ILGWU Local 22, Charles S. Zimmerman Papers on Microfilm
Collection Number: 5780/014 mf
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Local 22, Charles S.
Zimmerman Papers on Microfilm,
Collection Number:
5780/014 mf
Creator:
Zimmerman, Charles S.;
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU);
ILGWU Local 22
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU);
ILGWU Local 22
Quantity:
8 microfilm reels
Forms of Material:
Reports, microfilms.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Primarily correspondence, reports, minutes, newspaper
clippings, and broadsides dealing with his activities as a leader in Local 22 (in
Series I), as well as his other union and political activities (in Series II). Among
the most significant material in the collection is correspondence documenting
Zimmerman's activities with the Communist Party in the U.S. and its various factions
and splinter groups, as well as other political organizations and
figures.
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.
Charles Sasha Zimmerman was born in Russia in 1897. He arrived in the United States
in 1913 and soon found work in garment shops. His career with the ILGWU began in
1916 when he went to work in a waist shop and joined Local 25. By 1925, Zimmerman
was a member of the Executive Board for Dressmakers' Local 22. Throughout the 1920s,
Zimmerman was an active member of the Communist Party, an affiliation that cost him
his leadership positions within the union in 1925. He was involved with the bitter
Communist infighting, and though he initially belonged to the Communist Party, he
soon saw that they subverted the strike of 1926 for its own purposes which nearly
decimated the ILGWU. With other members now opposed to Communism, Zimmerman worked
to rid the Communist influence from the union and help reorganize the dress industry
with his reinstatement in 1931. Even after his reinstatement in the ILGWU, he
maintained close ties with the anti-Stalinist Lovestonites of the Communist Party.
Zimmerman was elected manager of Local 22 in 1933, and the next year became a vice
president of the ILGWU. He became general manager of the New York Dress Joint Board
and the Dressmakers' Joint Council in 1958. Zimmerman was involved with civil
rights, social welfare and international labor organizations throughout his career.
He was a trustee of the National Urban League, chairman of the Jewish Labor
Committee's National Trade Union Council for Human Rights, and a member of New York
City's first Human Rights Commission. Zimmerman helped found the Inter-American
Federation of Textile and Garment Workers in 1966 and served as a U.S.
representative to the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation.
In 1969, Zimmerman was elected president of the Jewish Labor Committee and named to
the Civil Rights and Social Security committees of the AFL-CIO. He resigned as a
union vice president and general manager of the Dress Joint Council and New York
Dress Joint Board in 1972. Zimmerman died in 1983.
Local 22 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), also known as
the Dressmakers' Union, was chartered in December 1920 and based in New York, New
York.
The Charles Zimmerman papers consist primarily of correspondence, reports, minutes,
newspaper clippings, and broadsides dealing with his activities as a leader in Local
22 (in Series I), as well as his other union and political activities (in Series
II). b Among the most significant material in the collection is correspondence
documenting Zimmerman's activities with the Communist Party in the U.S. and its
various factions and splinter groups, as well as other political organizations and
figures. Correspondents include Jay Lovestone and William Z. Foster; there is also
considerable material dealing with the Communist Party of the U.S.A. and the
"Majority Group," or Lovestone faction. Other political parties represented include
the American Labor Party, the Liberal Party (New York State), and the Socialist
Party.
The remainder of the materials covers union affairs, both within and outside of the
ILGWU, from the 1920s to the 1950s, as well as labor issues in general. There is a
good deal of information on civil rights and African-American employees from the
1930s to the 1950s. Other subjects include anti-fascism and anti-Nazism; strikes and
other labor disputes in the U.S. and Canada; union elections; and worker education.
Significant organizations represented in the Zimmerman collection include the AFL and
CIO (before and after the merger); the Fur and Leather Workers' Union; the Jewish
Labor Committee; joint boards and locals of the ILGWU, especially Local 22 in New
York; the League for Industrial Democracy; the NAACP; the National Urban League; the
Workmen's Circle; and the Works Progress Administration.
Notable individuals represented include: Luigi Antonini; Irving Brown; David
Dubinsky, Julius Hochman; Fiorello LaGuardia; Tom Mooney; Rose Pesotta; Adam Clayton
Powell; Jackie Robinson; Norman Thomas; and Roy Wilkins.
Names:
Antonini, Luigi, 1883-1968.
Brown, Irving, 1911-
Dubinsky, David, 1892-1982.
Foster, William Z., 1881-1961.
Hochman, Julius, 1892-1970.
La Guardia, Fiorello H.(Fiorello Henry),
1882-1947.
Lovestone, Jay.
Mooney, Thomas J., 1882-1942.
Pesotta, Rose, 1896-
Powell, Adam Clayton, 1908-1972.
Robinson, Jackie, 1919-1972.
Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968.
Wilkins, Roy, 1901-1981.
Zimmerman, Charles S., 1896-1983.
AFL-CIO.
American Federation of Labor.
American Jewish Congress.
Communist Party of the U.S.A. (Majority Group)
Communist Party of the United States of America.
Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.)
International Fur and Leather Workers Union of
the United States and Canada.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
--Management.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Local 22 (New York, N.Y.)
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Local 22 (New York, N.Y.)--Management.
Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.)
League for Industrial Democracy.
Liberal Party of New York State.
National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
National Urban League.
Socialist Party (U.S.)
United States. Works Progress Administration.
Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring.
Subjects:
African Americans--Employment.
Anti-fascist movements.
Anti-Nazi movement.
Civil rights--United States.
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Communists--United States.
Communism--United States.
Labor disputes--United States.
Labor disputes--Canada.
Labor unions and communism--United States.
Labor unions--Officials and employees.
Labor union locals.
Strikes and lockouts--United States.
Strikes and lockouts--Canada.
Working class--Education--United States.
Geographic Subjects:
New York (State)--Politics and government--20th
century.
United States--Politics and government--20th
century.
Form and Genre Terms:
Reports.
Microfilms.
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 22, Charles S. Zimmerman Papers on Microfilm #5780/014 mf. Kheel
Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University
Library.
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