American Association of Engineers
The American Association of Engineers (AAE) was an American professional engineering society, which started around 1914-1915. Unlike other engineering societies at the time (such as the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers), AAE membership was open to engineers of all disciplines.
The AAE emerged in the wake of a division in of a previous organization, the Associated Technical Men (ATM). The ATM was formed in Chicago in 1914 by younger civil engineers, who worked for municipal government, and who believed that the existing engineering societies did not address their concerns. The ATM membership became split on the subject of whether or not to form a labor union. Members who were opposed to forming a union decided to form a new engineering society, and reached out to several senior engineers (including Frederick Haynes Newell) to gain their support. The new society called itself the American Association of Engineers, and held its first meeting in Chicago in September 1915.
In 1919, Newell was elected president of the association. Under his administration, the membership grew significantly, from 2,300 in January 1919 to 20,000 in September 1920. The AAE also pursued reciprocal membership agreements with local and regional engineering societies, signing the first reciprocal agreement in August 1918, with the Cleveland Engineering Society.
The AAE actively lobbying state legislatures to adopt engineering licensing laws, and claimed victories for the adoption of licensing laws in the states of Virginia and New York. The AAE also worked to increase the wages of engineers by proposing salary schedules for engineers employed in the rail industry and working to get these schedules adopted by the forerunner to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (United States). However, the AAE claimed that it was not a labor union, and was opposed to the use of traditional labor union tactics such as strikes[1].
References
- ↑ Layton, Edwin T. (1986). The Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession (2nd ed.). The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-3286-1. Search this book on
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