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 US unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union, generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG", merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in the 1990s to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.
Two women strikers on picket line during the "Uprising of the 20,000", garment workers strike, New York City
Firefighters spraying water at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Building during the fire
Lyndon Johnson meets with ILGWU members.
The Garment Worker (1984) by Judith Weller was commissioned by the ILGWU and the Public Art Fund, and donated to the City of New York. It is on permanent display outside 555 Seventh Avenue, between West 39th and 40th Streets in the Garment District of Midtown Manhattan. It portrays a garment worker at a sewing machine and is intended as a reminder of the role of the ILGWU's members in making New York one of the garment and fashion centers of the world.
New York shirtwaist strike of 1909
The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909, also known as the Uprising of the 20,000, was a labour strike primarily involving Jewish women working in New York shirtwaist factories. It was the largest strike by female American workers up to that date. Led by Clara Lemlich and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and supported by the National Women's Trade Union League of America (NWTUL), the strike began in November 1909.
Two women strikers picketing during the strike