The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It merged with the Textile Workers Union of America in 1976 to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, which merged with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in 1995 to create the union known as UNITE. A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 - July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. ... The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, was a federation of unions that organized industrial workers in the United States and Canada in the 1930s through the 1950s. ... The Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) was an industrial union of textile workers established through the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1939 and merged with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to become the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) in 1976. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The International Ladies Garment Workers Union, once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s, merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) was a labor union in the United States, formed in 1995 as a merger between the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). ...

Founding

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America—also known as "ACWA" or simply "the Amalgamated"—formed in 1914 as a result of the revolt of the urban locals against the conservative AFL affiliate the United Garment Workers. The roots of this conflict date back to the general strike of Chicago, when a spontaneous strike by a handful of women workers led to a citywide strike of 45,000 garment workers in 1910, That strike was a bitter one and pitted the strikers against not only their employers and the local authorities, but also their own union. 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... 1910 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

The leadership of the United Garment Workers mistrusted the more militant local leadership in Chicago and in other large urban locals, which had strong Socialist loyalties. When it tried to disenfranchise those locals' members at the UGW's 1914 convention, those locals, representing two thirds of the union's membership, bolted to form the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The AFL refused to recognize the new union and the UGW regularly raided it, furnishing strikebreakers and signing contracts with struck employers, in the years to come. The Socialist Party of America is a socialist political party in the United States. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

The Amalgamated's battles with the UGW's leadership also soured the union's relations with Abraham Cahan and the Daily Forward, which Cahan edited. During the 1913 strike by the United Brotherhood of Tailors in New York City, Cahan and the United Hebrew Trades had taken sides with the UGW leadership against the strikers by endorsing a settlement that the strikers rejected. The same split surfaced again the following year when the Forward and members of the Socialist Party who had a stake in the AFL supported the new union, but only tepidly, when it split from the UGW and the AFL. While the Forward played a direct role in the internal politics of the other major garment union, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, in years to come, it had far less influence over the ACWA. Abraham Cahan (July 7, 1860 - 1951) was a leading writer and lecturer for socialist and labor movements in New York City. ... The Forward is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York. ... 1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

Growth

The Amalgamated solidified its gains and extended its power in Chicago through a series of strikes in the last half of the 1910s. The Amalgamated found it harder, on the other hand, to make gains in Baltimore, where it was able to sign an agreement with one of the largest manufacturers that, like HSM in Chicago, sought labor peace, it found itself at odds with an unusual alliance of UGW locals, the corrupt head of the Baltimore Federation of Labor, and the Industrial Workers of the World, who undermined the Amalgamated's strikes and attacked strikers. Complicating the picture further were the ethnic bonds between the many Lithuanian members of the IWW and the subcontractors whom the Amalgamated was trying to put out of business and the anarcho-syndicalist politics of many Lithuanian workers, who had developed their politics in opposition to czarist oppression in their homeland. The Amalgamated eventually prevailed, as the contradictions between the IWW's politics and its alliance with small contractors and the AFL eventually undercut its support among Lithuanian workers. Events and trends Technology Gideon Sundback patents the first modern zipper Harry Brearley invents stainless steel Charles P. Strite invents first pop-up bread toaster Science Einsteins theory of general relativity Max von Laue discovers the diffraction of x-rays by crystals Alfred Wegener puts forward his theory of... This article is about the city in the US state of Maryland. ... The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It contends that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and the profit system abolished. ...

The ACWA also benefited from the relatively pro-union stance of the federal government during World War I, during which the federal Board of Control and Labor Standards for Army Clothing enforced a policy of labor peace in return for union recognition. With the support of key progressives, such as Walter Lippman and Felix Frankfurter, the union was able to obtain government support in organizing outposts such as Rochester, New York as part of an experiment in industrial democracy. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 - December 14, 1974), was an influential United States writer, journalist, and political commentator. ... Justice Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882–February 22, 1965) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ... Rochester, also known as both The Flower City, and The Flour City, is a city in Monroe County, New York, United States. ...

That experiment ended in 1919, when employers in nearly every industry with a history of unionism went on the offensive. The ACWA not only survived a four month lockout in New York City, but came away in an even stronger position. By 1920, the union had contracts with 85 percent of men's garment manufacturers and had reduced the workweek to 44 hours. 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... City nickname: The Big Apple Location in the state of New York Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg Area  - Land  - Water 1,214. ...

Under Hillman's leadership, the union tried to moderate the fierce competition between employers in the industry by imposing industry wide working standards, thereby taking wages and hours out of the competitive calculus. The ACWA tried to regulate the industry in other ways, arranging loans and conducting efficiency studies for financially troubled employers. Hillman also favored "constructive cooperation" with employers, relying on arbitration rather than strikes to resolve disputes during the life of a contract. As he explained his philosophy in 1938: 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Certainly, I believe in collaborating with the employers! That is what unions are for. I even believe in helping an employer function more productively. For then, we will have a claim to higher wages, shorter hours, and greater participation in the benefits of running a smooth industrial machine....

The ACWA also pioneered a version of "social unionism" that offered low-cost cooperative housing and unemployment insurance to union members and founded a bank that would serve labor's interests. Hillman and the ACWA had strong ties to many progressive reformers, such as Jane Addams and Clarence Darrow. Jane Addams Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was an American social worker, sociologist and reformer. ... Clarence Darrow ca. ...

Hillman was, on the other hand, opposed to revolutionary unionism and to the Communist Party USA. While Hillman had maintained warm relations with the Communist Party during the early 1920s—at a time when his leadership was being challenged both by the Forward on the right and by Lithuanian and Italian syndicalists and Jewish anarchists within the union on the left—those relations cooled in 1924 when the CP withdrew its support for the Farmer-Labor Party created to support La Follette's candidacy for President. From that point forward Hillman battled the CP activists within his union, but without the massive internecine strife that nearly tore apart the ILGWU in this era. The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is one of several Marxist-Leninist groups in the United States. ... Sometimes referred to as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age. ... 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Robert Marion La Follette, Sr. ... Seal of the President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state of the United States. ...

Which is not to say that the CP did not put up a fight when it broke with Hillman and the ACW leadership. The struggle was most acute in outlying areas, such as Montreal, Toronto and Rochester, where the CP and its Canadian counterpart were strongly entrenched. In New York City the fight was often physical, as Hillman brought in Abraham Beckerman, a prominent member of the Socialist Party with close ties to The Forward, to use strongarm tactics on communist opponents within the union. By the end of the decade, the CP was no longer a significant force in the union. {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Concordia Salus (Salvation through harmony) Ville de Montréal, Québec, Canada Location. ... }|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Official Flag]]|Coat Image=[[Image:{{{Coat Image}}}|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Coat of Arms]]}} {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Diversity Our Strength {{Canadian City/Location Image is:{{{Location Image Type}}}|[[Image:{{{Location Image}}}|thumbnail|250px|City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Location. ...

Fighting organized crime

While battling the CP, Hillman turned a blind eye to the infiltration of gangsters within the union. The garment industry had been riddled for decades with small-time gangsters, who ran protection and loansharking rackets while offering muscle in labor disputes. First hired to strongarm strikers, some went to work for unions, who used them first for self-defense, then to intimidate strikebreakers and recalcitrant employers. ILG locals used "Dopey" Benny Fein, who refused on principle to work for employers. Dopey Benny Fein (1889-19??) was an early Jewish gangster who dominated New York labor racketeering in the 1910s. ...

Internecine warfare between labor sluggers eliminated many of the earliest racketeers. "Little Augie Jacob Orgen took over the racket, providing muscle for the ILGWU in the 1926 strike. Louis "Lepke" Buchalter had Orgen assassinated in 1927 in order to take over his operations. Buchalter took an interest in the industry, acquiring ownership of a number of trucking firms and control of local unions of truckdrivers in the garment district, while acquiring an ownership interest in some garment firms and local unions. The Labor Sluggers War was a series of gang wars among New York labor sluggers for control of labor racketeering lasting from the gang war between Dopey Benny Fein and Joe The Greaser Rosenzweig against a coalition of smaller gangs in 1911 and continuing on and off until the murder... Jacob Little Augie Orgen ( 1894- October 16, 1927) was a Jewish Prohibition gangster and New York labor racketeer. ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Louis Lepke Buchalter (6 February 1897 - 4 March 1944) was a Jewish-American mobster who was the notorious head of Murder, Inc. ... 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Buchalter, who had provided services for some locals of the Amalgamated during the 1920s. also acquired influence within the ACW. Among his allies within the ACW were Beckerman and Philip Orlofsky, another officer in Cutters Local 4, who made sweetheart deals with manufacturers that allowed them to subcontract to cut-rate subcontractors out of town, using Buchalter's trucking companies to bring the goods back and forth. Sometimes referred to as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age. ...

In 1931 Hillman resolved to act against Buchalter, Beckerman and Orlofsky. He began by orchestrating public demands on Jimmy Walker, the corrupt Tammany Hall Mayor of New York, to crack down on racketeering in the garment district, Hillman then proceeded to seize control of Local 4, expelling Beckerman and Orlofsky from tech union, then taking action against corrupt union officials in Newark, New Jersey. The union then struck a number of manufacturers to bar the subcontracting of work to non-union or cut rate contractors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In the course of that strike the union picketed a number of trucks run by Buchalter's companies to prevent them from bringing finished goods back to New York. James J. Walker, often known as Jimmy Walker, (June 19, 1881–November 18, 1946) was the fun-loving mayor of New York City during the Jazz Age. ... The Tammany Hall on 14th Street, New York City Tammany Hall was the name given to the Democratic Party political machine that dominated New York City politics from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 through the election of Fiorello LaGuardia in 1934. ... Skyline of downtown Newark as seen from the Newark Bay Bridge. ... State nickname: The QUENESE PERSON STATE Other U.S. States Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Governor Ed Rendell Official languages None Area 119,283 km² (33rd)  - Land 116,074 km²  - Water 3,208 km² (2. ... State nickname: The Garden State Other U.S. States Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Governor Richard Codey (acting) Official languages None defined Area 22,608 km² (47th)  - Land 19,231 km²  - Water 3,378 km² (14. ...

While the campaign cleaned up the ACW, it did not drive Buchalter out of the industry. The union may, in fact, have made a deal of some sort with Buchalter, although no evidence has ever surfaced, despite intensive efforts of political opponents of the union, such as Thomas Dewey and Westbrook Pegler, to find it. Buchalter claimed, before his execution in 1944, that he had never dealt with either Hillman or Dubinsky, head of the ILGWU. Thomas Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was the Governor of New York (1943-1955) and the Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency in two elections (1944 and 1948), losing both times. ... Westbrook Pegler (2 August 1894 - 24 June 1969) was a United States journalist and writer. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Great Depression and the founding of the CIO

The Great Depression reduced the Amalgamated's membership to one third or less of its former strength. Like many other unions, the ACWA revived with the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act, whose promise of legal protection for workers' right to organize brought thousands of garment workers back to the ACWA. The AFL finally allowed the ACWA to affiliate in 1933. The Great Depression was the global economic slump that began in 1929 and bottomed in 1933. ... The United States National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of June 16, 1933 established codes of fair competition Categories: 1933 in law | United States history stubs ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Hillman and the ACWA were supporters of the New Deal and Roosevelt from the outset. FDR named Hillman to the Labor Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration in 1933 and to the National Industrial Recovery Board in 1934. Hillman provided key assistance to Senator Robert F. Wagner in the drafting of the National Labor Relations Act and to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins in winning enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The New Deal was President Franklin D. Roosevelts legislative agenda for rescuing the United States from the Great Depression. ... As part of the New Deal in the United States, the National Recovery Administration developed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Administration pushed industries to make codes and rules for fair competition. It gave more rights to workers and employees, and assisted industries as well as poor unemployed people... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Portrait of Robert F. Wagner in the U.S. Senate Reception Room Robert Ferdinand Wagner (8 June 1877–4 May 1953) was a U.S. Senator from New York. ... The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (or Wagner Act) protects the rights of workers in the private sector of the United States to organize unions, to engage in collective bargaining over wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment, and to take part in strikes and other forms of... Frances Perkins wearing a veil after the death of president Roosevelt Frances Coralie Perkins (April 10, 1882--May 14, 1965) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. ... The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 is federal legislation of the United States. ...

Within the AFL, the ACWA was one of the strongest advocates for organizing the mass production industries, such as automobile manufacture and steel, where unions had almost no presence, as well as the textile industry, which was only partially organized. Hillman was one of the original founders in 1935 of the Committee for Industrial Organizing, an effort led by John L. Lewis, and the ACWA followed the Mine Workers and other unions out of the AFL in 1937 to establish the CIO as a separate union confederation. 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 - June 11, 1969) was a labor leader, and served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1920 to 1960. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The ACWA provided major financial support for the Textile Workers Organizing Committee, which sought to establish a new union for textile workers after the disastrous defeat of the United Textile Workers' strike in 1934. The Textile Workers Union of America, with more than 100,000 members, came out of that effort in 1939. The ACWA also helped create the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union of America through the CIO's Department Store Workers Organizing Committee. The textile workers strike of 1934 was the largest strike in United States history at the time, involving 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and all over the southeastern United States and lasted twenty-two days. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Hillman and Lewis eventually had a falling out, with Lewis advocating a more independent tack in dealing with the federal government than Hillman. Lewis, however, gradually distanced himself from the CIO, finally resigning as its head and then withdrawing the United Mine Workers from it in 1942. Hillman remained in it, still the second most visible leader after Philip Murray, Lewis' successor. 1942 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Philip Murray (May 25, 1886 - November 9, 1952) was a U.S. (Scottish-born) labor leader. ...

Jacob Potofsky, a fellow veteran of the Hart. Schaffner & Marx strike of 1910, succeeded Hillman upon his death in 1946. The Amalgamated continued to grow during the 1950s, but, like other garment unions, faced long-term pressures from the flight of unionized work to non-union manufacturers in the South and abroad. 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... The Southern United States or the South, also known colloquially as Dixie, constitute a distinctive region covering a large portion of the United States, with its own unique heritage, historical perspective, customs, musical styles, and cuisine. ...

Merger with the TWUA and the ILGWU

The ACWA had played a leading role in the funding and leadership of the Textile Workers Organizing Committee, an organization founded by the CIO in 1939 as part of its effort to organize the South. The TWOC, which later renamed itself the Textile Workers Union of America, grew to as many as 100,000 members in the 1940s, but made little headway organizing in the South in the decades that followed. 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the V1 flying bomb and the first ballistic missile, the...

The ACWA merged with the TWUA in 1976 to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. The ACTWU merged with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in 1995 to create the union known as UNITE, which later merged with the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union to become UNITE HERE. 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) was a labor union in the United States, formed in 1995 as a merger between the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). ... UNITE HERE is a result of a 2004 merger of two American labor unions: the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE). ...

Political activities

The ACWA had been active in trying to form a labor party in the 1920s, combining some elements of the Socialist Party with supporters of La Follette.

Hillman used the ACWA as a base, along with the ILGWU led by David Dubinsky, in founding the American Labor Party in 1936, an ostensibly independent party that served as a halfway house for Socialists and other leftists who wanted to support FDR's reelection but were not prepared to join the Democratic Party. Dubinsky later split from the Labor Party over personal and political differences with Hillman to found the Liberal Party of New York. David Dubinsky (David Dubnievski) (February 22, 1892 - September 17, 1982) was a U.S. labor leader. ... The American Labor Party was a socialist political party in the United States active almost exclusively in the state of New York. ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Liberal Party of New York is a minor political party active only in New York State. ...

The ACWA dropped its support for the Labor Party in 1948, when it supported Henry Wallace, rather than Harry S. Truman, the CIO's chosen candidate. The Labor Party dissolved in 1955. 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888–November 18, 1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States. ... For the victim of Mt. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Fraser, Steven, Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor, Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1993. ISBN 0801481260.

• Josephson, Matthew, Sidney Hillman, Statesman of American Labor, New York: Doubleday & Company 1952.