ILGWU Local 9 Managers' Correspondence
Collection Number: 5780/013
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Local 9 Managers'
Correspondence, 1929-1951
Collection Number:
5780/013
Creator:
Isidore Sorkin;
Hyman, Louis;
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Local 9;
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU)
Hyman, Louis;
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Local 9;
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU)
Quantity:
2.3 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
The collection consists of the correspondence of managers
Isidore Sorkin and Louis Hyman of Local 9 of the International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union. Includes correspondence with several departments of the Cloak Joint
Board and the office of the President of the International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union.
Language:
Collection material in English
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.
General managers of Local 9 included Isidore Sorkin and Louis Hyman. Isidore Sorkin
was manager of Local 9 from 1925 to 1942.
Born in Russia, Louis Hyman (1884-1963) emigrated to England in 1903 before settling
down in the United States in 1911. Within the ILGWU, Hyman served as business agent
and executive board member of Local 9, director of the Union Health Center, and
executive board member of the New York Joint Board. Hyman left the ILGWU for a time
(roughly from 1925 to 1939) during which he served as president of the Needle Trades
Workers Industrial Union. In 1942, he defeated Isidore Sorkin to become manager of
Local 9.
Local 9 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), also known as
the Cloak and Suit Finishers Union, was chartered in 1903 and based in New York
City.
The collection is mainly composed of correspondence to the Joint Board, the ILGWU,
and other organizations. Early correspondence is often from manager Isidore Sorkin
(1925-1942), while later correspondence is from manager Louis Hyman (1942-). As a
member of the Joint Board of the Cloak, Suit, Skirt and Reefer Makers' Union, Local
9 corresponded with the Joint Board regarding meetings, often for the Local manager
meetings, as well as committees, agreements, price settlements, claims and
complaints against firms. Local 9 and its members were part of the Retirement Fund
of the Coat and Suit Industry in the New York Metropolitan area and there are
letters regarding benefits. Additionally, there is correspondence with George Price
(Director) and Leo Price (Assistant Director) of the Union Health Center concerning
patients who were members of Local 9 discussing examinations in the clinic and work
permits in shops.
Files labeled "President's Office" refer to documents that mainly originated from the
office of ILGWU president David Dubinsky. Much is general letters and memos that
went out to all the local managers and Joint Board within the union. There is also
much correspondence addressed to Local 9 manager Louis Hyman.
Organizations represented in the collection include ICOR, which refers to the
Association for Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union Inc., of which Local 9
manager Hyman was a National Executive member. And manufacturers' organizations and
associations (which represented the garment firms) appearing include the Industrial
Council of Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers, Inc., and the Merchants Ladies
Garment Association.
Finally, there is material of an administrative nature for Local 9 such as an
accounting ledger detailing assets and investments, fees and various expenses.
Names:
Sorkin, Isidore
Hyman, Louis
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Local 9 (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry--United States.
Labor unions--Clothing workers--United States.
Clothing workers--United States.
Industrial relations--United States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Correspondence.
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
ILGWU Local 9 Managers' Correspondence #5780/013. Kheel Center for
Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1936-1939 | |
|
Incl. form letters from American Youth Congress, 1937.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | 1948-1949 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | 1936-1939 | |
|
Corres. on campaigns in New York State, incl. Isidore Nagler for Borough
President, Bronx County, 1937.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1939-1949 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | 1937-1948 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | 1945-1949 | |
|
Incl. correspondence., reports, proposals for negotiations; form letters.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | 1942-1944 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | 1939-1941 | |
|
Incl. collective agreement between Union & Brooklyn Cloak & Suit
Truckers Assoc., 1939.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | 1938 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | 1936-1937 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | 1944-1945 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | 1933-1934 | |
|
Incl. correspondence. w. B. Cooper, Mgr. Local 9 on expulsion of members
Bernstein & Greenberg from Jt. Bd., 1933.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | 1937-1949 | |
|
Corres. w. Anthony Cottone, Manager.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | 1938-1946 | |
|
Reports.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | ||
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | ||
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | 1936-1939 | |
|
Complaints (reverse chronological order).
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | 1941-1946 | |
|
Reports by H. Slutsky, Manager.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | 1941-1946 | |
|
March 1941-1949. Corres. w. Philip Herman, Manager; reports.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | 1934-1941 | |
|
1934-February 1941. Incl. correspondence. w. Joseph Boruchowitz, A.S. Miller,
and I. Stenzor.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 1 | 1935-1948 | |
|
Letters from Fannia M. Conn, correspondence. w. Mark Starr, leaflets &
pamphlets.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 2 | 1936-1944 | |
|
Tillie Kessler case, 1936; Ben Kenigsberg case, 1943; Mike Goldofsky vs.
Morris Appelbaum, 1943-1944.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 3 | 1937-1939 | |
|
Incl. letters of Friends of Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 1937.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 4 | 1939 | |
|
Incl. complaint from Irving Potash, Manager, that cloak firms are purchasing
fur garments from non-Union shops & Contractors, 1939.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 5 | 1937-1949 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 6 | 1937-1949 | |
|
Incl. ICOR, 1937.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 7 | 1936-1948 | |
|
Incl. letters from Samuel Klein, Executive Director.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 8 | 1938-1949 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 9 | 1937-1949 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 10 | 1937-1948 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 11 | 1945 | |
|
Report, Memorandum for associations in opposition to wage adjustment.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 12 | 1936-1948 | |
|
Arranged numerically by local.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 13 | 1937-1949 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 14 | 1936-1939 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 15 | 1937-1948 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 1 | 1939-1949 | |
|
Corres. w. D.D., form letters.
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 2 | 1941-1942 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 3 | 1939-1940 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 4 | 1937-1938 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 5 | 1933-1936 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 6 | 1937-1949 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 7 | 1944-1949 | |
|
Corres. w. Herbert Zame, Manager, on benefits, financial reports.
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 8 | 1937-1949 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 9 | 1938 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 10 | 1937-1948 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 11 | 1934-1949 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 12 | 1929-1949 | |
|
Corres. w. George M. Price, Director.
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 13 | 1937-1948 | |
|
Incl. Workmen's Circle.
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 1 | 1949-1951 | |