Guide to the ILGWU. Local 22. Israel Breslow Papers,
[1913-1981.]

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.

Local 22 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), also known as the Dressmakers' Union, was chartered in December 1920 and based in New York, New York.

Israel Breslow (1906-1985) emigrated from the Ukraine to Canada where he worked in the garment industry and, from 1922 to 1936, was a member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. In 1936, after moving to New York City and beginning work as an operator in the garment industry, Breslow joined Dressmakers Local 22. Breslow served on the local’s executive board and as the local's business agent, and from 1958 to 1975, he served as manager. In 1962, Breslow became a vice president of the ILGWU. He retired from the ILGWU in 1975, after which he became president of the Jewish Daily Forward Association. Additionally, Breslow was president of the Workmen’s Circle from 1958 to 1962, and again from 1966 to 1970.

Contains the records of Local 22's manager, Israel Breslow, including speeches and articles by Breslow, files relating to local union elections, and Breslow's reports to the membership.

5780. ILGWU Records

5780/014. ILGWU. Charles Zimmerman papers

5780/014 P. ILGWU. Charles Zimmerman photographs

5780/015. ILGWU. Local 22 records

5780/036. ILGWU. Local 22 minutes

5780/057. ILGWU. Local 22. Education Department records

5780/057 P. ILGWU. Local 22. Education Department photographs

"Permanent deposit"