James Kirby was an American labor

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 leader and president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is one of the largest building trades union in the United States. One of the unions that formed the American Federation of Labor in 1886, it left the AFL-CIO in 2001.-Early years:...

 from 1913 to 1915.

He was a millwright

Millwright

A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...

 and member of Local 199 in Chicago. He was elected a delegate to the Chicago District Council of the Carpenters' union, and president of the district council several times. In 1905 he was elected president of the Structural Building Trades Alliance

Structural Building Trades Alliance

The Structural Building Trades Alliance was an American federation of labor unions in the construction industry. It was founded in 1903 and existed until 1908, when it affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and became the Building Trades Department.The organization's primary goal was...

. He served until 1908, when the Alliance affiliated with the American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

 and changed its name to the Building Trades Department

Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO

The Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO is a constitutionally mandated department of the AFL-CIO. It was founded on February 10, 1908, as a way to overcome the jurisdictional conflicts occurring in the building and construction trade unions...

 (BTD). He was elected president of the BTD and served until 1910.

In 1910, Carpenters president William Huber

William Huber

William Huber was a carpenter and an American labor leader. He was president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America from 1900 to 1912....

appointed him "general organizer" for the international union. In 1912, he ran for president of the union and won. He served as president until his death.