The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) was a
labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
representing workers in two related industries in the United States.
The union was founded in 1976, when the
Textile Workers Union of America merged with the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The small
American Federation of Hosiery Workers also joined. On foundation, the new union had about 500,000 members. Like both its predecessors, it affiliated to the
AFL–CIO.
In 1979, the
United Shoe Workers of America merged in, followed in 1983 by the
United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union.
The union successfully campaigned to unionize workers at
J.P. Stevens & Co. However, the industry was in sharp decline in the United States,
and by 1995, the union had only 129,000 members. That year, it merged with the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, to form the
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.
Presidents
:1976:
Murray Finley
Murray Howard Finley (March 31, 1922 – July 31, 1995) was an American labor union leader and lawyer.
Born in Syracuse, New York, Finley attended the University of Michigan in the early 1940s. While there, he worked in an automobile plant, j ...
:1986:
Jack Sheinkman Jacob Sheinkman (December 6, 1926 – January 29, 2004) was an American labor union leader.
Sheinkman was born in the Bronx, to parents who had recently emigrated from Kyiv. In his youth, Sheinkman attended Evander Childs High School and was a ...
[{{cite web , title=ACTWU President Jacob Sheinkman Files , url=https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05619-004.html , website=Cornell University Library , publisher=Cornell University , access-date=20 April 2022]
References
Defunct trade unions in the United States
Textile and clothing trade unions
Trade unions established in 1976
Trade unions disestablished in 1995
