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Wexler, Mollie (audio interview #2 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This second interview with Mollie Wexler, conducted in her apartment, covers the years from 1914-1950s. TOPICS - union activities in Chicago; membership on Price Committee and serving as chairwoman of the shop; marriage in 1916; 1917 strike of Local 100; trip to west coast in 1921; organizing shops in Los Angeles; birth of her children and hiatus in union involvement; return to union work in 1935; involvement in Local 94 in Los Angeles; work and union activities in Los Angeles; work at Adrian's; member of Complaint Committee in shop and of Objection Election Committee; Local 94 election; anti-communism in union; work at Helen Rose and strike against shop; and problems with union over her pension; 12/4/1972
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- File: lhgwmwexler3.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:56)... Tape introduction. (1:56-3:13)... In 1914-15, she visited her brother in Chicago, where she met her future husband. She briefly returned to Cleveland, before she went back to Chicago to live. (3:13-8:06)... While in Chicago, she worked for a small dressmaker and then went to work for Albert and Cutler, a large clothing factory. One day, she was approached by a young man about her interest in unionizing and invited to a union meeting. After the workers organized, the employer agreed to sign a union agreement and the workers elected her as a member of the Price Committee. In the early part of 1916, she was also elected as the chairlady of this shop. She worked for this shop for approximately two years, during which time she did piecework. In 1916, she married. (8:06-12:24)... While working at Albert and Cutler, she also made efforts to organize Local 100. After she left this factory, she went to work at a non-union shop, but was fired after the foreman learned she was a union organizer. As a result, the other workers in the shop initiated a sit-in strike and refused to work. Wexler went to another non-union shop, where she was assigned week work. After approximately a month, she organized this shop. In 1924, she left this shop to give birth to her daughter. (12:24-16:18)... She describes her responsibilities as a chairlady of the Albert and Cutler factory, which included mediating disputes between workers and employers and reporting issues to the union. She was also a member of the Executive Board for Local 100 for four years, and in 1919, she was elected to attend the labor convention in Philadelphia. (16:18-18:45)... In 1917, the workers in Local 100 went on strike for union recognition. During this strike, the picketers experienced a lot of problems with the police and there were several arrests. This strike was lost and although union shops remained union, the workers in non-union shops lost their jobs to scabs. After the strike, the members of Local 100 were discouraged and the local did not function properly until it was reorganized at a later time. After this strike, her union activities increased because she saw that workers were being treated unfairly and required union representation. (18:45-25:37)... In 1918, while she was working at Albert and Cutler, she occasionally took time off to help workers that were on strike in other factories. During one of these occasions, she was arrested and spent twenty-four hours in jail. She recalls that the jail was very crowded and she was put in a cell with other picketers, as well as prostitutes. Two weeks following her arrest, she went to trial and her case was dismissed. (25:37-27:59)... When she married, her husband was supportive of her union activities. After she married, she planned to continue working until her husband became a dentist. The relationship between men and women in the union was cooperative. People were elected to shop positions based on their qualifications, not their gender. She worked at Albert and Cutler until 1924, when she gave birth to her daughter. She then took some time off and hired a woman to assist her with child care. Wexler did do some part-time garment work, but not in a factory. (27:59-31:34)... While living in Chicago, she attended private lessons in the evening to learn how to read and write English. She also received lessons in public speaking. In 1921, she decided to take a vacation and hitchhiked to California along with four other people, whom she knew from the union. They went to San Francisco for six weeks where she worked for a union shop. She then went to Los Angeles, which was not very organized at the time and she worked in a non-union shop. She worked in Los Angeles for six to eight months and spent the week-ends with a hiking group. She returned to Chicago in 1922. (31:34-32:31)... She left Chicago for California because of marriage difficulties. Although it is unclear, it appears that her husband did not appreciate her activities and she was very disappointed in the relationship. However, she returned to Chicago in 1922 and gave birth to a daughter in 1924 and a son in 1929. (32:31-35:22)... When she returned to Chicago in 1922, she only vaguely recalls the internal struggle between the right and left factions within the union, though does recall this struggle occurring in Los Angeles. [Note: interruption in tape.] When she returned to work in 1922, she worked in a union shop. When the 1924 general strike erupted, she did not participate because of the birth of her daughter. During this time she was not a member of Local 100, but did do part-time work as a fitter both on and off-site. Her union activities ceased during the period of 1924-35, until she moved to Los Angeles in 1935. (35:22-40:29)... When she moved to Los Angeles in 1935, she went to work for a bridal and evening gown designer. The owner of the shop was married to someone who Wexler from her work in Chicago. Wexler was hired in the sample department, where she made the first cut of a dress which was used as the model for buyers. Local 94 was being formed at this time and the workers elected her to negotiate with the employer for unionization. The owners agreed to sign a union contract, after which some workers left the shop because they refused to work in a union shop. The shop employees were predominantly Jewish women, with a few Mexican women. (40:29-43:51)... Although she does not recall any general strikes occurring in Los Angeles, she did participate in strikes when workers from other shops went on strike. She recalls the internal struggle between the left and right factions in the late 1930s. In general, the leaders of the ILGWU were very conservative and wanted to purge the union of any progressive elements. [Note: the narrator's voice drops and is rather monotone, making it difficult to hear her.] In 1939, she left Perkins' shop and went to work at Adrians, which was opened by a world renown French designer. The designer contacted the union and requested that they send him capable workers. end of tape File: lhgwmwexler4.mp3 (0:00-1:27)... There were 125 people working in her department at Adrians. The fourth floor of the shop was the dressmakers and the sixth floor was the cloakmakers. All of these departments worked and organized together. At this time, Wexler was earning approximately $5,000 a year. At this shop, she worked on a committee that handled complaints between the workers and employer. (1:27-5:18)... She was a member of the Election Objection Committee in the ILGWU. Each Local had a committee that decided if the officials elected into the union were qualified. The main function was to determine the background of the person elected and if the workers could depend on this person. Although it seldom happened, some people were taken out of office because of problems in their background or bad behavior on the job. This system was put into place to protect the workers from poor leadership. (5:18-8:06)... She worked on the Election Objections Committee for Local 94 while she was working at Adrians. She was not on the Executive Board of Local 94 because, in her opinion, she was too progressive. She recalls an incident when she was nominated to the Executive Board of the Local, which required that she be interviewed by union officials. During the interview, one of the men asked her about the Yalta Conference, which was completely unrelated to her knowledge of the union. Since she did not have an answer to this question, the union officials used this as an opportunity to disqualify her as a candidate, indicating that she was uninformed. However, she believes they did not want her serving because she was "left." (8:06-11:31)... She believes that the reason she did not receive a pension from the union was because she was too progressive and from the left. In 1952, she left Adrians because the designer and founder of the company died. Although workers were provided with a permit to look for another job, she was blacklisted for her political activities and, as a result, did not receive her pension. She wrote a letter to President Dave Dubinsky, who informed her that if she applied for her pension, it would be denied. (11:31-13:57)... When her husband left and went to the Soviet Union, she believed that she was an American citizen by marriage. However, in 1935 she received a letter, indicating that she was not qualified as an American citizen. As a result, she went to school filed the appropriate paperwork, and attended a hearing on the matter, at which time she officially became an American citizen. (13:57-16:58)... [Note: this segment includes a long pause in which she briefly mentions her activities with the union, which is followed by a tape interruption and then a discussion on her activities in Chicago.] Organizing shops in Chicago was difficult because people did not want to hear about the union and certainly did not want anyone telling them what to do, making it very difficult to convince people of union benefits. Typically, she found one or two people in the shop who were sympathetic to the union and then they talked to other people until a large enough group was organized for a meeting. If the majority of workers in a shop wanted to unionize, they spoke to the other workers and told them they had to join or leave the shop. She mainly organized operators and finishers, which were all women, while male organizers were sent in to organize the men, who were mainly cutters and pressers. (16:58-19:29)... In 1959, Helen Rose, a famous designer for 20th Century Studios, contacted the union and requested that workers be sent to work in her new shop. She promised the union that she would sign a union contract after a short time in business. However, Rose failed to join the union and a strike ensued. The strike lasted for more than five months, but a union agreement was not reached. By this time, Wexler was no longer blacklisted and recalls that the union paid the workers for lost time during the strike. She also accepted unemployment until she found another job with a union shop. (19:29-21:35)... Throughout her career, she was involved in numerous strikes. When the union did not have strike funds, she borrowed money from people and paid them back when she got a job. She recalls that unemployment insurance did not include strike time. After her initial arrest in 1918, she was not arrested again for her activities. (21:35-23:42)... There were a few women organizers, but the majority were men. She recalls that some of the women organizers were militant. interruption in tape (23:42-29:29)... She describes herself as an assistant organizer, indicating that most of the time, she went into shops and helped the other organizers in their efforts to organize the workers. She also visited the homes of sympathetic workers to explain the benefits of the union. She recalls that people were ignorant about the union and what it offered, which she used as an opportunity to persuade them to join. For instance, if people were sick, she discussed the sick and unemployment benefits the union offered. She also read literature and distributed this to the workers. As an organizer, it was her job to tell the workers about union benefits. (29:29-32:42)... She believes that the purpose of the union is to bring about changes in the working conditions and to offer classes or lectures so that people are made aware of benefits outside the shop and unrelated to their trade. It is important to educate the worker on their entitlements, e.g. unemployment, transportation allowances, sick benefits, etc. In her opinion, most people are unaware of this information, but their involvement with the union increases when they learn about these benefits. (32:42-35:46)... She ended her union activities around 1960, and completely disassociated herself with the union in 1966 because she was denied her pension after several applications. She believes the union is much weaker now and has lost its influence over the workers. These changes are a result of many factors, including poor leadership. In addition, she contends that the workers observe what happens to people formally active in the union once they leave. Compared to her positive response to the union in 1919, she is very disappointed in the union today, mainly because her pension was denied even after she proved her dedication to union activities. interruption in tape (35:46-42:20)... Although her initial organizing efforts began in New York, the majority of her organizing activities occurred in Cleveland. When she arrived in Chicago, she worked on the Price Committee and became the Chairwoman of her shop. She also held various positions in the union. When she arrived in Los Angeles, she also became an active organizer and worked on the Election Objection Committee for one election. She also became the Chairwoman at Patricia Perkins' shop and headed the committee for workers complaints at Adrians. When she decided to run for the Executive Board of her local in 1945, the union was completely conservative. (42:20-44:06)... Because she was a woman, she did not think she was fighting a separate battle, and did not feel above or below people because of her gender. Although she tried not to get into confrontations with union officials, she learned a lot from her experiences. 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 second interview with Mollie Wexler, conducted in her apartment, covers the years from 1914-1950s. TOPICS - union activities in Chicago; membership on Price Committee and serving as chairwoman of the shop; marriage in 1916; 1917 strike of Local 100; trip to west coast in 1921; organizing shops in Los Angeles; birth of her children and hiatus in union involvement; return to union work in 1935; involvement in Local 94 in Los Angeles; work and union activities in Los Angeles; work at Adrian's; member of Complaint Committee in shop and of Objection Election Committee; Local 94 election; anti-communism in union; work at Helen Rose and strike against shop; and problems with union over her pension;
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