United Garment Workers of America
The United Garment Workers of America (UGW or UGWA) was a United States labor union which existed between 1891 and 1994. It was an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. History The UGWA was formed in New York in April 1891 and 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. 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. Strikes 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