ILGWU Sol Chaikin Audio-Visual Materials, 1975-1986
Collection Number: 5780/083 AV

The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, and 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. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented only 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.

Sol Chaikin was born in New York City January 9th, 1918. He graduated from Townsend Harris Hall High School in 1934. In 1940 he married Rosalind Bryon. Chaikin received a LL.B Degree from Brooklyn Law School. He then became an Organizer for the ILGWU, Local 178 in Fall River Massachusetts.

Chaikin held many union jobs through his lifetime.

1942-Business Agent, Local 281, Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts; 1943-U.S. Air Force; 1946- Manager, Local 22, ILGWU, Springfield, Massachusetts and Manager, Western Mass. District, Northeast Dept., ILGWU; 1955-Director, Lower Southwest Region, ILGWU; 1959-Assistant Director, Northeast Dept., ILGWU; 1965-Vice President, ILGWU; 1968-Chairman, American Trade Union Council for Histadrut; 1969-Associate Trustee, Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center; 1973-General Secretary-Treasurer, ILGWU; Vice-President, AFL-CIO Industrial Union Dept. Member, Board of Directors, New York Urban Coalition; 1975-President, ILGWU; Vice-President, AFL-CIO and Member, Executive Council Member, Governor's Task Force on Housing; 1976-Delegate to Democratic National Convention; Trade Union Council for Histadrut; 1977-Labor Representative, Belgrade Conference to Review Helsinki Accord on Human Rights; Head of AFL-CIO Delegation to International Labor Summit, London; Received Labor Human Rights Award, Jewish Labor Committee; 1978-Received Townsend Harris Award; Member, U.S. Delegation to Attend Funeral of Prime Minister Golda Meir; 1979-Present At Signing of Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty at the White House; 1980-Member, U.S. Delegation to ILO Session in Geneva; Vice-Chair, N.Y. Convention Center Operating Corp.; Member, Board of Trustees, Brandeis University; Honorary Degrees from Rutgers University and City University of New York; Seconded the Nomination of President Carter, Democratic National Convention; Published, A Labor Viewpoint: Another Opinion; 1982-Head, AFL-CIO Fact-Finding Mission to South Africa; Member, N.Y.S. Governor's Special Transit Advisory Panel; 1983-Hosted ZENSEN Delegation from Japan for Discussions of Apparel and Textile Industries; 1986-Retired as President of the ILGWU.

Sol Chaikin died April 1, 1991 at the age of 73.

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ILGWU Sol Chaikin Audio-Visual Materials #5780/083 AV. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Collections: 5780/083: ILGWU Sol Chaikin Papers 5780/083 P: ILGWU Sol Chaikin Photographs