Changes

Hillman was born to a family of rabbis and small business owners in [[Lithuania]] in 1887. He arrived in the [[United States]] in 1907. By the age of sixteen he was organizing the typesetters of Kovno for the Bund, the outlawed Jewish trade union movement. The Czarist police imprisoned him in 1904 for organizing in a labor parade, and again during the revolution of 1905 while working for the Social Democratic party. When the revolution was defeated he fled to the United States. In Chicago he worked for $8 a week as a cutter at the giant the men's clothing factory of Hart, Shaffner and Marx. In 1910 the workers there went on strike, sparking a a strike in the entire Chicago men's clothing industry. Hillman became a strike leader and negotiated a compromise settlement calling for arbitration. He was elected business agent of the newly formed Local 39, United Garment Workers of America. His moderation and realism now made the arbitration plan work, as Hillman gained the trust of workers and management. Meanwhile a new national union formed of needle workers, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. It named Hillman president and became his base of power until his death.   

Hillman was born to a family of rabbis and small business owners in [[Lithuania]] in 1887. He arrived in the [[United States]] in 1907. By the age of sixteen he was organizing the typesetters of Kovno for the Bund, the outlawed Jewish trade union movement. The Czarist police imprisoned him in 1904 for organizing in a labor parade, and again during the revolution of 1905 while working for the Social Democratic party. When the revolution was defeated he fled to the United States. In Chicago he worked for $8 a week as a cutter at the giant the men's clothing factory of Hart, Shaffner and Marx. In 1910 the workers there went on strike, sparking a a strike in the entire Chicago men's clothing industry. Hillman became a strike leader and negotiated a compromise settlement calling for arbitration. He was elected business agent of the newly formed Local 39, United Garment Workers of America. His moderation and realism now made the arbitration plan work, as Hillman gained the trust of workers and management. Meanwhile a new national union formed of needle workers, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. It named Hillman president and became his base of power until his death.   

==Amalgamated==

==Amalgamated==

The Amalgamated could not join the [[AFL]], which recognized its rival the more established United Garment Workers.  

The Amalgamated could not join the [[American Federation of Labor|AFL]], which recognized its rival the more established United Garment Workers.  

The breakthrough came with World War I: the military needed uniforms fast, and the Amalgamated, after winning several bloody strikes in Chicago and Baltimore, was an all-out supporter of the war effort. Hillman shrewdly mixed militancy and reasonable negotiation, and added a new dimension with his cooperation with the new federal Board of Control and Labor Standards for Army Clothing. By 1920 the Amalgamated enrolled 177,000 dues paying members, with contracts covering 85% of the men's clothing industry. The Amalgamated forced companies to stop using sweatshops (that is, families working in their own apartments for much lower pay), and achieved the forty-four-hour week by 1920.

The breakthrough came with World War I: the military needed uniforms fast, and the Amalgamated, after winning several bloody strikes in Chicago and Baltimore, was an all-out supporter of the war effort. Hillman shrewdly mixed militancy and reasonable negotiation, and added a new dimension with his cooperation with the new federal Board of Control and Labor Standards for Army Clothing. By 1920 the Amalgamated enrolled 177,000 dues paying members, with contracts covering 85% of the men's clothing industry. The Amalgamated forced companies to stop using sweatshops (that is, families working in their own apartments for much lower pay), and achieved the forty-four-hour week by 1920.

==Industrial unionism==

==Industrial unionism==

Hillman disagreed with the strategy of the AFL to concentrate on skilled workers.  He believed in "industrial unionism", which involved unionizing all he workers in an industry of all skill levels. He was quite successful with this approach to clothing workers; John L. Lewis was developing a similar approach at the same time regarding coal miners. Hillman and Lewis, however, had a deeper strategy.  They saw that industries like sewing and coal mining were dominated by hundreds of small firms, that engaged in ruinous competition. Wage comprised most of the cost of doing business in the needle trades and coal mining, so brutal competition meant lower wages.  The way to improve conditions, raise wages and raise profits was to have the union control the industry by setting high wages. In a competitive marketplace, other firms were helpless when a competitor cut prices--they had to follow.  But if the union policed the industry and prevented wage cuts and thus price cuts, then cutthroat competition with low wages and low  wages would be impossible. The solution only worked in a few industries (especially clothing and coal) where conditions were exactly right (many small companies, wages the biggest expense.)  These conditions did not apply in most industries. The problem in the 1920s was that unions were too weak to police their industries, so when the New Deal arrived in 1933, Hillman jumped at the chance to have the [[NRA]] police the industries and keep wages high. When NRA ended in 1935, Hillman helped Congress pass the [[Wagner Act]] which greatly facilitated union membership drives.

Hillman disagreed with the strategy of the AFL to concentrate on skilled workers.  He believed in "industrial unionism", which involved unionizing all he workers in an industry of all skill levels. He was quite successful with this approach to clothing workers; John L. Lewis was developing a similar approach at the same time regarding coal miners. Hillman and Lewis, however, had a deeper strategy.  They saw that industries like sewing and coal mining were dominated by hundreds of small firms, that engaged in ruinous competition. Wage comprised most of the cost of doing business in the needle trades and coal mining, so brutal competition meant lower wages.  The way to improve conditions, raise wages and raise profits was to have the union control the industry by setting high wages. In a competitive marketplace, other firms were helpless when a competitor cut prices--they had to follow.  But if the union policed the industry and prevented wage cuts and thus price cuts, then cutthroat competition with low wages and low  wages would be impossible. The solution only worked in a few industries (especially clothing and coal) where conditions were exactly right (many small companies, wages the biggest expense.)  These conditions did not apply in most industries. The problem in the 1920s was that unions were too weak to police their industries, so when the New Deal arrived in 1933, Hillman jumped at the chance to have the [[NRA]] police the industries and keep wages high. When NRA ended in 1935, Hillman helped Congress pass the [[Wagner Act]] which greatly facilitated union membership drives.