Textile Workers Union of America

Textile Workers Union of America

The Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) was an industrial union of textile workers established through the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1939 and merged with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to become the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) in 1976. It waged a decades-long campaign to organize J.P. Stevens and other Southern textile manufacturers that achieved some successes.

In 1901, the United Textile Workers of America (UTW) was formed as an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The UTW, which had its greatest strength in the North, called a strike of textile workers in 1934 to protest worsening working conditions during the Great Depression. The strike was, however, a failure, especially in the South.

In 1937, the Committee for Industrial Organization (later the Congress of Industrial Organizations or CIO) formed the Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC) as an alternative to the UTW. In 1939, locals from the TWOC and the UTW merged to form the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). The TWUA led numerous organizing campaigns in the union-resistant South, aiming to help textile workers achieve higher wages, health insurance and other benefits, and to ensure fair labor practices.

The TWUA was a leading organization in Operation Dixie, the CIO's post-World War II drive to organize industries in the American South. The unions hoped that by building on the successful organization of wartime industries and using methods proved effective by auto and steel workers, it would be possible to overcome the consequences of the UTW's failed 1934 strike. The TWUA was able to organize new plants and revive some moribund organizations, but was unable to achieve a breakthrough win which would organize the whole industry. Operation Dixie was retired by 1954.

In the 1960's and 1970's the TWUA found itself in competition with other unions for representation in large Southern plants. In 1976, the TWUA merged with another garment union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU).

After several further mergers, the TWUA's textile locals became part UNITE HERE, a manufacturing and hospitality workers union.

External links

* [http://www.unitehere.org UNITE HERE] (successor organization)
* [http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/kheel/collections/bibliographies/uniteAndPredecessorUnions/about.html Histories of UNITE! and Predecessor Unions] . Bibliographies compiled by Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations [http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/ Margaret Catherwood Library] . Retrieved May 24, 2005.
*Patton, Randall L. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0348/is_n3_v39/ai_21129657 "Textile Organizing in a Sunbelt South Community: Northwest Georgia's Carpet Industry in the Early 1960s."] "Labor History." August 1998. Retrieved May 24, 2005.

Further reading and movies

*Greenhouse, Steven. "Sol Stetin, 95, Labor Leader Who Unionized J. P. Stevens, Dies." "New York Times." May 24, 2005.
*Leifermann, Henry P. "Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance." New York: Macmillan, 1975. (This account of union organizer Crystal Lee was later made into the Academy Award winning movie Norma Rae.)
*McLaurin, Melton Alonza. "Paternalism and Protest: Southern Cotton Mill Workers and Organized Labor, 1875-1905." Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing, 1971. ISBN 0837146623
*"Norma Rae" (Academy Award-winning movie about union organizer Crystal Lee).

Archives

* [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/t/Textile_Workers_Union_of_America.South_Region.html Inventory of the Textile Workers Union of America. South Region Records, 1947-1981] , in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill.
*Textile Workers Union of America, Georgia-Tennessee-Alabama Joint Board records, 1952-1980. Georgia State University Special Collections Department, Georgia State University Library Atlanta, GA 30303-3202. Identification: L1985-10. [http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/Collections/Labor/L1985-10.htm Online research guide] Accessed May 24, 2005.
*Textile Workers Union of America, Northwest Georgia Joint Board records, 1949-1976. Georgia State University Special Collections Department, Georgia State University Library Atlanta, GA 30303-3202. Identification: L1980-22. [http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/Collections/Labor/L1980-22.htm Online research guide] Accessed May 24, 2005.
*Textile Workers Union of America Philadelphia Joint Board Records, 1921-1980 Temple University Libraries [http://library.temple.edu/collections/urbana/ Urban Archives] . Identification: URB 54 [http://library.temple.edu/collections/urbana/urb54.htm Online research guide] Accessed May 24, 2005.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Textile Workers Union of America — (TWUA)    A union formed in the United States in 1939 by Southern textile workers. It later merged, in 1976, with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textiles Workers Union (ACTWU). In 1995, the …   Historical Dictionary of the Fashion Industry

  • Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union — ▪ American union       former union of garment and apparel workers in the United States and Canada. It was formed in 1976 by the merger of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA), a large union representing workers in the men s… …   Universalium

  • Textile workers strike (1934) — The textile workers strike of 1934 was the largest strike in United States history at the time, involving 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid Atlantic states and the U.S. Southern states, lasting twenty two days. The strike s… …   Wikipedia

  • International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union — The International Ladies Garment Workers Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The… …   Wikipedia

  • International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union —       former industrial union in the United States and Canada that represented workers in the women s clothing industry. When the ILGWU was formed in 1900, most of its members were Jewish immigrants employed in sweatshops i.e., small… …   Universalium

  • Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, Union of — ▪ trade union, North America       North American trade union formed in 1995 by the merger of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (q.v.) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (q.v.). The union represents apparel… …   Universalium

  • INTERNATIONAL LADIES GARMENT WORKERS UNION — (ILGWU), U.S. trade union that represented hundreds of thousands of apparel industry workers over the course of the 20th century. Founded by 11 male Jewish tailors on June 3, 1900, the ILGWU relied on a largely female rank and file membership for …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • 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… …   Wikipedia

  • Portal:Textile arts — Wikipedia portals: Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Natural sciences People Philosophy Religion Society Technology …   Wikipedia

  • Communications Workers of America v. Beck — Supreme Court of the United States Argued January 11, 1988 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”