Floyd Emery "Red" Smith (August 30, 1912 – February 27, 1989) was an American labor union leader. Born in

Quenemo, Kansas Quenemo is a city in Osage County, Kansas, United States, along the Marais des Cygnes River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 288. History Quenemo was laid out about 1870. Quenemo was the name of a Sac and Fox Indian c ...

, Smith began working as a machinist at the Everstick Anchor Company in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

when he was 17 years old. He was laid off during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and found work as a bricklayer, joining the

International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. In 1942, he moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and became president of his local union. For 18 months, he served as

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

's Deputy Labor Commissioner.NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1974 In 1945, Smith moved to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, where he joined the

International Association of Machinists The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing over 600,000 workers as of 2024 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Origi ...

(IAM). He held full-time posts in his local union, and was also active in the Democratic Party. He began working for the international union in 1952, and then in 1961 he was elected as the union's general vice president, based in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. In 1969, he was elected as president of the IAM. Smith also served as a vice-president of the

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

, and on government committees including the United States Pay Board. He retired in 1977, and died in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Floyd E. 1912 births 1989 deaths American trade union leaders International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers people People from Osage County, Kansas Trade unionists from Kansas Vice presidents of the AFL-CIO