ILGWU Western States Region Records

The records of the Western State Region are large and extensive, but there are evident subjects and themes that emerge in the records. The largest portion of the collection mainly deals with company files from the region. These are identified by individual garment firm and include agreements, negotiations, correspondence, and arbitration cases and decisions. In fact, there are substantial records of arbitrations and cases before the National Labor Relations Board. The folders of Master Files (1947-1975) lists for each year, firm, case number and disposition type, as well as the decision of the Impartial Chairman for each case.



Numerous ILGWU departments are represented, including Research, Union Label, Legislative, Death Benefit, Education, National Retirement Fund, and Health and Welfare, as well as the General Executive Board and national convention. There are the records of the office of the Western State Region's constitutive departments, in particular Political and Education, Organizing, Legal Services, and Accounting and Miscellaneous Services. Committees of the Western States Region include meeting minutes from the Appeals, Executive, Vacation and Health and Welfare Fund, and Retirement Fund Committees. Administrative records of the region reflect elections, procedures, the governance of region, and financial information such as bills, ledgers, the Supplementary Unemployment Benefits Fund and unemployment insurance, cash receipts, deposits, and accounts.



Correspondence occurs with other unions and organizations (Teamsters, United Farm Workers, the AFL-CIO) and manufacturer associations. Extensive papers and correspondence are from Cornelius Wall (Director, Western States Region), Max Wolf (Director, Political and Education Department), Ralph Smith (Director, Organizing Department) and Smith's successor, Meyer Silverstein (Director, Organizing Department).



Throughout the records are files on the other joint boards, district councils and locals that were under the jurisdiction of the Western States Region, including the San Francisco Joint Board, Los Angeles Joint Board, Arizona-Utah District Council, and Southern California District Council and numerous locals in Oregon and Washington. Information on individuals can be found in personal files that on members who filed complaints against companies, and reports of house calls to prospective members from the Organizing Department.



Subjects reflected in the records that could be explored in-depth include politics. There is substantial information on political campaign contributions, correspondence with representatives, especially on Senate Bills and labor laws that affected the garment industry and workers in the region. Additionally there are meeting minutes and testimony of the General Relief Review Committee, a group appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of supervisors to review the Los Angeles General Assistance program and make recommendations for improvement.



The 1970s and 1980s saw a return of sweatshop conditions and the employment of undocumented workers. The Immigration and Naturalization Service began conducting factory raids to question employees at work of their citizenship status and arrest any illegals they found working in the factory. An important case involved the Southern California Davis Pleating Company in which federal agents conducted "surveys" in January and September of 1977, with probable cause that the factory employed illegal aliens. Agents were stationed at factory exits while others moved through the shop questioning employees at their work stations. This incident led to the U.S. Supreme Court case of the Immigration and Naturalization Service et al. v. Delgado et al. and whether factors raids deprive workers of their Constitutional rights. Records on the INS, immigration raids, and the Southern California Davis Pleating Co. are well represented in the collection. Another subject contained in the collection is on plant closures and runaway plants. These records include legislative hearings on plant closures, with compiled case reports, studies, articles and literature providing background information on the problem of plant closures and also the trend of "runaway plants" relocating in Mexico.



While the Western States Region covered Arizona, Oregon, Utah and Washington, activities in California are more fully represented than other areas of the region.