ILGWU. Louis Stulberg Photographs,1949-1968
Collection Number: 5780/004 P
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives
Cornell
University Library
Title:
ILGWU. Louis Stulberg photographs,
1966-1977
Collection Number:
5780/004 P
Creator:
International Ladies’
Garment Workers’ Union. President’s Office; Stulberg, Louis.
Quantity:
.3 linear feet
Forms of Material:
Photographs
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
This collection consists of a photograph of Stulberg with
President Lyndon B. Johnson, inscribed by LBJ, and an invitation to Harry S.
Truman's inauguration as President of the United States in 1949.
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.
Louis Stulberg, union organizer and official, International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union.
Louis Stulberg was born in Poland in 1901 and emigrated with his parents to Canada in
1904. After graduating from the Harborn Collegiate Institute in Toronto in 1918, he
moved to Chicago, where he worked as a cutter and joined ILGWU Local 81. Stulberg
moved around the country, working as a cutter and union organizer in Toledo, Ohio,
Chicago, and New York City. It was in New York that he finally settled, working as
an official and organizer in ILGWU Local 10. Later he held a number of executive
positions in the ILGWU, including the vice-presidency, a seat on the General
Executive Board, the executive vice-presidency, and the office of General
Secretary-Treasurer. He was elected president of the union in 1966, succeeding David
Dubinsky, and served until his retirement in 1975. He died in 1977.
Stulberg's term was an inward-looking time, after the long tenure of David Dubinsky.
A demographic shift in ILGWU membership, from largely Jewish and Italian workers to
more Hispanic and African-American workers, had begun under Dubinsky, but
accelerated rapidly during Stulberg's term. During this period, the ILGWU focused
more heavily on organizing, and membership reached an all-time high in 1968. But by
1970, it had begun to fall dramatically, as more clothing manufacturers moved their
operations abroad. The union also shed many of its political connections under
Stulberg's leadership. In 1968 he led the union out of the Liberal Party, which it
had helped to found, and severed its ties to the Americans for Democratic
Action.
This collection consists of a photograph of Stulberg with President Lyndon B.
Johnson, inscribed by LBJ, and an invitation to Harry S. Truman's inauguration as
President of the United States in 1949.
Names:
International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union.
Johnson, Lyndon B.(Lyndon Baines),
1908-1973
Stulberg, Louis, 1901-1977
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972
Tyler, Gus
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Local 22 (New York, N.Y.)
Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.
Access Restrictions:
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.
Cite As:
ILGWU. Louis Stulberg photographs. 5780/004 P. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell
University.
5780. ILGWU records
5780/004. ILGWU. Louis Stulberg correspondence
"Permanent deposit"
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Louis Stulberg with President Lyndon B. Johnson
|
1968 |
|
Includes inscription from LBJ
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Invitation to inauguration of Harry S. Truman
|
1949 |