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The Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) was an
industrial union Industrial unionism is a trade union organising method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ba ...
of textile workers established through the
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...
in 1939 and merged with the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) 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 Indus ...
to become the
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) was a labor union representing workers in two related industries in the United States. The union was founded in 1976, when the Textile Workers Union of America merged with the Amalgamat ...
(ACTWU) in 1976. It waged a decades-long campaign to organize J.P. Stevens and other Southern textile manufacturers that achieved some successes.


History

In 1901, the
United Textile Workers of America The United Textile Workers of America (UTW) was a North American trade union established in 1901. History The United Textile Workers of America was founded following two conferences in 1901 under the aegis of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) ...
(UTW) was formed as an affiliate of the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...
(AFL). The UTW, which had its greatest strength in the North, called a
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...
of textile workers in 1934 to protest worsening working conditions during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. The strike was, however, a failure, especially in the South. UTW also called a strike in 1922. In 1937, the
Committee for Industrial Organization A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...
(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 Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...
. The unions hoped that by building on the successful organization of wartime industries and using methods proved effective by
auto Auto may refer to: Vehicles * An automobile, or car * An autonomous car, a self-driving car * An auto rickshaw Mechanisms * Short for automatic * An automaton * An automatic transmission Media * Auto (art), a form of Portuguese dramatic play * ...
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 1960s and 1970s 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
Workers United Workers United is an American and Canadian labor union which represents about 86,000 workers in the apparel, textile, commercial laundry, distribution, food service, hospitality, fitness and non-profit industries.Greenhouse, Steve"Union Rejoinin ...
, a manufacturing and hospitality workers union.


Leadership


Presidents

:1939:
Emil Rieve Emil Rieve (June 8, 1892 – January 24, 1975)Saxon, "Emil Rieve, Unionist, Dies," ''New York Times,'' January 26, 1975. was an American labor leader. He was president of the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) from 1939 to 1956, a vice presid ...
:1956: William Pollock :1972:
Sol Stetin Sol Stetin (April 2, 1910 – May 21, 2005) was a Polish-born American labor union leader. Born in Pabianice, now in Poland, when Stetin was 10, he and his family emigrated to Paterson, New Jersey. He left school in the ninth grade, becoming a ...


Secretary-Treasurers

:1939: William Pollock :1956: John Chupka :1968:
Sol Stetin Sol Stetin (April 2, 1910 – May 21, 2005) was a Polish-born American labor union leader. Born in Pabianice, now in Poland, when Stetin was 10, he and his family emigrated to Paterson, New Jersey. He left school in the ninth grade, becoming a ...
:1972: William DuChessi


See also

*
1922 New England Textile Strike The New England Textile Strike was a strike action, strike led by members of the United Textile Workers of America (UTW) principally in the U.S. states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Throughout the duration of the strike, an e ...


References


External links



(successor organization)
Histories of UNITE! and Predecessor Unions
Bibliographies compiled by
Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University (ILR) is an industrial relations school and one of Cornell University's Statutory college#Cornell University, statutory colleges. The school has five academic depar ...
br>Margaret Catherwood Library
Retrieved May 24, 2005. *Patton, Randall L
"Textile Organizing in a Sunbelt South Community: Northwest Georgia's Carpet Industry in the Early 1960s."
''Labor History''. August 1998. Retrieved May 24, 2005.

fro
Oral Histories of the American South


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 ''Norma Rae'' is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton – which was told in the 1975 book ''Crystal ...
.) *McLaurin, Melton Alonza. ''Paternalism and Protest: Southern Cotton Mill Workers and Organized Labor, 1875–1905''. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing, 1971. *''
Norma Rae ''Norma Rae'' is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton – which was told in the 1975 book ''Crystal ...
'' (Academy Award-winning movie about union organizer Crystal Lee).


Archives


Inventory of the Textile Workers Union of America. South Region Records, 1947-1981
in the Southern Historical Collection,
UNC-Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795 ...
. *Textile Workers Union of America, Georgia-Tennessee-Alabama Joint Board records, 1952–1980. Georgia State University Special Collections Department,
Georgia State University Library The Georgia State University Library is an academic research library affiliated with Georgia State University. The Georgia State University Library has two primary locations, Library North and Library South. In addition to hundreds of thousands o ...
Atlanta, GA 30303-3202. Identification: L1985-10
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
Online research guide
Accessed May 24, 2005. *Textile Workers Union of America Philadelphia Joint Board Records, 1921–1980
Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...
Librarie
Urban Archives
Identification: URB 5

Accessed May 24, 2005. {{Authority control UNITE HERE History of labor relations in the United States Defunct trade unions in the United States Textile and clothing trade unions Congress of Industrial Organizations 1939 establishments in the United States Trade unions established in 1939 Trade unions disestablished in 1976 History of the textile industry in the United States