ignoring the voice of black trade unionists. They also believed that the AFL-CIO might attempt to declare its neutrality in the forthcoming U.S. presidential campaign in which President Richard Nixon was seeking re-election. organization.

Approximately 37 percent of the delegates who attended the first meeting were black women. Five of them served on the first executive committee of the CBTU. The CBTU executive council subsequently organized the National Women's Committee, which now holds conferences and workshops.