Monday, October 4, 2021

ILGWU Co-operative Village

[From The Garment Jungle (dir. Vincent Sherman, 1957). Click for a larger view.]

ILGWU: the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. This sign stays on the screen long enough for the viewer to get the point: “where once the slums and sweat shops flourished.” Yes, the ILGWU created housing for its members.

I remember the song “Look for the Union Label” in television commercials from childhood. I remember it — perhaps accurately, perhaps not — as being sung by women. (There were several versions.) It was only when watching The Garment Jungle that I understood that though ILGWU membership was largely female, the members made ladies’ garments.

Also from The Garment Jungle
Park Avenue and E. 102nd Street

comments: 2

Daughter Number Three said...

I've never been quite clear on whether or not my maternal grandmother was a member of the ILGWU or not. She definitely worked in a "dress factory," as we always called it through her 50s or maybe early 60s. My grandfather was a Teamster (he drove a bread truck).

But I remember the song and the ads well. Such different times.

Michael Leddy said...

DN3, I think you’d find The Garment Jungle interesting.

The thing that amazes me: I was a kid, and that song stuck. Talk about consciousness raising!