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Labor Movement
Contents
The Garment Industry -- 1880 to 1911 > The
Uprising of 20,000 > The Great Revolt
The Garment Industry -- 1880 to 1911
The first labor unions representing workers
in the garment industry began in the late 1870s and early 1880s,
but were isolated mostly to the so-called "inside" shops
where laborers were contracted directly by the clothes manufacturer.
In July 1883, a strike of approximately 750 dress and cloak makers
working for "inside" shops led to the formation of the
Dress and Cloak Makers' Union, which became part of the larger Knights
of Labor organization.
In the "outside" sweatshops of the Lower East Side, workers'
rights sentiments were fueled by Jewish Socialists and Anarchists
who had immigrated to New York City in the early 1880s, only to
find themselves subject to cruel and harsh treatment at the hands
of contractors. In 1886 they formed the first Anti-Sweating League.
Around the same time period, the Knights of Labor began to focus
more of their attention on the "outside" sweatshops. Their
effort was greeted with a great deal of success and on August 15,
1885 the cloak workers of New York participated in a coordinated
strike that lasted two weeks. Although "inside" and "outside"
garment workers met during the strike in different locations, they
both protested for the common goal of increasing the rates for piecework.
Interestingly, many "outside" contractors, who operated
sweatshops out of their own homes, joined in the strike, refusing
to accept any contracts from manufacturers until the labor dispute
had been resolved. Strikes, in both "inside" and "outside"
shops would become a regular feature of the latter half of the 1880s.
In 1887, cloak makers alone participated in 30 strikes.
The Knights of Labor, who had been weakened by internal dissent
and opposition from the American Federation of Labor (AFL), would
eventually lose the affiliation of most of the local garment unions
in New York City. Sensing, however, that a national union would
be more effective in winning concessions for workers, representatives
of local unions met on June 3, 1900 and created the International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). On June 23, the ILGWU was
granted its charter by the AFL. The ILGWU's ranks of membership
swelled rapidly and by 1904 it included in its membership 66 local
unions.
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