ILGWU. Local 40 records, 1933-1977
Collection Number: 5780/035

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).

Having no union of their own for the first two decades of the twentieth century, beltmakers in 1918 appealed to the executive board of the Fancy Leather Goods Workers' Union to undertake an organizing drive. Met with enthusiastic response, almost all beltmakers in New York soon joined the union. These organized members demanded union recognition, a forty four hour week and a thirty percent wage increase. A work stoppage in September 1918 forced employers to the negotiating table. Unwilling to agree to a wage increase, a strike on September 3 brought the belt industry to a standstill. An agreement was reached, but soon the large firms began moving their factories outside of the city and of union control. Between 1919 and 1933, beltmakers in New York were left without a union. By the 1930s, the belt industry saw significant increases in workers and production, especially in the field of women's belts. In 1933, there began a series of walkouts and meetings among workers with the intent to organize. A general strike of 900 workers took place on September 13, 1933 and the employers retaliated with hostility. With the aid of the ILGWU, in 1934 there began a series of walkouts, one shop at a time. Employers began signing collective agreements. While Beltmakers' Union Local 40 was chartered in 1934, it was officially installed as a local of the ILGWU in February 1935.

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ILGWU. Local 40 records #5780/035. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Collections: 5780/034: ILGWU. Local 117 minutes 5780/036: ILGWU. Local 22 minutes 5780/037: ILGWU. Locals minutes 5780/037: ILGWU. Locals minutes