ILGWU. Unpublished Union Histories,, 1911-1971.
Collection Number: 5780/167
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
ILGWU. Unpublished Union Histories, 1911-1971.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/167
Abstract:
Manuscripts, typescripts, and bound volumes containing unpublished histories of the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Authors include Julius Hochman, Abraham
Rosenberg, and Fannia Cohn.
Creator:
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
Quanitities:
1 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
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.
Manuscripts, typescripts, and bound volumes containing unpublished histories of the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Authors include Julius Hochman, Abraham
Rosenberg, and Fannia Cohn.
The ILGWU Records, except for publications and materials produced for publication,
are restricted. Materials created prior to twenty years from the current date are
open to researchers only with prior written permission from the Director of the Kheel
Center; materials created during the past twenty-years are closed; the minutes of
the General Executive Board are closed. For more information contact the Kheel Center.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
ILGWU. Unpublished Union Histories. 5780/167. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.
5780. ILGWU records
5780/159. ILGWU. Abraham Rosenberg, Memoirs of a Cloak Maker
5780/159 mf. ILGWU. Abraham Rosenberg, Memoirs of a Cloak Maker. Microfilm
Names:
Cohn, Fannia M.(Fannia Mary), 1885-
Hochman, Julius, 1892-1970.
Rosenberg, Abraham.
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry -- United States
Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- United States
Clothing workers -- United States
Industrial relations -- United States
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
I. Aleksandrowicz and Broadus Mitchell, "Description of Some Documentary Material
on Right-Left Struggle in ILGWU"
|
1946 |
Scope and Contents
2 copies
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Cohn, Fannia, "History of ILGWU"
|
1940 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
DiMartino, Frances, "Labor Management Co-operation: The Engineering Department of
the ILGWU."
|
|
Scope and Contents
No date
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Goldberg, Sol, "History of the Office and Distribution Employees Union in the Women's
Garment Industry."
|
1948 |
Scope and Contents
2 copies
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Green, George, " ILGWU in Texas, 1930-1970."
|
1970 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Hochman, Julius, " Our Industry: A Program for Reconstructing New York's First Industry."
|
1940 |
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Hochman, Julius, " Industry Planning Through Collective Bargaining."
|
1941 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Homework in Apparel Industry particularly in relation to Embroideries
|
1936 |
Scope and Contents
Extracts from various Official Documents and Reports.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Janis, Samuel, " History and Trends in Location of The Women's Garment Industry."
|
1946 |
Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Mayer, Rae Virginie, " A Brief History of The Locals and Institutions of the ILGWU."
|
1940 |
Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Problems of the ILGWU
|
1924-1929 |
Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Rosenberg, A. " How Our Unions Were Built Up."
|
1925 |
Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Rothenberg, J. " The ILGWU."
|
1944 |
Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Sileci, Denise, " Morris Sigmans New York"
|
1971 |
Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Sister Rosemary Ann Friedenbach, " The Relationship of the 1913 ILGWU Strike as a
Social Movementā¦"
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Stike Songs of the ILGWU
|
1951 |
Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Thornton, Maxine, " Racial Adjustment Within Trade Unions."
|
1946-1947 |
Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Wexler, Louis, " A Retirement Program for the ILGWU."
|
1953 |
Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Women's Trade Union League, Chicago- Official Report of the Strike Committee, Chicago
Garment Worker's Strikeā¦"
|
1911 |
Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Levine, Louis, "The Women's Garment Workers."
|
1924 |