United Garment Workers
Encyclopedia
The United Garment Workers of America (UGW or UGWA) was a trade union formed in New York in April 1891, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor
.
The UGW lead a successful strike of 16,000 garment workers in New York City in 1893, but soon adopted a more conservative, conciliatory tone with manufacturers.
Thomas A. Rickert of Chicago served as UGW's president from 1904 through at least 1939. The union came to national attention with the 1910 Chicago Garment Workers Strike, which had started as a spontaneous strike on September 22, by a handful of women workers at Hart Schaffner & Marx. It spread to a citywide labor action of almost 40,000 workers that lasted until February 1911. Chicago was then the largest producer of men's garments in the United States, Hart Schaffner & Marx the largest of Chicago manufacturers, and UGW the only union in the industry.
The strike was a bitter one, with hundreds of strikers injured and two killed. Future union president Sidney Hillman
was a rank-and-file leader, and lawyer Clarence Darrow
was involved with the settlement negotiations. The action not only pitted workers against management and against Chicago police on horseback, it also exposed divisions in the union—namely that the organization did not support its unskilled members. Similar allegations dogged the UGA's mishandling of the 1913 New York Garment Workers Strike, a nine-week walkout of some 85,000 workers.
At the UGW's 1914 convention in Nashville, Tennessee, a number of large urban locals, with stronger Socialist loyalties and more willingness to strike, and who represented a full two-thirds of the national membership, split off to form the rival Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
under Hillman's founding leadership.
In 1994, the UGW's 15,000 members merged into the United Food and Commercial Workers
.
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
.
The UGW lead a successful strike of 16,000 garment workers in New York City in 1893, but soon adopted a more conservative, conciliatory tone with manufacturers.
Thomas A. Rickert of Chicago served as UGW's president from 1904 through at least 1939. The union came to national attention with the 1910 Chicago Garment Workers Strike, which had started as a spontaneous strike on September 22, by a handful of women workers at Hart Schaffner & Marx. It spread to a citywide labor action of almost 40,000 workers that lasted until February 1911. Chicago was then the largest producer of men's garments in the United States, Hart Schaffner & Marx the largest of Chicago manufacturers, and UGW the only union in the industry.
The strike was a bitter one, with hundreds of strikers injured and two killed. Future union president Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman was an American labor leader. Head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, he was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor's support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party.-Early years:Sidney Hillman was...
was a rank-and-file leader, and lawyer Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
was involved with the settlement negotiations. The action not only pitted workers against management and against Chicago police on horseback, it also exposed divisions in the union—namely that the organization did not support its unskilled members. Similar allegations dogged the UGA's mishandling of the 1913 New York Garment Workers Strike, a nine-week walkout of some 85,000 workers.
At the UGW's 1914 convention in Nashville, Tennessee, a number of large urban locals, with stronger Socialist loyalties and more willingness to strike, and who represented a full two-thirds of the national membership, split off to form the rival Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Industrial Organizations...
under Hillman's founding leadership.
In 1994, the UGW's 15,000 members merged into the United Food and Commercial Workers
United Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile, G4S Security, chemical...
.