ILGWU Local 132. Managers' Correspondence
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Scope and Contents
The records consist primarily of two series of correspondence of Local 132's managers, Joel Menist and Sam Eisenberg, between 1954 and 1975. The correspondence details administrative matters within the local and contains replies to letters from members to the local office, communication with the Health and Welfare Benefits Department discussing contract agreements, and the ILGWU correspondence more or less includes memos and letters that went out from the International to the locals and departments.
Another component of the collection is correspondence with various firms and manufacturers the local dealt with. These are interesting in that they are not the normal garment shop, but instead plastic and parts manufacturers. There is information on the production of plastic as well as the shortage in the 1970s. The records offer another dimension to the garment industry by illustrating the wide range of work, companies, and productsparticularly plastics, molds and parts.
The final component of the collection includes minutes of Local 132's Executive Board and Health and Welfare Fund Board, as well as a few issues of the local's publication, Local 132 News.
Dates
- 1949-1976
Creator
- International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Local 132 (creator, Organization)
- International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (creator, Organization)
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
Conditions Governing Access
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.
Biographical / Historical
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, and political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, 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 only 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.
Biographical / Historical
Local 132 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), also known as the Plastic, Moulders and Novelty Workers' Union, was chartered in 1917 and based in New York, New York.
Extent
3.5 cubic feet
Abstract
The collection consists of correspondence of Local 132's managers, meeting minutes, and the local publication.
Quantity:
3.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence.
General
- Contact Information:
- Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives 227 Ives Hall Tower Road Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3183 kheelref@cornell.edu https://catherwood.library.cornell.edu/kheel/
- Compiled by:
- Kheel Staff, October 14, 2008
- EAD encoding:
- Kheel Staff, April 11, 2019
- A.B.S. Manufacturing Co.
- Beth Button Novelty Co.
- E.P. Mueller & Engineering
- Empire Records
- Empire Zipper
- Garrary Plastics
- Gary Enterprises Inc.
- Gibraltar Manufacturing Co.
- Harrison Co. Inc.
- I. Miller and Bro
- International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Local 132
- John Rie Inc.
- Lerner, Corwin & Young Inc.
- Lyndas Jewelry Creation
- Miller Brass Fitting
- Miller Plastics, Inc.
- Monarch Jewelry
- Nasco Corp
- National Ribbon Co.
- Pender Plastics Co.
- Pilot Rubber Plastic Corp
- Plas-Trix Co. Inc.
- Plastic Products Manufacturers Association
- Plastics -- Molding -- United States
- Plastics workers -- Labor unions -- United States
- Rolling Eyes Manufacturing Co.
- Silver Park Records Inc.
- Thomas Manufacturing Corp
- Whitestone Harrison Corp
- Yorklyn Industries Inc.
- Title
- ILGWU Local 132. Managers' Correspondence
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Compiled by Kheel Staff
- Date
- April 11, 2019
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 02/23/2024: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
Repository Details
Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository