Guide to the ILGWU. International Relations Department publications

Founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States, the ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. In 1995, the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

The International Relations Department of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was concerned primarily with outreach to foreign and international labor organizations, working conditions in foreign countries, and international organizing activities. The department worked closely with international relations units of national and international labor confederations, such as the Free Trade Union Committee (FTUC) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

For more information about the ILGWU's involvement in international affairs, please visit:

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ILGWU/collectionGuides/internationalAffairs.html

The International Relations Department records (5780/062) consist chiefly of the correspondence of its director, Henoch Mendlesund, during his tenure from 1968-1980, and Michele Briones. The collection also includes articles, reports, conference materials, photographs, and other items. The materials in this collection have an emphasis on labor issues in the developing world. There is correspondence with leaders of clothing and textile workers' unions in India, Japan, Turkey, Kenya, Latin America, Namibia, South Korea, among other countries. Other items concern conventions and conferences of the ILGWU that emphasized international issues, visits from foreign union leaders to the ILGWU, and visits of ILGWU leaders to foreign countries. There are also some materials about garment workers' unions in Western Europe. Topics addressed include working conditions, human rights, economic, political, and social conditions in developing countries, and requests for aid to assist foreign unions. A collection of publications (5780/062 PUBS) consists of printed material either created or collected by the International Relations Department of the ILGWU.

Documentation of the ILGWU's influence and work in international relations is considerable and, though some of it may be found in the most obvious of placesthe David Dubinsky correspondence, the International Relations Department records, or the various editions of Justicesome of it may be found in everyday operational records of local unions and joint boards. These records not only illustrate the work that the ILGWU conducted independently and with the AFL and later the AFL-CIO; they also show the work of individual members and officers working with closely related organizations, such as the Jewish Labor Committee and the Italian-American Labor Council. Additionally, the work of the ILGWU and other unions in the United States is reflected in the records and collected documents of other organizations held at the Kheel Center. These include the papers of Serafino Romualdo, the collected documents of John P. Windmuller, and records of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and World Federation of Labor.