The Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE, often stylized UNITE!) was a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in the United States clothing industry from 1995-2004.

History

UNITE-ILGWU/ACTWU Merger

UNITE was formed in 1995 as a merger between the

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was a labor union for employees in the women's clothing industry in the United States. It was one of the largest unions in the country, one of the first to have a primarily female membersh ...

(ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). UNITE's core industries were

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

and

apparel Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

manufacturing, distribution, and retailing, but they also had locals involved in industrial

laundry Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...

, and manufacturing in other industries. Jay Mazur served as president of UNITE from its inception until his retirement in 2001. Bruce Raynor was later elected president, where he served until the HERE merger.

UNITE HERE Merger

In 2004, UNITE announced that it would merge with the

Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) was a United States labor union representing workers of the hospitality industry, formed in 1890. In 2004, HERE merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UN ...

(HERE) to form UNITE HERE. In 2009 most of the apparel and laundry workers in UNITE HERE broke away to form a separate union known as

Workers United Workers United is an American and Canadian labor union which represents about 86,000 workers in the apparel, textile, commercial laundry, distribution, food service, hospitality, fitness and non-profit industries.Greenhouse, Steve"Union Rejoinin ...

, which affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

References

External links

* UNITE HERE Textile and clothing trade unions Women's occupational organizations Defunct trade unions in the United States Trade unions established in 1995 Trade unions disestablished in 2004 {{US-trade-union-stub

History

UNITE-ILGWU/ACTWU Merger

UNITE HERE Merger

See also

References

External links