The Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) was an

industrial union Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...

of textile workers established through the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

in 1939 and merged with the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) 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 Indus ...

to become the

Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) was a labor union 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 ...

(ACTWU) in 1976. It waged a decades-long campaign to organize J.P. Stevens and other

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

textile manufacturers that achieved some successes.

History

In 1901, the United Textile Workers of America (UTW) was formed as an affiliate 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 mutua ...

(AFL). The UTW, which had its greatest strength in the North, called a strike of textile workers in 1934 to protest worsening working conditions during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The strike was, however, a failure, especially in the South. In 1937, the Committee for Industrial Organization (later the Congress of Industrial Organizations or CIO) formed the

Textile Workers Organizing Committee Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

(TWOC) as an alternative to the UTW. In 1939, locals from the TWOC and the UTW merged to form the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). The TWUA led numerous organizing campaigns in the union-resistant South, aiming to help textile workers achieve higher wages, health insurance and other benefits, and to ensure fair labor practices. The TWUA was a leading organization in

Operation Dixie Operation Dixie was the name of the post- World War II campaign by the Congress of Industrial Organizations to unionize industry in the Southern United States, particularly the textile industry. Launched in the spring of 1946, the campaign ran in 1 ...

, the CIO's post-World War II drive to organize industries in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. The unions hoped that by building on the successful organization of wartime industries and using methods proved effective by auto and

steel workers Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...

, it would be possible to overcome the consequences of the UTW's failed 1934 strike. The TWUA was able to organize new plants and revive some moribund organizations, but was unable to achieve a breakthrough win which would organize the whole industry. Operation Dixie was retired by 1954. In the 1960s and 1970s the TWUA found itself in competition with other unions for representation in large Southern plants. In 1976, the TWUA merged with another garment union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). After several further mergers, the TWUA's textile locals became part Workers United, a manufacturing and hospitality workers union.

Presidents

:1939: Emil Rieve :1956: William Pollock :1972: Sol Stetin

External links

(successor organization)
Histories of UNITE! and Predecessor Unions
Bibliographies compiled by Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relationsbr>Margaret Catherwood Library
Retrieved May 24, 2005. *Patton, Randall L
"Textile Organizing in a Sunbelt South Community: Northwest Georgia's Carpet Industry in the Early 1960s."
''Labor History''. August 1998. Retrieved May 24, 2005.

fro
Oral Histories of the American South

History

Presidents

External links

Further reading and movies

Archives