ILGWU. Local 22. Charles S. Zimmerman photographs, 1930-1959
Collection Number: 5780/014 P
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
ILGWU. Local 22. Charles S. Zimmerman photographs, 1930-1959
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/014 P
Abstract:
The collection includes images of important people in Local 22, along with images
of sports and cultural events, parades, marches, strikes, meetings and educational
programs.
Creator:
Zimmerman, Charles
Local 22
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
Quanitities:
1 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
Founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities
in the northeastern United States, the ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership
size, 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. In 1995, the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated
Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial
and Textile Employees (UNITE).
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 City.
The dress industry formed its own Joint Board in 1921 composed of Local 22 Dressmakers,
Local 25 Waistmakers, Local 58 Waist Buttonhole Makers, Local 60 Waist and Dress Pressers,
Local 66 Bonnaz Embroidery Workers, Local 89 Italian Waist and Dressmakers, and the
waist and dress branch of Cutters' Local 10. A general work stoppage in February 1923
in the dress industry won the union a 40 hour week and 10 percent wage increase, as
well as a large gain of new members. During the summer of 1923, after years of discussion
and deliberation, the two dress locals, Local 23 and 22 were consolidated. The dressmakers
from Local 23 transferred to Local 22 and subsequently Local 22 joined the New York
Cloakmakers' Joint Board. Soon, the Dress and Waist Joint Board became unnecessary
and was dissolved. Local 25 Waistmakers were left without an affiliated organization
and in October 1924 merged with the Dressmakers' Union, Local 22.
By the end of 1926, the Communists had gained control of the dress organization in
New York City and the union barely existed. In February 4, 1930, 25,000 dressmakers
walked out of the shops. The strike was called to reorganize dressmakers and finally
abolish the Communist influence in the industry. On April 8, 1930 the General Executive
Board decided to separate the dressmakers from the Cloakmakers' Joint Board. In 1931,
Charles Zimmerman formed a committee to rebuild Local 22. He was elected to executive
board of Local 22 in 1932, and elected manager-secretary in 1933. Another walkout
in all dress shops, both union and non-union on August 16, 1933 brought the dress
industry to a halt.
Zimmerman left Local 22 in 1958 to become manager of the Dress Joint Board. Israel
Breslow succeeded him as manager of Local 22 from 1958 until his retirement in 1975.
By 1975, the New York Dress Joint Board completed restructuring of affiliate locals,
and Locals 60-60A, 159, and 38 were merged into existing Locals 22 and 89. Local 22
gained jurisdiction over all dressmakers in Manhattan. In the 1980s, more locals were
dissolved and members transferred to Local 22, but by 1984, Local 22 saw restructuring
as well. Changes in the garment industry necessitated the dissolution of the Joint
Board and Local 22 into the new Local 89-22-1.
The collection includes images of important people and events in Local 22 including
ILGWU President David Dubinsky, Local 22 Manager Charles Zimmerman, Max Danish, Fania
Cohn, Rose Pesotta, and Maida Springer Kemp. The photographs document the activities
of Local 22, from conventions, to meetings, signing of contracts, and elections.
The photographs also illustrate the local's very active Education Department (see
also 5780/057P) showing art shows, members (especially women) in classes, and performances
at Labor Stage. There are also images of sports such as basketball and baseball, and
cultural events such as outings with members, and banquets. Local 22 was very active
in parades and marched in May Day and Labor Day parades.
Images also document strikes, picket lines and members getting arrested. There is
work with other organizations, and formal portraits of the executive board and staff.
Zimmerman is prominent in many of the images, in shops, with groups, in formal board
portraits, at meetings, and speaking.
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
ILGWU. Local 22. Charles S. Zimmerman photographs #5780/014 P. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: 5780/014: ILGWU. Local 22. Charles Zimmerman papers 5780/015: ILGWU. Local 22 records 5780/036: ILGWU. Local 22 minutes 5780/057: ILGWU. Local 22. Education Department records 5780/057 P: ILGWU. Local 22. Education Department photographs 5780/067: ILGWU. Local 22. Israel Breslow papers
Names:
Antonini, Luigi, 1883-1968
Baroff, Abraham
Billings, Warren K., 1893-1972
Bluestein, Mendl
Cohn, Fannia M. (Fannia Mary), 1885-
Danish, Max D.
Dornbusch, Mendel
Dubinsky, David, 1892-1982
Eisenhower, Dwight D.(Dwight David), 1890-1969
Falikman, Moe
Feinberg, Israel
Hillman, Sidney, 1887-1946
Hochman, Julius, 1892-1970
Kemp, Maida Springer
Kreindler, Charles
Marrom, Harry
Mooney, Thomas J., 1882-1942
Pesotta, Rose, b. 1896
Potofsky, Jacob S. (Jacob Samuel), 1894-1979
Ransom, Edith
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
Schneider, Joe
Stevenson, Adlai E.(Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965
Zimmerman, Charles S., 1896-1983
AFL-CIO
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
American Federation of Labor
American Jewish Congress
Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.)
Hebrew Butcher Workers' Union. Local 234 (New York, N.Y.)
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Local 155 (New York, N.Y.)
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 Consumptives' Relief Society (U.S.)
Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.)
Negro Labor Committee
Places:
New York (State) -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Subjects:
Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- United States
Labor unions and communism -- United States
Labor unions -- Officials and employees
Labor union locals
United States--Politics and government--20th century.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Awards and Ceremonies
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Charles Zimmerman and Mayor Beam with others in swearing-in ceremony; C.
Zimmerman, William Green and other with plaque honoring Green; Mendl Bluestein 51st
birthday celebration; Jack Broder dinner, Zimmerman, Julius Hochman; Local 22 installation
April 1937 including Zimmerman, Dubinsky, Fania Cohn, and others; Edith Ransom and
C. Zimmerman receiving awards, Julius Hochman looking on, July 1936.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Contracts
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes signing Dress agreement March 1944 with Hochman, Antonini, Dubinsky, Zimmerman,
et al.; Local 155 ratification with C. Zimmerman, Mendel Dornbusch, Luigi Antonini,
Louis Nelson and others
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Conventions, AFL
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes September 1944, 1950, 1951, and 1954, including Zimmerman, Hochman, Dubinsky,
Antonini, Israel Feinberg, Charles Kreindler, Grace [Sardegna], Max Danish, John martin,
Moe [Falikman]
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Conventions, Dressmakers Union Local 22, 50th convention, 1950
|
1950 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Conventions, ILGWU
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes 23rd biennial convention May 1937; Local 22 recognition of DD leadership;
John L. Lewis, Rose Pesotta, Antonini, Zimmerman, Hochman, Dubinsky, Sidney Hillman,
and others.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Conventions, Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Dubinsky, Feinberg, Antonini, Zimmerman, Hochman, ILGWU conventions, 1944,
1947, 1950, 1956, District 65, 1957
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Education
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes American History class, Gus Tyler instructor, 1935; Spanish School, Educational
Alliance, 1956; Educational Conference, 1938 with Zimmerman, Edith Ransom, and others;
Art Show 1940; Local 22 Educational Director Morton Wishengrad; Zimmerman teaching;
tour with Zimmerman, Edith Ransom and others; Symposium on Soviet aggression, 1951;
Dressmakers class, 1956; neg. Harlem Educational Meeting, 1934; tour to study production
methods at te Cooperative Wholesale Society Clothing factory, Bristol, England, 1936.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Jewish Organizations
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Administrative Committee of the Deborah Jewish Tuberculosis Society, 1946;
Jewish Consumptives Relief Society (JCRS) of Denver, 1938; Amun Israeli 1951 and 1952;
Jewish Labor Committee (JLC), 1945; JLC, includes President Eisenhower and C. Zimmerman
with others, 1952, Elmer Millerman Pres. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees
Union reports on Buchenwald; Histadrut luncheon welcoming the Kreindlers, 1954; Meeting
of representatives of ILGWU, ACWA, Workmen's Circle, United Hebrew Trades, Hebrew
Butcher Workers Union, JCRS, CIO, Furrier's Joint Council; ILGWU members at Deborah
Sanatorium, 1943; Gift from Histadrut to William Green.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 9 |
League for Industrial Democracy
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes 47th conference 1952; 49th annual luncheon, 1954; 51st annual luncheon, 1956;
52nd annual luncheon 1957; LID award to Luis Munos Marin, 1957
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Labor Stage
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes scenes from Pins and Needles; slogans such as "Fight Against Race Discrimination",
"Birobidgan, the Jewish Hope", "American Democracy", "Death to Fascism" "Forgotten
Man" and "A Coal Miner's Reward"; Labor Stage 1937.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Local 22 Activities
|
|
Scope and Contents
ncludes women's basketball, 1938; men's basketball; men's baseball; a trip on the
S. S. Liberty Belle,1956; social gatherings; mandolin class "Boost Anti-Fascist Drive";
P. G. Excursion, 1936; Harry Winter; Dressmaker's Liberal Party Club; Local 22 Ball,
1935; Dressmaker's Progressive Group, Local 22; at a cabin, 1946 or 1947; Rose Pesotta,
Luigi Antonini and others, 1936.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Local 22 Elections
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Minkas reading telegrams after election, 1937; scenes from the 1937 election
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 12a |
Local 22 General
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes; First Executive Board, 1921; Executive Board, 1933 or 1934; Office staff;
Membership Committee; Los Angeles Sanitarium, 1938; speakers at a podium; Harry Marrom
contributing to the new library fund
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Local 22 and other labor organizations
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes AFL Convention, 1946 Jewish Labor Committee dinner, Dubinsky Green, Zimmerman,
and others; Dressmakers greet Transport Workers, 1938; Zimmerman et al, AFL-CIO, 1955;
Zimmerman at Seamen's meeting, 1936; Heads of local 25 early 1900's including Abraham
Baroff, Charles Jacobson, Israel Horowitz and Spivack; Local 22 Dressmakers greet
Steel Workers in SWOC (1940's?); CIO Masquerade chain shows member unions.
|
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Box 1 | Folder 13a |
Mooney, Thomas J. and Warren K. Billings
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes prison photo and photo with Zimmerman and other, 1935.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Negro Labor Committee
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes C. Zimmerman at the head table speaking to the Negro Labor Committee Conference,
March 1, 1952 (shows banner).
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Parades
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes May Day parade, 1942?, marchers, film crew, a sign "Nazism is POISON for
workers, and "..Dressmakers Local 22 on May Day remembers Tom MooneyLabor"; athletic
division and others; group on bicycles and athletic division; marching band and banners;
Joint Council Knitgoods Workers Union of the ILGWU and United Textile Workers of America;
C. Zimmerman and others marching; 1934 May Day parade with Zimmerman in front of black
and white marchers with local 22 pennants [including Edith Ransom, business agent];
union members in ethnic dress on horse-drawn float representing the globe; "Down with
Fascism" sign; Zimmerman and others in parade car
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Pesotta, Rose
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Rose and another; Rose with bouquet sitting with mixed black and white men
and women.
|
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Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Puerto Rico
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman visiting a shop and speaking, 1934; Puerto Rican Committee, 1953;
mobile health unit staff and civil defense officials of Aibonito Puerto Rico, 1956,
shows Lazare Teper.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Rallies
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Garment Center street rally with Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson II addressing the
crowd, October, 1952; Zimmerman addresses 1952 rally; large crowd in park rally; May
Day 1936; May Day 1937; Trade Union Commission/Committee? For Civil Rights rally,
Madison Square Garden, May 24, 1956;
|
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Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Ransom, Edith
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes snapshot of Edith with others on a hike (Riley, Ransom, Claus, and Eva Dalton);
Portrait March 1937.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Spanish Civil War
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman and others shows posters "Volunteer workers, 100,000 garments for
Spain, Trade Union Comm"; group shots, 1937 and 1938.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 21 |
Strikes
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes "When we strike, we win, what we win, we keep" with Julius Hochman; 1948
garment district strike with arrested seamen; Mass demonstration by the dress Joint
Board; many "racketeering" and "gangster" signs; Macys strike, 1956.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 1 |
World War II
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman and International Solidarity Committee war relief care packages
poster, 1946; Dubinsky and Zimmerman discussing Russian war relief with 2 others;
Russian and Chinese relief, about 1943; Chinese war relief, about 1944; "Woks Kuibyshev
USSR" Donations from Local 22 to British labor and the Jewish Labor Committee; "50,000
warm garments from Local 22 to Commissioner Maurice Davidson for the Russian War Relief
Society to be given to Russian women; Dubinsky and Zimmerman et al. Launching the
284th Liberty Ship, SS Benjamin Schlesinger, January 1944; Rose Pesotta, C. Zimmerman
and other with goods for war relief, Los Angeles, 1941.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Zimmerman, Charles S. et al., 1930s
|
1930-1939 |
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman with David Dubinsky, Julius Hochman, Luigi Antonini, Edith Ransom
and others in official meetings; conferences; public locations; speaking for WEVD;
in posed group photos; and on the Miami Beach docks after fishing.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Zimmerman, Charles S, et al., 1940s
|
1940-1949 |
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman with David Dubinsky, Julius Hochman, Luigi Antonini, Jacob Potofsky
and others; with the General Executive Board 1947-1950; a family portrait?; at dinner
gatherings, celebrations and meetings.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 4 |
Zimmerman, Charles S, et al., 1950s
|
1950-1959 |
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman with Robert Wagner, at the Margolis luncheon, 1954; with Eleanor
Roosevelt, 1956; at the Catholic Interracial Council Forum, 1950; at Breslow's election
as vice President of the Workmen's Circle, 1953; Zimmerman and Potofsky with A. Philip
Randolph 1954; with the Committee for a Shorter Work Week, Local 32B, 1958; Zimmerman
donating to the campaign for a permanent Fair Employment Practice Commission in NY.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 5 |
Zimmerman, Charles S, et al., undated
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Zimmerman speaking at dinners and meetings; sitting with various groups in
posed and un-posed photos; with Business Agents including Edith Ransom; at a funeral/memorial
gathering; with Mrs. Belle Schlesinger Scolnik, and at Unity House.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 6 |
Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes Julius Hochman addressing Building Chairmen and UDC members at Unity House,
1939; David Dubinsky; Joe Schneider in a casket, 1933; group including Edith Ransom,
Hochman, Zimmerman; "E & O Committee, 1935; Executive Staff, Ladies' Waist and
Dressmakers' Union, Local 25, 1913.
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 7 |
Unidentified
|
|
Scope and Contents
Includes the ship "Negbah" in Tel Aviv, 1948; man with bandaged head wound; formal
groups; man signing a document with onlooker; young women sewing; young women under
labor leaders' photos; George [Fiffer?] in military uniform; portrait of two women;
a costume party/pins and needles gathering?;
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 8 |
Portraits
|