ILGWU Governor Smith's Hearings and Arbitration with Various Associations Records
Collection Number: 5780/165
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Governor Smith's Hearings
and Arbitration with Various Associations Records, 1924
Collection Number:
5780/165
Creator:
International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union (ILGWU)
Quantity:
0.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records (documents).
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
The collection consists of the records regarding the
hearings of the Special Commission of Arbitration on July 15, 1924.
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.
Beginning in March 1924, the ILGWU and the Joint Board of Cloak and Dressmakers'
Union began negotiations with the Merchants' Ladies' Garment Association (jobbers),
the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association (manufacturers), and
the American Cloak and Suit Manufacturers' Association (sub-manufacturers). When no
agreement could be reached by June 1924, New York Governor Alfred E. Smith appointed
a Special Advisory Commission consisting of George Gordon Battle (Chairman), Herbert
Lehman, Arthur Wolf, Lindsay Rogers, and Bernard Schientag (State Industrial
Commissioner). Representing the union and associations were Morris Hillquit (ILGWU),
Samuel Blumberg (Merchants' Ladies' Garment Association) and William Klein (Cloak
and Suit Manufacturers' Protective Association). Public hearings took place between
June 17 and June 25, and on June 27, recommendations were submitted. Accepted by the
union, sub-manufacturers, and manufacturers, the jobbers refused until July 7, 1924
when the Merchants' Association agreed to the terms of the Governors'
Commission.
The collection contains the typed transcripts from the hearings of the Special
Commission appointed by Governor Smith to investigate and arbitrate the existing
differences between the ILGWU and the associations of manufacturers and jobbers.
Taking place at the office of the State Labor Department in New York City, the
records contain hearings that date between July 15, 1924 and October 27, 1924. In
the form of questions and answers between the Special Commission and the
representatives of the ILGWU and manufacturers' associations, discussion focuses on
the role of designers within manufacturing, conditions in the industry, the
responsibility of jobbers and sub-manufacturers, and salary and wages.
For more information on the Governor's Advisory Commission, also see 5780/161
Governor's Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry in New York
records 1924-1959. This collection contains the first hearing of the Special
Commission on June 17, 1924 to study the situation in the Cloak and Suit Industry
and be able to offer recommendations to avert any impending strike. The hearings are
in bound volumes and include June 17-19, 1924; June 20-23, 1924; June 24-July 11,
1924; July 15-August 1, 1924; August 12-October 2, 1924; and January 2-April 15,
1925.
The Hearings continue into 1925, and additionally, there is the final Report of the
Investigation from March 10, 1925. There are also additional reports that were
created as the result of the investigation including "Wages and Wage Scales, 1925,"
Final Recommendations from May 1926, the Meeting of the Special Mediation Commission
in the New York Cloak and Suit Industry from March 6, 1926 (same individuals
involved).
Much of the same information can also be found in collection 6036/009 Governor's
Advisory Commission. Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry.
Names:
Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry -- New York (State) --
New York.
Women's clothing industry -- United States.
Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- New York
(State) -- New York.
Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- United
States.
Clothing workers -- New York (State) -- New
York.
Clothing workers -- United States.
Arbitration, Industrial -- New York (State) --
New York.
Arbitration, Industrial -- United States.
Industrial relations -- New York (State) -- New
York.
Industrial relations -- United States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Records (documents)
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 Governor Smith''s Hearings and Arbitration with Various Associations
Records #5780/165. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives,
Cornell University Library.
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Container
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Description
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Date
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1924 | |
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July 15, 1924. ILGWU and Various Manufacturers. pp. 704-851
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| Box 1 | Folder 2 | 1924 | |
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July 15, 1924. ILGWU and Various Manufacturers. pp. 852-1006
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| Box 1 | Folder 3 | 1924 | |
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July 15, 1924. ILGWU and Various Manufacturers. pp. 1007-1126
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| Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1924 | |
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July 15, 1924. ILGWU and Various Manufacturers. pp. 1127-1238
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| Box 1 | Folder 5 | 1924 | |
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July 15, 1924. ILGWU and Various Manufacturers. pp. 1244-1238
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