Guide to the ILGWU. New York Cloak Joint Board Records,
1926-1973

The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was founded in New York City in 1900 by mostly Socialist immigrant workers who sought to unite the various crafts in the growing women's garment industry. The union soon reflected changes in the sector and rapidly organized thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled women, mostly Jewish and Italian young immigrants. Exemplifying the “new unionism,” the ILGWU led two of the most widespread and best-known industrial strikes of the early Twentieth Century: the shirtwaist makers’ strike of 1909 in New York City and the cloak makers’ strike of 1910 in Chicago. The union also tried to adapt to the fragmented and unstable nature of the industry. It adopted the “protocol of peace,” a system of industrial relations that attempted to ensure stability and limit strikes and production disruption by providing for an arbitration system to resolve disputes.

The ILGWU exemplified the European-style social unionism of its founding members. They pursued bread and butter issues but provided educational opportunities, benefits, and social programs to union members as well. In 1919, the ILGWU became the first American union to negotiate an unemployment compensation fund that was contributed to by its employers. The ILGWU also pioneered in the establishment of an extremely progressive health care program for its members which included not only regional Union Health Centers but also a resort for union workers, known as Unity House. The Union also had an imaginative and pioneering Education Department which not only trained workers in traditional union techniques, but provided courses in citizenship and the English language.

David Dubinsky, an immigrant from Belarus who came to the US in 1911, provided strong leadership that led to unprecedented growth in the union during his presidency from 1932 to 1966. He led the union through successful internal anti-communist struggles, built on the ascendancy of industrial unionism by encouraging the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization, and helped the union become an important political force in New York City and state politics, and in the national Democratic Party and Liberal Party as well.

In the period following the Second World War, the union suffered a decline in membership as manufacturers avoided unionization and took advantage of less expensive labor by moving shops from the urban centers in the northeast to the south, and later abroad. The ethnic and racial character of the ILGWU also changed as European immigrants were supplanted by Asians, Latin Americans, African- Americans, and immigrants from the Caribbean.

In July 1995 the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) at a joint convention, forming UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees). At the time the new union had a membership of about 250,000 in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

The New York Cloak Joint Board, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, represented a number of New York City local unions whose members were employed as cloak makers.

The New York Cloak Joint Board records consist of articles, correspondence, reports, photographs, and other items. The bulk of the collection is made up of correspondence of three of its managers, Israel Feinberg, Isidore Nagler, and Henoch Mendelsund. There are also some records from the Cloak Out-of-Town Department.

Individual correspondents represented in the collection include: David Dubinsky; William Green; Averell Harriman; Sidney Hillman; Irving Howe; Jacob Javits; Fiorello LaGuardia; Herbert Lehman; Elias Lieberman; Jay Lovestone; George Meany; Marianne Moore; Jacob Potofsky; Nelson Rockefeller; Rose Schneiderman; Matthew Schoenwald; Mark Starr; Louis Stulberg; Norman Thomas; Gus Tyler; and Charles S. Zimmerman.

Organizations include: the AFL-CIO; the American Labor Party; Histadrut; the Jewish Daily Forward; the Jewish Labor Committee; the Liberal Party of New York; the National Recovery Administration; the Rand School of Social Science; and the Socialist Party.

These items primarily document concerns of the New York Cloak Joint Board from the 1930 through the 1960s. Much of the material is administrative or routine in nature. Topics addressed include: benefits (especially health insurance and retirement funds); contract negotiations; financial matters; jurisdictional disputes between locals and between the ILGWU and other unions; ILGWU conventions; legal matters; other ILGWU departments and locals; political activity (at both the national and local level); relations with garment manufacturers; union organizing; wages; and worker education. There are also items concerning international labor activities, proposed legislation in the U.S. and in New York State, and aid to Israel.

5780. ILGWU Records

5780/032. ILGWU. New York Cloak Joint Board minutes

5780/041. ILGWU. New York Cloak Joint Board payroll analysis

5780/161. ILGWU. New York Cloak Joint Board. Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry in New York records

"Permanent deposit"