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biography
| name: |
Schneiderman, (Rachel) Rose
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pronunciation:
[shniyderman]
| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1884–1972)
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| biography:
| Labour leader and social reformer, born in Savin, Poland. Emigrating to the USA in 1892, she went to work in her early teens sewing caps. In 1903 she helped organize a New York City local of the United Cloth and Cap Makers and took the lead in getting women elected to the union, and in 1904 she was elected to the union's executive board, the highest position yet held by a woman in any American labour organization. In 1905 she joined the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), the national organization that led the fight to improve conditions of working women, and remained among the WTUL's most active leaders for 45 years, serving as president in 1926–50. She took a major role in several of the landmark events of the American labour struggle. In 1909 she called for the strike of women waistmakers, and that same year she took a role in organizing the garment workers, and denounced all those who had contributed to the disastrous Triangle Waist Co fire in 1911. In addition to these and many other actions with the WTUL, she worked for women's right to vote and helped organize the International Congress of Labor. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her (the only woman) to the Labor Advisory Board of the National Recovery Act (1933–5). She was also secretary of the New York State Department of Labor (1937–43). she lectured widely before diverse audiences and served on various boards, ending her long life as one of the most respected spokespersons and activists for improving the conditions of labouring people. |
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