Abraham Goldwasser papers

Founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States, the ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, 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. In 1995, the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

Abraham Goldwasser was born in 1944 in Uzbekistan, USSR. After the end of World War II, the Goldwasser family returned to Poland, leaving for Paris in 1957. In 1961, the Goldwassers emigrated to the United Sates settling in Baltimore, with the assistance of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). He was raised by his parents in the spirit of the Jewish Labor Bund. After graduating from high school in 1963, Goldwasser moved to New York City and attended City College of New York. In 1967, Goldwasser became a member of the Young People's Socialist League. In 1970, Goldwasser married Ettie, daughter of ILGWU Vice President, Henoch Mendelsund.



After graduating from college in 1969 and until 1997, Goldwasser worked in various positions for the ILGWU and UNITE. He was a clerk at the New York Cloak Joint Board (1969-1970), staff member of the Health and Welfare Department (1970-1972), supervisor of the Circulation Department, which was responsible for the distribution of Justice to ILGWU members (1972-1973), office manager of the New York Cloak Joint Board (1974-1977), and supervisor of the Dues Department of the New York Joint Board, created through the merger of the Cloak Joint Board, Dress Joint Board, and the Raincoat Makers Local 20 (1977-1978).



From 1977 to 1997, Goldwasser worked at the Union Health Center in New York City. At first he was as the supervisor of the Appointment/Reception Department (1978-1983). During this time he participated in the conversion of the appointment system from semi manual to computerized and creation of the beginning of a patient information system using a mini-computer.



As the supervisor of the Computer Operation Department (1983-1997), he was responsible for the entire data processing of the Health Center including, appointments, computerized patient and medical information systems, and services billing. During this period, hundreds of members visited the Union Health Center every day. In the 90's, Goldwasser participated in the discussions leading to the move of the Health Center to other floors, and a new computerized system.



After the ILGWU's merger with ACTWU in 1995, Goldwasser left the Union Health Center. Since 1997, he has been employed at Teamsters Local 237.