The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America was established in 1936, with the first Canadian local in Toronto created the following year. The union, long considered on the left-wing of Canadian labour unions, was dismissed from the Canadian Congress of Labour in 1949 for suspected Communist ties and it was not until 1973 that the union was re-admitted to the Canadian Labour Congress. The UE had forty-seven locals in Canada (1993) including locals in Toronto, Guelph, Peterborough and Montreal. In that year decreasing membership lead to an affiliation with the Canadian Auto Workers.