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Members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America picket in support of striking farm workers, ca. 1965. ACWA Photo collection, Kheel Center, ILR School |
In 1965, women union members in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) participated in a nationwide grape boycott that forced giant agricultural conglomerates to sign the first collective bargaining agreement between farm workers and growers.
Documentation of their solidarity with fellow workers in the 1960s can be found in the ACWA Collection at the Kheel Center, Martin P. Catherwood Library’s special collections unit in the ILR School. The collection, which includes more than 50,000 images and 500 linear feet of textual documents, chronicles the working conditions and union activities of its members from 1914 to 1976.
Since the beginning of the 20th century in the U.S., women have worked in the garment and textile trades in large numbers, and have been at the forefront of movements for better working conditions. As the ACWA Collection illustrates, its members have most certainly been responsible for ‘Shaping Progress’—the 2008 International Women’s Day theme for March 8th.