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A souvenir journal from the 35th anniversary celebration of the Federation of Jewish Trade Unions of Chicago which was held at the La Salle Hotel on Sunday, November 3, 1940. The journa l contains a few articles in Yiddish on the history of the Federation and has many pages of greetings (in Yiddish and in English) from an assortment of individuals and groups. For example, there is a greeting from the Carpenters Union,from the Milk Wagon Drivers Union, from the Hebrew Butchers Union, from the Sausage Makers Union, etc.
The mass East European emigration which began during the 1880s and continued through the 1920s brought great numbers of Jewish workers to the United States. Continuing their European socialist orientation, many of them became active in the American labor movement which began to develop during this period. They organized the United Garment Workers of America (1891); the women afterwards left this union and formed the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (1900); and the majority of the male clothing workers later parted with the original group and formed the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1914). In 1888 several small Jewish labor organizations formed the United Hebrew Trades as their central body. The most prominent early Jewish trade unionist was Samuel Gompers who helped establish the American Federation of Labor in 1886, and served as its president for 38 years. Rabbis early became active in labor mediation in the United States, serving on both general and Jewish mediation boards. |
