Billikopf, Jacob New York City Men's Clothing Industry Arbiration Case Files, 1925- 1929
Collection Number: 5110
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Jacob Billikopf New York City Men's Clothing Industry Arbiration Case Files, 1925- 1929
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5110
Abstract:
Includes over 400 arbitration awards by Billikopf for cases involving the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America and the New York men's clothing industry.
Creator:
Billikopf, Jacob
Quanitities:
0.5 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
Jacob Billikopf (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1903) was a prominent figure in Jewish
social work, an arbitrator and mediator,
Billikopf served as superintendent of the United Jewish Charities in Milwaukee and
Kansas City; as executive director of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in Philadelphia;
as impartial chairman in the New York men's clothing industry; as chairman of the
National Labor Board for the Philadelphia region during the 1930's and as chairman
of the ladies' garment industry in Philadelphia. He was an important member of the
boards of the New School for Social Research and of Howard University, and was a vice-president
of the American Association for Social Security, among numerous other public service
activities.
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was organized in December 1914, after
the militant New York City locals of the United Garment Workers of America had been
denied representation at that body's October convention. Although the purposes of
the Union were expressed by its Constitution in terms of class struggle and worker
solidarity, ACW leaders instituted a program of union-management cooperation based
upon the experiences of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union with the Protocols
of 1910-13, and the UGW locals in New York and Chicago with the establishment of permanent
arbitration machinery during the same period.
A prototype of subsequent agreements in the men's clothing industry may be found
in the Chicago Hart, Schaffner& Marx agreements of 1911-1913, since they involved
the Union and a single manufacturer, rather than the Union and the associated manufacturers
of a particular geographical area, as was the case in the ladies1 garment industry.
These agreements, however, differed from the majority of Amalgamated Clothing Workers'
agreements in following the Protocol' s model of grievance machinery: "Clerks" for
the workers and the employer attempted to settle disputes on the shop level. In cases
of disagreement, the matter went to a "Board of Trade" (Board of Grievances) composed
of equal numbers of representing both sides, but with an impartial chairman. Supreme
authority was held by a Board of Arbitration, composed of a representative each of
the Union and the manufacturer, and a third person not connected with the industry
chosen by the other two.
So complex a system was suitable for the Chicago market, where a few large manufacturers
dominated the production of ready-to-wear clothing, or a market in which a strong
association of manufacturers might be established. The men's clothing industry in
New York City, however, was characterized by intense competition among numerous small
manufacturers operating "inside" or "outside" shops, or both. Although several associations
existed, their membership determined by type of garment produced (as Boys' Wash Suit
Manufacturers' Association), geographical location (as the East Side Retail Clothing
Manufacturers' Association), or the type of manufacturing involved (ready-to-wear,
special order, or custom tailoring), none was strong enough to represent even a single
sub-industry within the market. As a consequence, agreements of the New York locals
with associations or with individual manufacturers, from the time of the general strike
in the winter of 1912-1913, called for negotiations of grievances by a shop chairman
and a representative of the particular employer involved. In case of disagreement,
an impartial umpire was to be consulted, either as an individual arbitrator or as
an Impartial Chairman of an Arbitration Board. (Short-lived experiments with other
methods were made from time to time, as in the agreement of 1915-1916 with the American
Clothing Manufacturers' Association, which provided for a "Board of Moderators" composed
of three representatives of the Union, three of the Association, and three of the
public.)
Although strikes of short duration seemed to have been held before each new agreement
was made, in each case the issues involved were wages and hours, or out-of-town contracting,
rather than the grievance procedure. The "Impartial Chairman" system has functioned
continuously and successfully whenever employers have been willing to bargain with
the Amalgamated and to consider seriously its demands. When they have not, as during
the 1920-1921 lockout by member firms of the Clothing Manufacturers' Association of
New York, the result of a desire to return to a prewar "normalcy", amicable relations
between workers and employers has been impossible.
During the summer of 1919, a National Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers
was formed by manufacturers in the New York, Chicago, Rochester, and Baltimore markets,
in an attempt to create machinery for regulating and stabilizing the entire men's
clothing industry. Such a plan was not to be successful until the Federal Government
interfered to form the Men's Clothing Code Authority under the National Recovery Administration
in 1933. When the National Industrial Recovery Act was declared unconstitutional in
May, 1935, however, the cooperative Code Authority was dissolved, and conditions in
the industry reverted to those of 1932.
Includes over 400 arbitration awards by Billikopf for cases involving the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America and the New York men's clothing industry.
The major issues include requests for additional contractors, the registration of
contractors, requests to dispense with contractors, dismissal, price adjustment, underproduction,
contracting out to non-union shops, the use of non-union cutters, reinstatement, work
reduction in work force, wage reduction, departmental reorganization, and registered
contractors not receiving work.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Jacob Billikopf New York City Men's Clothing Industry Arbiration Case Files #5110.
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: 5619: ACWA Records
Names:
Billikopf, Jacob, 1883-1950
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Subjects:
Arbitration, Industrial -- New York (State) -- New York -- Cases
Industrial arbitrators
Clothing workers
Arbitration, Industrial -- Men's clothing industry -- United States
Contracting out -- Arbitration, Industrial -- United States
Employees, Dismissal of -- Arbitration, Industrial -- United States
Labor contractors -- Men's clothing industry -- New York (State) -- New York
Labor productivity -- Arbitration, Industrial -- United States
Union security -- Law and legislation -- United States
Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- New York (State) -- New York
Wages -- Arbitration, Industrial -- United States
Wages -- Men's clothing industry -- New York (State) -- New York
Employee rules -- United States
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
New York Clothing Industry Cases no.69-154
|
1925 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
New York Clothing Industry Cases no.160-308
|
1926 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
New York Clothing Industry Cases no.310-414
|
1927 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
New York Clothing Industry Cases no.417-498
|
1928 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
New York Clothing Industry Cases no.499-521
|
1929 |