ILGWU. Sol Chaikin papers

The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was founded in New York City in 1900 by mostly Socialist immigrant workers who sought to unite the various crafts in the growing women's garment industry. The union soon reflected changes in the sector and rapidly organized thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled women, mostly Jewish and Italian young immigrants. Exemplifying the “new unionism,” the ILGWU led two of the most widespread and best-known industrial strikes of the early Twentieth Century: the shirtwaist makers’ strike of 1909 in New York City and the cloak makers’ strike of 1910 in Chicago. The union also tried to adapt to the fragmented and unstable nature of the industry. It adopted the “protocol of peace,” a system of industrial relations that attempted to ensure stability and limit strikes and production disruption by providing for an arbitration system to resolve disputes.

The ILGWU exemplified the European-style social unionism of its founding members. They pursued bread and butter issues but provided educational opportunities, benefits, and social programs to union members as well. In 1919, the ILGWU became the first American union to negotiate an unemployment compensation fund that was contributed to by its employers. The ILGWU also pioneered in the establishment of an extremely progressive health care program for its members which included not only regional Union Health Centers but also a resort for union workers, known as Unity House. The Union also had an imaginative and pioneering Education Department which not only trained workers in traditional union techniques, but provided courses in citizenship and the English language.

David Dubinsky, an immigrant from Belarus who came to the US in 1911, provided strong leadership that led to unprecedented growth in the union during his presidency from 1932 to 1966. He led the union through successful internal anti-communist struggles, built on the ascendancy of industrial unionism by encouraging the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization, and helped the union become an important political force in New York City and state politics, and in the national Democratic Party and Liberal Party as well.

In the period following the Second World War, the union suffered a decline in membership as manufacturers avoided unionization and took advantage of less expensive labor by moving shops from the urban centers in the northeast to the south, and later abroad. The ethnic and racial character of the ILGWU also changed as European immigrants were supplanted by Asians, Latin Americans, African- Americans, and immigrants from the Caribbean.

In July 1995 the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) at a joint convention, forming UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees). At the time the new union had a membership of about 250,000 in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

1918

Born, New York City, January 9th

1934

Graduated Townsend Harris Hall High School

1940

LL.B Degree, Brooklyn Law School

Married Rosalind Bryon

Organizer, ILGWU Local 178, Fall River, Massachusetts

1942

Business Agent, Local 281, Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts

1943

U.S. Air Force

1946

Manager, Local 22, ILGWU, Springfield, Massachusetts

Manager, Western Mass. District, Northeast Dept., ILGWU

1955

Director, Lower Southwest Region, ILGWU

1959

Vice-President ILGWU

1965

Vice-President ILGWU

1968

Chairman, American Trade Union Council for Histadrut

1969

Associate Trustee, Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center

1973

General Secretary-Treasurer, ILGWU

Vice-President, AFL-CIO Industrial Union Dept.

Member, Board of Directors, New York Urban Coalition

1975

President, ILGWU

Vice-President, AFL-CIO and Member, Executive Council

Member, Governor's Task Force on Housing

1976

Delegate to Democratic National Convention

National Chairman, Trade Union Council for Histadrut

1977

Labor Representative, Belgrade Conference to Review Helsinki Accord on Human Rights

Head of AFL-CIO Delegation to International Labor Summit, London

Received Labor Human Rights Award, Jewish Labor Committee

1978

Received Townsend Harris Award

Member, U.S. Delegation to Attend Funeral of Prime Minister Golda Meir

1979

Present at Signing of Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty at the White House

1980

Member, U.S. Delegation to ILO Session in Geneva

Vice-Chair, N.Y. Convention Center Operating Corp.

Member, Board of Trustees, Brandeis University

Honorary Degrees from Rutgers University and City University of New York

Seconded the Nomination of President Carter, Democratic National Convention

Published, A Labor Viewpoint: Another Opinion

1982

Head, AFL-CIO Fact-Finding Mission to South Africa

Member, N.Y.S. Governor's Special Transit Advisory Panel

1983

Sol C. Chaikin Chair Established at Brandeis University

Addressed AFL-CIO Annual Civil Rights Conference

Led Import Rollback Campaign

1985

Hosted ZENSEN Delegation from Japan for Discussions of Apparel and Textile Industries

1986

Retired as President of the ILGWU

1991

Died April 1, 1991 at age 73.