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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Women’s Trade Union League

Founded in 1903 to help working women organize, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) developed in the void created by the American Federation of Labor’s (AFL) resistance to organizing women workers. At the AFL’s regular convention, a group including Jane Addams, Lillian Wald, and others met to form a new organization focused on working women’s special interests. Donations from wealthy women provided significant financial support at the beginning of the WTUL’s existence, but declined over time. The WTUL did not achieve its goal of persuading women to join unions in large numbers, but it succeeded in other areas. It publicized women’s low wages, long working hours, and unhealthy working conditions and helped pass protective legislation and played a role in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire investigation, which helped develop new industrial safety regulations. The WTUL held its last national convention in 1947. During the post-World War II years, WTUL’s financial support diminished, its leadership aged, and many people feared being associated with unions because they were under attack for alleged connections with Communism. WTUL dissolved in 1950.

See also: Addams, Jane; Protective Legislation; Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire; Wald Lillian

References: Orleck, Common Sense and a Little Fire (1995); Amsterdam, “The National Women’s Trade Union League” Social Service Review 56 no. 2 (June 1982): 259-272.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Women’s Trade Union League." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_1022.
APA 7th
Women’s Trade Union League. From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_1022.
CMOS 17th
"Women’s Trade Union League." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_1022.