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Wexler, Mollie (audio interview #3 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This third interview with Mollie Wexler, conducted in her apartment, was somewhat problematic as a result of repair work being done in the apartment below her. This resulted in some background noise. Initially we tried to talk during lulls in the pounding, but ultimately, it was necessary to cut the interview short. TOPICS - Topics on this side of the tape include; tools required to purchase to work in a shop; shop conditions; participation in strikes in Chicago; Boston labor convention; women in the union; and relationship with her husband; 1/5/1973
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- 2020-04-01
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- File: lhgwmwexler5.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:10)... Tape introduction. (2:10-4:34)... When Wexler began working at a shop, there were only a few tools required and this depended on the type of machine she worked on. If she did not have the tools for a specific machine, she purchased them herself. Generally, these tools were used to change certain parts of the machine when working on a specific piece of clothing. She also owned her own tape measure and scissors. An employer usually loaned tools to a new employee to use during a probationary period, but when the employee was hired, they were required to purchase the tools. (4:34-7:56)... When she started working in New York, conditions were very poor. The lighting in the shops was bad and the shops generally were not clean. Union contracts specified that shops were to be made clean and comfortable for workers. Conditions also improved after the Shirtwaist Fire. Although the restrooms in the factories were primitive, immigrants from different countries did not complain because they did not know any better. However, people working at the factories for a longer period of time recognized what was necessary in terms of bathroom facilities, which became an issue when workers began to organize. In New York, she started work at 8:00 a.m. and was not allowed any breaks. Prior to unionization, the shops usually stopped working at noon for a thirty minute lunch break and then went back to work until 6:00 p.m. Workers usually brought their lunch because they did not have the time or money to go out for lunch. (7:56-9:08)... When she first started working in New York, she made $4 a week and it cost her approximately $3 a week for room and board, which included breakfast and some food in the evening. Carfare cost another .50 cents, leaving her only .50 cents for the rest of the week, which she used to go to a show or to purchase clothing, food, etc. (9:08-11:36)... Living conditions in New York were poor. She lived in a tenement building with a family and slept on a Murphy bed in the living room. The building had a toilet in the hallway on each floor, which was used by all of the occupants on the floor. If she wanted to take a bath, she went to a bath house, which cost .25 cents. After moving out of this Jewish home, she found an apartment with two or three girls from the home, paying $10 a month; she then moved to apartment with another woman, where she also paid $10 a month. When she moved to both Cleveland and Chicago she lived with her brothers. (11:36-13:58)... In New York, she typically worked a five-day week for eight or nine hours a day. She worked on Saturdays if there was work available and occasionally worked overtime for very little pay. When the shops were unionized, her workday was cut to eight hours a day, forty hours a week. In Chicago, she worked thirty-five hours a week. There were problems in the shops because people worked piecework and learned they could make more money if they produced more garments. Sometimes, workers would hide and work after the shop closed, while other workers took work home with them. The union tried to prevent people from doing this. However, it was generally people in non-union shops who took work home. (13:58-16:19)... In general, the scabs who worked during strikes were immigrants who came to the US to make money and did not care about idealism. These immigrants were mainly Italians and Mexicans, and some Jews. She recalls that there was pressure in the Jewish ghetto against people working as scabs. These immigrants did not realize what their actions meant to the labor movement. (16:19-19:21)... When organizing a shop, there were many people who did not want to unionize. In these cases, she carefully approached the subject in various ways until the workers began to understand the concept of the union. She talked to them about the benefits they would receive if they joined the union, such as sick benefits, etc. It was always more of a struggle to organize the workers than dealing with the employers. However, when employers learned that workers were organizing, they often fired those people on the ruse that he could not afford to employ them any longer. This was bad news for employees because any future employers associated a "lock out" with union organizing and refused to hire them. (19:21-21:00)... As a union organizer, she mainly spoke to workers in Yiddish and broken English. Most of the women in the needle trade industries were still Jewish. If she met people who came from areas near where she was raised, she spoke to them in Russian. There were also women organizing from different nationalities. (21:00-25:02)... She was arrested during the general strike in Chicago. At this time she was not working for the shop where she picketed, but was helping the workers there. She also discusses a few other strikes she participated in at various times throughout her life. (25:02-27:07)... She was sent as a delegate to the convention in Boston, which was her first convention. [Note: there are interruptions in the recording.] One of the issues discussed at the convention was improving the union shops. She recalls there were several women who attended the convention. (27:07-30:49)... At the time, she did not question the male leaders of the union. She explains that she took it for granted that men were the stronger personalities in the union and through them, workers were provided with a union. She admired and appreciated the leaders in the union. She believes that the only time a woman took a top job was when they worked as Chairwomen; she does not recall any women being members of the Joint Board. The women generally praised the men in the union, and she never discussed the lack of female representation with any workers. Even though three quarters of the union consisted of women, they were unknowns because the men were the leaders. It was daunting for a woman because when she was elected to a position and came in for an interview, the entire panel were men. (30:49-35:18)... [Note: because of background noise the recording was interrupted periodically.] In 1921, she left Chicago for California and returned in 1922. At this time, she went to work at a shop in the basement of a retail store making dresses. This was not a union shop, but the union sent her there to organize the shop. She worked at this shop until 1924, when she gave birth to her daughter. She did not work for two years and hired someone to care for her child. In 1926, she went to work for a retail store doing alterations and making dresses. She worked at this shop until 1928 when she left to give birth to her son in 1929. She returned to work again in 1931 and worked for a designer retail store doing fittings and alterations until 1935, when she left Chicago for California once again. (35:18-38:00)... She met her husband in Chicago when she first visited the city, which was one of the reasons she permanently moved to Chicago. When she married him, he was attending dental school and she supported the family on her income. In 1921, he graduated from school and she went to California for a vacation. In 1935, when she decided to return to Los Angeles, her husband was still in Chicago and then left for the Soviet Union. When she returned to work after her daughter was born, she earned $18-20 a week. After returning to work in 1931, following her son's birth, she earned $35 a week. Although she hired a woman to help care for her children, raising a family and working was very difficult, and she often felt as if she was not doing a good job because of time constraints. (38:00-43:04)... After she returned from her vacation in California in 1922, her husband was sharing an office with a medical doctor. It was necessary for her to return to work because they needed the income. During the Depression, she was making most of the money. At the time, she paid the woman who was living with her and caring for her daughter $8 plus and room and board. When she returned to California in 1935, this woman worked with her until 1939 when the children went to school. When the children were out of school, Wexler sent them to a summer camp. In addition to working in the shops, she also did alterations and sewing from her home to earn extra money. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Mollie Wexler became active in the labor movement when she first moved to Chicago, two years after her emigration to the US. When Local 100 of the ILGWU was formed, she was elected the first "chairlady" of her shop. From the time she moved to Los Angeles in 1934 until 1953, she remained active in the ILGWU and helped to organize the shops in which she worked. During the McCarthy period, she had difficulty finding employment in union shops and was forced to find employment in department stores, instead. Despite this, she remained a member of the union until 1957 and was even called on by them to organize the Helen Ross shop in 1960. After the loss of that strike, she ended her full-time working career and union involvement. The interview with Wexler was conducted as part of the Feminist History Research Project labor series. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This third interview with Mollie Wexler, conducted in her apartment, was somewhat problematic as a result of repair work being done in the apartment below her. This resulted in some background noise. Initially we tried to talk during lulls in the pounding, but ultimately, it was necessary to cut the interview short. TOPICS - Topics on this side of the tape include; tools required to purchase to work in a shop; shop conditions; participation in strikes in Chicago; Boston labor convention; women in the union; and relationship with her husband;
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