United Leather Workers' International Union

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The United Leather Workers' International Union (ULWIU) was a labor union representing workers involved in tanning and making leather goods in the United States and Canada.

The union was founded in Indianapolis in April 1917. It brought together the International United Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, the Travelers' Goods and Leather Workers' International Union, and various local unions which had formerly been part of the Amalgamated Leather Workers of America. On July 24, it was chartered by the American Federation of Labor.[1][2]

In 1923, the International Pocketbook Workers' Union affiliated to the ULWIU, but in 1937 it split away again, as the International Ladies' Handbag, Pocketbook and Novelty Workers' Union.[3] By 1925, the union had 2,000 members,[2] growing to 3,500 in 1950.[4] By this time, the union's president, Bernard Quinn, wished to retire, and the union's members felt that, as it represented only a small part of the tanning industry, and the union was short of resources, it should merge into a larger union. On September 24, 1951, it merged into the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, retaining a semi-autonomous status, while the larger union took on four or five of the union's organizers.[1][5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Inactive Organizations" (PDF). UMD Labor Collections. University of Maryland. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b Handbook of American Trade Unions (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Labor. 1926. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  3. ^ Reynolds, Lloyd G.; Killingsworth, Charles C. (1944). Trade Union Publications: The Official Journals, Convention Proceedings, and Constitutions of International Unions and Federations, 1850-1941. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
  4. ^ Directory of Labor Unions in the United States (PDF). Washington DC: United States Department of Labor. 1950. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  5. ^ Brody, David; Dunlop, J. T. (1964). The Butcher Workmen: A Study of Unionization. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674089259.