ILGWU Boston Joint Board Photographs
Collection Number: 5780/055 P
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Boston Joint Board
Photographs,
Collection Number:
5780/055 P
Creator:
International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union (ILGWU);
Boston Joint Board
Boston Joint Board
Quantity:
2 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Photographs.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
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.
Like other cities with garment work, Boston cloak workers organized early, forming
the Boston Cloak Makers' Protective Union around 1890, a decade before the founding
of the ILGWU. In 1907, the Boston Pressers' Local 12, Skirt and Cloak Makers' Local
13, and Cloak and Suit Cutters' Local 26 called a general strike demanding a fifty
hour week and recognition of the union. While ultimately unsuccessful, the strike
did lay the ground work for the Great Revolt in 1910. Later, the locals Cloak and
Skirt Pressers Local 12, Skirt Makers Local 56, Cutters Local 73, Waist and
Dressmakers Local 49, and Ladies' Tailors Local 36 composed the Boston Joint Board.
In 1914 though, these locals were far from flourishing, and existed merely on paper
with no money in their treasury. Abraham Rosenberg was appointed manager of the
Joint Board to assist with the situation in Boston. During this time, a new system
of shop inspections was introduced and soon the entire trade was thoroughly
organized. Also established was week work as well as job placement made through the
union. In 1915, the skirtmakers from Local 56 broke off and chartered a new Local
24. Rosenberg resigned in at the end of 1916. With conditions in Boston poor, the
Joint Board and locals were reorganized by the International with Abraham Snyder
appointed manager for 6 months, before being passed to Hyman Hurwitz. By 1919, the
Joint Board was negotiating collective agreements with a newly formed manufacturers'
association. Among the demands obtained were a 44 hour work week and a minimum wage
scale.
A double strike of cloakmakers and dressmakers in Boston in 1923 strengthened the
union's position in the city. Max Amdur was placed in charge of the Joint Board in
1928, assisted by Philip Kramer. Like the rest of the union, the Joint Board
suffered from infighting among the Communist members during this time. By 1929,
there was a move toward unification, and a new administration elected. The Joint
Board and locals moved to new headquarters. In 1930, ILGWU vice-president Israel
Feinberg was appointed manager, replacing an ill vice-president Max Amdur. Amdur
returned in 1931 to manage the Joint Board but resigned later that year due to poor
health and was replaced by vice-president Jacob Halpern with Kramer in charge of
organizing. Philip Kramer would become the Joint Board manager in 1932, a position
he would hold for the next 41 years. The 1940s saw the silk dress industry in Boston
nearly all unionized, with many of the cloak and skirt branches as well, and the
Joint Board was on strong financial footing. In 1942, with the assistance of the
Cotton Garment Department, the Joint Board had a successful campaign in the skirt
industry bringing in new members and standardizing work. Cloakmakers won vacation
pay in 1942 and in 1944 there was the first collective agreement with the Associated
Dress Manufacturing Inc. This time also saw the Joint Board with active interest in
the Massachusetts Liberal Labor Committee, purchasing war bonds, and contributing to
Red Cross work. At the end of the decade into the 1950s, the Joint Board continued
to organize substantial numbers of shops, especially with the large number of new
shops which opened during the war. Locals expanded to include 12 (Pressers), 33
(Skirtmakers), 39 (Finishers), 46 (Dressmakers), 56 (Cloak Operators), 73 (Cutters),
and 80 (Italian Cloak, Skirt and Dressmakers). In 1947, together with the Northeast
Department, the Joint Board purchased a building to house a Union Health Center.
The Joint Board became involved in labor and philanthropy causes, and collected an
extra week's dues each month for charity and humanitarian relief. In the mid-1950s,
the market stabilized, and firms in the cloak industry began changing from time-work
to piece-work. By 1957 all retirement fundscloak, dress, sportswearwere merged. And
in 1962, the Massachusetts Legislature banned industrial homework. In 1965, Boston
saw shops going out of business and relocating outside of the city. New organizing
efforts were no longer a priority for the Joint Board but fell to the Northeast
Department. In March 1967, the Joint Board and Northeast Department struck 67 shops
which had failed to sign an agreement. Philip Kramer retired as manager of the Joint
Board in 1973 and Milton Kaplan was elected as the new manager. Soon, the Joint
Board voted to become a part of the Northeast Department. Further reorganization
after the 1977 convention formed the Northeast and Western Pennsylvania
Department.
Names:
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union --
Photographs
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Boston Joint Board
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry--United States.
Women's clothing industry--Massachusetts--Boston.
Labor unions--Clothing workers--United States.
Labor unions--Clothing
workers--Massachusetts--Boston.
Clothing workers--United States
Clothing workers--Massachusetts--Boston.
Industrial relations--United States.
Industrial relations--Massachusetts--Boston.
Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.
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 Boston Joint Board Photographs #5780/055 P. Kheel Center for
Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Container
|
Description
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Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 | ||
21 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 | ||
17 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 | ||
24 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 | ||
24 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 | ||
27 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 6 | ||
8 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 7 | 1982 | |
16 photographs ; 7 slides
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 8 | 1982 | |
20 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 9 | 1982 | |
28 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 10 | ||
19 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 11 | ||
20 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 12 | ||
25 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 13 | ||
3 slides ; 16 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 14 | ||
27 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 15 | ||
17 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 16 | ||
21 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 17 | ||
17 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 18 | 1978 | |
11 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 19 | ||
22 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 20 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 21 | ||
4 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 1 | ||
24 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 2 | ||
10 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 3 | ||
15 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 4 | 1987 | |
5 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 5 | ||
19 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 6 | ||
16 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 7 | ||
31 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 8 | ||
20 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 9 | ||
24 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 10 | ||
23 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 11 | 1988 | |
10 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 12 | ||
10 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 13 | ||
1 photograph
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 14 | ||
9 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 15 | 1987 | |
3 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 16 | ||
37 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 17 | ||
37 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 18 | ||
36 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 19 | ||
36 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 20 | ||
36 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 21 | ||
Box 2 | Folder 22 | ||
25 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 23 | ||
29 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 24 | ||
11 photographs
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 25 | ||
47 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 1 | ||
Box 3 | Folder 2 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 3 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 4 | ||
28 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 5 | ||
25 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 6 | ||
15 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 7 | ||
15 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 8 | ||
28 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 9 | ||
29 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 10 | ||
12 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 11 | ||
29 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 12 | 1984 | |
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 13 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 14 | 1987 | |
20 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 15 | 1988 | |
21 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 16 | ||
17 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 17 | ||
31 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 18 | ||
19 photographs
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 19 | ||
35 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 1 | ||
86 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 2 | ||
24 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 3 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 4 | ||
12 slides ; 19 photographs
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Box 4 | Folder 5 | ||
20 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 6 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 7 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 8 | ||
23 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 9 | ||
20 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 10 | ||
27 slides
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 11 | ||
27 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 12 | ||
26 photographs
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 13 | ||
10 photographs
|