Myra Wolfgang
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Myra K. Wolfgang (May 1914 – April 1976) was an American labor leader and women's rights activist in Detroit from the 1930s through the 1970s. She was most active in the labor movement, advocating for the working poor and for women in the workforce.


Early life and family

Myra (Komaroff) Wolfgang was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in May 1914 to Jewish Eastern European Immigrants. Her parents, Abraham and Ida Komaroff, raised her and her two siblings in a politically liberal environment that valued independent thinking and their Jewish culture. Her parents did not emphasize religion, and chose to marry in Montreal's labor temple rather than a synagogue. Wolfgang was often quoted as saying she was "a union-made union maid." In 1915, the family moved to Detroit, where her father started a business selling real estate. After World War I he opened an office in downtown Detroit and the family moved to a larger home on Westminster Avenue. After making her way through the Detroit school system, Myra went to study commercial art and interior design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. One year later, the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
hit. This made continuing her education impossible. In the summer of 1932, Wolfgang returned to Detroit to live with her family.


Early career

In 1932, while looking for work, Wolfgang became involved at Detroit's Local 705 of the then Detroit Waiters Union. She was hired the same day, working for Louis Koenig, secretary-treasurer of the Local 705, as a receptionist. Koenig noticed her enthusiasm for the job, began to instruct her in union history and procedures, and called her "my protégée." In 1934, Wolfgang was elected to Local 705's executive board as its recording secretary. In 1936 Governor Frank Murphy recognized her for her efficient oversight of Local 705 and appointed her to the Domestic and Personal Service Department of the Michigan Employment Security Commission. In 1937, Wolfgang helped organize and participated in a successful
sit-down strike A sit-down strike is a labour strike and a form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at factories or other centralized locations, take unauthorized or illegal possession of the workplace by "sitting do ...
at the F.W. Woolworth five-and-dime store in Detroit. This was the first store and public building strike.


Later career

In the 1940s and 1950s, Wolfgang ran the Detroit Joint Council and became international vice president of the
Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) was a United States labor union representing workers of the hospitality industry, formed in 1890. In 2004, HERE merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UN ...
. After Koenig retired, Wolfgang became the Secretary Treasurer and chief executive officer of Local 705. She was active in the enactment of the 1966 Michigan minimum wage law, which required employers to pay each employee a minimum $1 an hour. In 1974, Wolfgang chaired and was integral of the organization of the
Coalition of Labor Union Women The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of trade union women affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The CLUW is a bridging organization that seeks to create connections between the feminist movement and the labor ...
(CLUW). More than 3,000 women came to its first meeting from over 82 labor unions across the United States. The CLUW focused on helping women become leaders in their own unions by instructing them on how to present issues and craft arguments during contract talks. Wolfgang was also a lifelong member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and insisted on racially integrated crews created by her union's hiring hall.


Death and legacy

Just before her 62nd birthday, Wolfgang died in April 1976 from a brain tumor. Nicknamed the "Battling Belle of Detroit" by Detroit's local media and championed as "the most important woman unionist in the country" by the '' Detroit Free Press'', she devoted her entire life to the labor and women's rights movements, continuously pushing for the rights of the working class. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2015.


Archival collections

The Myra Wolfgang Papers are held by the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University. The collection contains .25 linear feet of records relating to her work for the hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Employees Union and her involvement in the women's rights movement. The Walter P. Reuther Library also holds the Coalition of Labor Union Women Records, which contains 88 linear feet of material documenting the group's activities from 1972 to 2001.


References


Further reading


Finding aid for the Myra Wolfgang Papers
Wayne State University, Detroit. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
Coalition of Labor Union Women Records
Wayne State University, Detroit. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfgang, Myra 1914 births 1976 deaths Labor rights American women's rights activists Activists from Detroit American trade unionists American trade union leaders 20th-century American Jews Canadian emigrants to the United States