Joint Council. Minutes. [folder 3 of 3], 1936-1940

The collection contains the records of the Toronto Dressmakers Joint Council and the Toronto Cloak Joint Board. The earliest meeting minutes are from April 1, 1936 (first meeting of the Provisional Council of the Dressmakers Union of Toronto), and S. Herbst was chairman. The Joint Council minutes include listing of Joint Board and Executive Board members (1936-1937). There was an operators branch, cutters branch, and pressers branch, and each branch had a chairman, a joint council, and an executive board. The minutes include office reports, committee work and appointments, discussions surrounding particular dress shops and firms, and council decisions; reports on conditions in the trade. The minutes date till October 1969.



There are also meeting minutes for the individual divisions or branches within the Joint Council. Minutes are present for the Cutters, the first regular meeting was held May 4, 1936 with B. Taradash as chairman (1936-1938). The cutters minutes of local 192 (1941-1970) include meetings of the executive board, regular local, and other committees. The first regular meeting of the Operators', Finishers and Drapers (Local 72) was held May 4, 1936 with Morris Finer presiding (1936-1970). The Executive Board of the Pressers Branch (Local 72) held its first session June 10, 1942. There were also meetings for the Pressers Local, the minutes of the Executive Branch date from 1942-1970. Additionally, there is a minute books for the Pressers Locals 68 and 92 (1962-1963) and just Local 92 (1934-1936; 1963-1970) in Yiddish. Other minute books include: Cutters Local 83 (1930-1934), Cloakmakers' Local 14 (1931-1970) in Yiddish, and Local 94 (1941-1944) in Yiddish.



Committees are also represented in the records, with minutes from the Office Committee (1939-1970), Grievance Committee (1938-1940) and Grievance Board, Membership Committee (1940-1941), Election Objection Committee (1940), and War Efforts Committee.



Founded in 1911, the Toronto Joint Board celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1936. The earliest minutes in the collection date to 1928 and are in Yiddish, and appear in Yiddish and English in 1947. The Toronto Cloak Makers' Union celebrated its 59th anniversary in 1960, and was the oldest labor organization of garment workers in Canada. Locals represented in the collection were those associated with the Joint Board. In 1934, the Cloak and Suit Makers' Union Joint Board consisted of Locals 14, 68, 92, 94 and 83. Later, the name was changed to the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Makers' Union. In the 1940s, the Joint Council Dressmakers' Union was composed of Locals 72 and 192, and by the 1960s, Sportswear Local 199 was added to the Joint Board. Managers of the Joint Board included Bernard Shane; Abraham Kirzner, and Sam Kraisman S. Kraisman (manager Toronto Joint Board as well as manager Toronto Sportswear Union and Cloak Joint Board), with Joseph Macks manager of the Joint Council Dressmakers' Union in the 1960s.



Subjects and topics covered in the collection include files on various firms that did business in Canada and Toronto; union labels, including distributing to and charging locals, the union label committee minutes, distribution of novelty items with the union label, union label fashion shows, and advertising and promotion of the label. And price lists for various shops listing prices for various occupations such as pressers, operators, and finishers for specific years, categories and prices for specific seams sewn and styles, as well as wages and increases are also available. There is also information on the work with the Ukrainian Placement Committee to help relocate Ukrainian tailors to Western Canada in 1948. Material on the Canadian Coordinating Conferences includes the Dominion Planning and Coordinating Committee, which was to coordinate the activities of the ILGWU Unions of Canada to promote collective bargaining, abolish unfair and illegitimate competition, to establish uniformity of standards, maintain a fair living wage, and protect the rights of labor. It consisted of eight representatives from Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg and the national conferences were held yearly beginning in 1941. The records contain reports from the conferences.



There is much in the collection illustrating the administrative operations in Toronto, with departments such as the Auditing Department, which includes receipts and disbursements, and audit reports, and the Health and Welfare Department (Adolph Held was Director of the Health & Welfare Fund, Staff Retirement Fund, followed later by Louis Rolnick). The Toronto Cloak Industry Sick Benefit Fund was established in 1943 during the time H. Langer was manager of the Toronto Joint Board, with Dr. Price assigned to establish the administration and procedure for the Sick Benefit Fund. A Joint Board of Trustees was set up and composed of equal number of members of the Cloak Manufacturers Association and the union. Additionally, a working committee composed of the Executive Director of the Association and a union officer performed the daily duties of the Fund. The role of the Fund and Working Committee expanded beyond the initial weekly benefit payments to members, to include general medical examinations of the membership. Sick Fund activity also included home and hospital visits, funeral attendance, and answering questions. In 1951, the Retirement Fund for the Cloak Industry was established, which occurred first in Toronto, and later throughout Canada. The Joint Board of the Sick Benefit Fund also administered the Retirement Fund. Later, the Trustees came to establish and administer a Severance Pay Fund. The records include trustee meetings and fund reports. The Vacation Fund started in 1943 as well and by 1952 through negotiations members were entitled two weeks paid vacation.



Other areas of Canada are also represented in the Joint Board records such as the Montreal Joint Council and its supervisor Bernard Shane. Montreal Joint Council minutes can also be found in collection 5780/030. There is also information for the Joint Board Montreal Dressmakers' Union Locals 205 and 262, and Montreal Joint Board minutes can also be found in collection 5780/029, and Montreal Joint Board records in collection 5780/116. The Winnipeg Joint Board Cloakmakers' Union was organized in 1935 with 500 members, and in the 1950s expanded to include 1600 members consisting of Locals 216, 237, and 304. Winnipeg Joint Board Cloakmakers Union organized in 1935 with 500 members and manager S. Herbst, in the 1950s expanded to include 1600 members and the Joint Board consisted of Locals 216, 237, 304.