International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

Chinese women garment workers eating with chopsticks with the caption "Feasting at a member's home after union meeting" and the names of union members

Sue Ko Lee Scrapbook pg. 7

Sue Ko Lee was a button hole machine operator at the National Dollar Store and a member of the Chinese Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (CLGWU). She went on to become a garment factory business agent, then secretary of the union local and the San Francisco Joint Board, as well as a delegate to the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union national convention. 

Lee's scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, bulletins and photographs pertaining to the CLGWU, Local 341, mostly concerning the 1938 strike at the National Dollar Store/Golden Gate Manufacturing garment factory in San Francisco's Chinatown. 

The letter below, in Chinese and English, is addressed to ILGWU members and describes the circumstances of their nine week strike and thanks the national ILGWU in New York for their support.

Questions

  • What were, and continue to be, the risks of organizing for better wages and working conditions for immigrant women?  
  • How might the factory owners retaliate against them?

Letter to ILGWU members in Chinese, described in caption belowLetter to ILGWU members in English, described in caption below

Su Ko Lee Scrapbook pages 11-12. 

Sue Ko Lee Scrapbook on Chinese Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 1937 - 1938 Links to an external site..  larc.srp.0011.  Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.