Women in labor unions have participated in labor organizing and activity throughout

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

history. These workers have organized to address issues within the workplace, such as promoting

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

, better working conditions, and higher wages. Women have participated in unions including the

Collar Laundry Union The Collar Laundry Union was the first all-female labor union in the United States. It was started in Troy, New York by Kate Mullany in 1864. At the time, being a laundress was a difficult job. An almost exclusively female occupation, laund ...

, the

WTUL WTUL is a progressive/alternative FM radio outlet in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, operating at 91.5 MHz with an ERP of 1,500 watts. The transmitter is located on the campus of Tulane University. The station, which is owned ...

, the

IWW The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

, the

ILGWU The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...

, and the

UAW The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American Labor unions in the United States, labor union that represents workers in the Un ...

Early union activity

1860s

The

was formed in 1864 in Troy, New York by

Kate Mullany Kate Mullany (1845–1906) was an early female labor leader who started the all-women Collar Laundry Union in Troy, New York in February 1864. It was one of the first women's unions that lasted longer than the resolution of a specific issue.

. It was the first entirely female labor union in the United States.

1890s

For five months,

Mary Kenney O'Sullivan Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (January 8, 1864 – January 18, 1943), was an organizer in the early U.S. labor movement. She learned early the importance of Trade union, unions from poor treatment received at her first job in dressmaking. Making a career ...

was appointed as a part-time organizer of the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

in 1892.

The Women's Trade Union League

Formation

The Women's Trade Union League of America (WTUL) was formed in November 1903 after three meetings at a convention for the

. Mary Morton Kehew became president,

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

the vice-president,

the secretary, and

Mary McDowell Mary Eliza McDowell (November 30, 1854 – October 14, 1936) was an American social reformer and prominent figure in the Chicago Settlement movement. Early life Mary Eliza McDowell was born on November 30, 1854 to Malcolm and Jane Welch Gord ...

the executive board. An economic downturn in early 1904 caused union membership decline, and as a result, the WTUL struggled at its formation. The WTUL also discovered it was difficult to organize women due to lack of union knowledge and family obligations. Despite initial difficulty in organizing, the WTUL supported spontaneous strikes when the

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...

(ILGWU) lacked funding. The WTUL offered groups of strikers help in exchange for their loyalty to the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Though the AFL affiliation caused issues within the league, the WTUL insisted on following the AFL's policies in order to retain status as reputable unionists. A body of strong strike leaders and organizers, including

Leonora O'Reilly Leonora O’Reilly (February 16, 1870 – April 3, 1927) was an American feminist, suffragist, and trade union organizer. O'Reilly was born in New York state, raised in the Lower East Side of New York City. She was born into a working-class famil ...

and

Josephine Casey Josephine Casey (1 January 1878(?) – 27 January 1950) was a labor organizer and leader, and a women's rights advocate. Early life Casey, the youngest of four children, was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 878?and raised in Chicago. Her Catholic p ...

, was developed within the WTUL by 1906. Allies of the WTUL helped to organize walkouts,

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

s, walk picket lines, and raise funds for the league. In 1909 the WTUL purchased a large house at 43 East Twenty-second Street to be used as a meeting place for all women unionists, as proposed by

Mary Dreier Mary Dreier (September 26, 1875 - August 15, 1963) was a New York social reformer. Early life Mary Elisabeth Dreier was born in New York city, New York, on September 26, 1875. Her parents, Theodor Dreier, a successful businessman, and Dorthea Drei ...

, the WTUL's New York leader Prior, many women's trade unions had met in small, dirty meeting halls, which led the WTUL to believe that the spacious meeting place would be more inviting and attractive for smaller unions.

Outreach

To reach out and inform women in the workforce, the WTUL wrote the text ''New World Lessons for Old World People,'' which contained essays and stories with subjects pertaining to working conditions, conflicts due to ethnicity, and laws within factories. They also formed the Good Health League, which held lectures to inform women about their personal well-being, and how their poor working conditions affected their health. Though many saw work as a temporary transition period between childhood and marriage, the WTUL attempted to urge women to view themselves as independent wage earners. Rallies and marches were held by the WTUL to protest the police brutality women faced while picketing. Until 1955 the WTUL remained active.

Industrial Workers of the World

The

(Industrial Workers of the World) was founded in 1905. The IWW was founded by

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

Lucy Parsons Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons (born Lucia Carter; 1851 – March 7, 1942) was an American labor organizer, radical socialist and anarcho-communist. She is remembered as a powerful orator. Parsons entered the radical movement following her marriag ...

Bill Haywood William Dudley "Big Bill" Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928) was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of A ...

Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialism, socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate ...

, Daniel D. Leon, and Thomas J. Haggerty.

was considered the IWW's "founding mother".

Garment work in 1909-1913

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

In 1900 the

was formed. 27,000 women joined the ILGWU by 1904, as estimated by The Women's Trade Union League of America. Early women's unions were often in the garment trade, as the industry employed many working women. Women in the garment industry often had to purchase their own thread and needles in order to work, and often were fined for errors in their sewing.

New York shirtwaist strike of 1909

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

working women employed by three major shirtwaist companies (the Leiserson Company, the Rosen Company, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Company) went to the

Women's Trade Union League of America The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an important ...

(WTUL) in 1909 to gain support in their strikes.

and hundreds of other women, were arrested while picketing. On November 23, 1909,

Clara Lemlich Clara Lemlich Shavelson (March 28, 1886 – July 12, 1982) was a leader of the Uprising of 20,000, the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York's garment industry in 1909, where she spoke in Yiddish and called for action. Later bl ...

's speech inspired the largest women's strike up to that point, which took place among primarily Jewish waist makers on the following day.

The strike ''The Strike'' (also known as ''Strike!'', although this is more properly the title of the fictitious Hollywood movie featured in the episode) is one of the short comedy films – written by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens, and directed by Ric ...

led more than 20,000 workers to walk out of 500 shops in New York City. 10,000 women went back to work by November 27, 1909, after the smaller manufacturers agreed to the wages proposed by the unions. Larger manufacturers did not comply, forcing the strike to lead into December, and eventually spread to Philadelphia. During these months violence increased on picket lines; women were assaulted, harassed, and arrested. Some arrested women were sent to the workhouse on

Blackwell's Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85 ...

The United Auto Workers

World War II 1939–1945

More than 200,000 women laborers entered the automotive trade during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, causing upset in labor division.{{Cite book, url=https://archive.org/details/feminisminlaborm0000gabi, title=Feminism in the labor movement : women and the united auto workers, 1935-1975, last=Gabin, Nancy F., date=1990, publisher=Cornell University, isbn=0801497256, oclc=875967294, url-access=registration On October 15, the UAW demanded that all female laborers were to be removed from work on heavy machinery or they would strike. After two more women laborers were hired, the strike commenced and was a victory after 36 hours of protest. As a result, women were permitted to only work in areas deemed appropriate for their gender. Women laid off from the auto industry were also unable to work in defense jobs as they were not protected under the OPM Six-Point Transfer. 50 women unionists gathered in late October, demanding a woman representative be appointed into the Detroit Defense Employment Committee, however, their demand was not met. This issue later became obsolete as the demand for wartime workers grew. By November 1943 26 percent of the automotive labor force was made up of women, as opposed to the previous 5 percent. On September 26, 1942, the National War Labor Board established that women and men must be paid the same rate, in order to settle disputes in labor forces. By September 1944, 105 women were delegates at the

's yearly convention.

Activism

Caroline Davis was elected president of Local 764 in 1944, and was reelected four more times. Davis in 1948 was appointed to the staff of the International Union, ending her presidency of Local 764. A CIO affiliate, the Detroit Industrial Union Council, elected its first woman organizer, Mae McKernan. After a proposal submission to the IEB, the UAW Women's Bureau was established, electing Mildred Jeffery as its first director. December 8 and 9 1944 a women's conference was held and attended by 149 women from 46 states in 99 union locals. Women addressed concerns about postwar work and issues of workplace seniority.

Intersectionality

leaders and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

advocated for workers of color, resulting in the employment of black women in the automotive industry. Though protests occurred, the

continued to advocate for their African American employees, threatening to fire groups of workers on the opposition. As a result of the support from the

, black women became active in unions and sought positions of leadership.

Lillian Hatcher Lillian Hatcher (1915–1998) was an African American riveter and union organizer. She was employed at the Briggs aircraft plant in Detroit when she first became active in union organizing after the company transferred a group of female employees ...

, a black woman unionist in February 1944 organized local 742's first women's conference.

Postwar work 1945–1947

After World War II, despite efforts from women labor unionists, women in the automotive industry started to become frequently laid off, despite seniority. Women also found it more difficult to find work outside of defense jobs at this time. In Detroit 1945, outside of Ford Motor Company's factory, 200 unionized women held a protest in opposition to the company's widespread layoff of women laborers in favor of hiring of less qualified male workers.

References

Trade unions