A History of the Chicago Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

A History of the Chicago Ladies' Garment "Workers' Union By WILFRED CARSEL With an Introduction by PAUL H.DOUGLAS Professor of Economics, University of Chicago NORMANDIE HOUSE • CHICAGO 1940 115 Copyright 1940, By the Chicago joint Board, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Prefcace his volume was prepared at the request of the Chi- cago Joint Board, International Ladies' Garment Work- ers' Union, and has been written primarily with the T purpose of presenting an historical interpretation of the union to its membership. The author is greatly indebted to the following: to Mr. Paul Wallin, who read and criticized the entire manuscript; to Mr. Morris Bialis, manager of the Chicago Joint Board and vice president of the International; to Mr. Quentin Ogren, educational director of the Chicago Joint Board; to Dr. Lazare Teper, director of the research department of the International; and most particularly, to Mr. M. A. Goldstein, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Joint Board, who has been a helpful critic through- out the period of the preparation of this work. Acknowledgments of aid from the many other persons and agencies consulted by the author will be found elsewhere in this volume. The Author September 5, ig$g Chicago, Illinois vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following: Leonard Axelrod, Meyer Barkan, Mrs. Abraham Bisno, Ray Blottiaux, Morris Broudy, Fannia M. Cohn, John Crerar Library, Benjamin Dolnick, Rebecca Eisenstat, Mary Fisher, Sol Flack, Sonya Forthal, Meyer Friedman, Mollie Friedman, Roy Glassman, Samuel Glassman, Abraham Gold, Bessie Goldberg, Meyer Goldstein, Samuel Gordon, Max Graffman, Alice Hinton, Mary Jurbin, Sol Kaufman, Anna Klibanoff, Kate Koppa, Leo Lavender, Jack Lotterman, Harry Messer, Agnes Nestor, Simon Packer, Abraham Plotkin, Abraham Rabinowitz, Al- fred Rose, Harry Rufer, Barnett Schaffer, Hyman Schoolman, Morris Seskind, Joe Shargel, Aaron Sher, Peter Sissman, Helen Moscicki Stewart, University of Chicago Library, W. W. Westman, W.PA. Foreign Newspaper Project, Mollie Yanowitz, Harry Zeff. Table of Contents Preface vii Foreword xix Introduction xxiii PARTI The Period of Seasonal Unionism 1886-1914 I. A Sweated Industry, 1885-1900 Development of the ladies' garment industry—The inside shops—Changes in the 1880's—The "new immigrants"—Con- tracting system—The Chicago sweatshop—Hours of work and wages—Sanitary conditions—Causes of the sweatshop system 3 II. Rumblings of Discontent, 1880- 1886 Obstacles to organization—Early attempts in trade unionism —The Women Cloakmakers' Assembly of the Knights of Labor—The first strike of the Chicago cloakmakers, 1886 15 III. The Chicago Cloak Makers' Union, 1889- 1900 The Workingman's Educational Society—Eormation of the Chicago Cloak Makers' Union—Its first victory—The Wo- men's Cloakmakers' Union of 1892—Agitation against the sweatshop—Decline of the union, 1893- 1894—Its revival in 1895—Disintegration of the Chicago Cloak Makers' Union in 1898—The spirit of the first cloakmakers' union 22 IV. Chicago and the International, 1 901 -1904 Organization of Local 5—The five Chicago locals of 1903— Their role in the International convention—The Beifeld agreement, 1903—Defeat in general strike of 1904 36 V. Seasonal Unionism, 1905- 1909 Conditions in the Chicago cloak industry—Efforts of cloak- xi makers to organize—Affiliation with I.W. W.—The Vereinigte Yiddishe Gewerkschaften—The "Independent Cloakmakers' Union." 41 VI. The Palmer Strike, 1909-1911 Organization of Local 44—Advance of the union, 1910-1911 —Defeat in the Palmer strike, 1911 48 VII. The Struggle for Survival, 1911-1914 Weakening of the union, 191 1-1912— Revival in 1913—The Holtzberg affair— Causes of seasonal unionism 56 PART II The Period of Expansion 1914-1920 VIII. The Chicago Joint Board, 1914-1915 Organization of the Chicago Joint Board—Early difficulties —Decides upon a mass organization campaign—Agitation for a general strike—The winning of the first collective agreement 65 IX. The Collective Agreement, 1915-1917 Terms of the agree?nent of September, 1915—Machinery for its enforcement—Sources of friction—Advantages of the collective agreement—The Board of Arbitration—Abraham Bisno and the spirit of the collective agreement 73 X. The Revolt of the Dressmakers, 1915-1917 Growth of the Chicago dress and white goods industries- Condition of workers—Early attempts at unionization—Local 59—The Herzog strike, 1915—Agitation for a collective agreement—Formation of Local 100—General strike of 1917 —Arrests and Injunctions—The Citizens' Committee—Defeat of the dressmakers 86 XL The Winning of Week Work, 1917-1919 Cloak agreement of 19 ij—Organizational activity of Joint Board—Demands in 1919—Debate on piece work versus week work—Agreement of 1919—The new week work sys- xii tern—Organization work among dressmakers—Their collective agreement of 1919 102 XII. The Spirit of the Union, 1916-1920 The Chicago Joint Board—Membership—Administrative machinery—Internal discipline—Finances—Sick benefit system- Educational activities—The "Chicago Ladies' Garment Work- ers' Lyceum"— Celebration of thirty-fifth anniversary 116 PART III On the Defensive 192 1 -1932 XIII. A Sick Industry, 1921-1925 Decline of the Chicago cloak and suit trade—Rise of the job- ber—Show rooms of New York jobbing houses in Chicago- Sub -manufacturing, fugitive shops, and corporation shops- Style and seasonal changes—The union forced on the defensive 129 XIV. On the Defensive, 1921-1924 Offensive of the employers, 1920-1921—General strike of cloakmakers, 1921—Internal struggles—Beginning of the "Right" and "Left" struggle—Recovery of union, 1923—The cooperative factory plan 138 XV. The War of 1924 Dress organization campaigns, 1 921 -1922—Beginning of 1923 campaign—General strike of 1924—Injunctions and contempt cases—State's Attorney's detectives—Arrests and char- ges—Citizens' Committee—Defeat of the dress strike—Con- sequences of loss of strike—Legal battle over contempt cases of 1924 155 XVI. Lefts and Rights, 1925-1927 Unemployment insurance plan of 1925—Critical situation of union, 1925-1926—Left and Right controversy, 1923-1925— Election of the "Progressive Administration" 1926—Its program—Manager Levin's report, 1927—Opposition of Rights —Dispute of Chicago Joint Board with International—Un- employment insurance fiasco—Street fighting—General Ex- xiii ecutive Board investigating committee—New election- Rights regain control of Joint Board—The Needle Trades Industrial Council 174 XVII. Facing the Depression, 1927-1932 Cloakmakers win 40-hour week, 1928—Organization of al- teration tailors—And of corset workers Local 25—The depression—Chicago resumes piece work system—Depth of the depression, 1932 193 PART IV The New Advance 1933-1939 XVIII. The New Advance, 1933 Organization work among dressmakers, 1930-1932—Lipson Brothers strike, 1933— General Strike of August, 1933—Col- lective agreement—Union reestablishes itself in cloak trade —Internal recovery of union 211 XIX. The Union and the Industry, 1934-1939 Dress trade, 1934- 1939—Functioning of the collective agreement—Renewal of agreement, 1936—Strike of the pattern- makers—Recession—1939 agreement—Present situation df dress industry—Situation of cloak trade, 1934—Disputes with Hirsh and Sons—1939 strike—Present situation of cloakmakers—Cotton and White Goods campaign—Miscellaneous locals—Out-of-town organization drive—Objectives of union- Difficulties and techniques—Example of a fugitive shop- Results of drive 223 XX. The Functioning of the Union, 1934-1939 The union as a business organization—Membership of the Joint Board—Structure—Process of collective bargaining- Machinery for enforcement of agreement—Financial structure of union—The union as a democratic and representative institution—The membership as an electoral body—As policy making and ratifying body—Grievance Board—The union as a welfare institution—Sick benefits—Death benefits—Relief, loan, and strike funds—Educational program of Joint Board 242 xiv Retrospect Appendices I. Officers of the Chicago Joint Board I.L.G.W.U. and Its Affiliated Locals. II. Evolution of the Chicago Joint Board and Its Affiliated Locals. III. Statement of Receipts and Disbursements of the Chi- cago Joint Board and Its Affiliated Locals. IV. Disbursements of the Chicago Joint Board, Specific Items. V. Disbursements For Donations and Benefits By Locals. VI. Wages and Hours of the Chicago Cloak and Dress Makers, 1903-1939 268 Reference Notes 287 Glossary 305 Bibliography 309 Index 317 xv List of Illustrations Facing Page A Sweatshop and a Modern Shop 8 First Charter, Chicago Cloak Makers' Union (i8go) 24 Morris Sigman, Abraham Baroff and Benjamin Schlesinger 38 Executive Board, Local 44 (191 5); Abraham Bisno and Peter Sissman 68 Morris Bialis 204 M. A. Goldstein 208 David Dubinsky 212 Delegates and Officers, Chicago Joint Board, 1939 224 Office Staff, Chicago Joint Board, 1939 244 Educational Activities 260 IMTFP NATIONAL LADIES GARMENT W JNiON xvn Foreword Chicago ghetto was a scene of high excitement on Thethe morning of Wednesday, May 5, 1886. Some four hundred immigrants, tense and fearful, were milling about the DeKoven Street Hall preparatory to a brave adventure. They were about to venture forth from the ghetto, into the unknown "downtown" district, to challenge the might of "the bosses" and to assert their rights as human beings to a living wage. The first march of the Chicago cloakmakers—in revolt against the conditions of the sweatshop—was about to begin. The day before, alarming rumors had reached these striking cloakmakers. The downtown manufacturers were enlarging their inside shops;* they were hiring more "American" girls; there would be no more bundles for the ghetto cloakmakers in the contractor shops. Panic-stricken, the strikers suddenly re- solved to march into the Loop, into the center of the cloak manufacturing district. They sensed only vaguely why they were to march. The results to be obtained were very uncertain. But it was enough that they would march and express their solidarity for the world to behold.

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