Members of ILGWU Local 23-25 march through Chinatown to urge the remaining shops to sign the new contract, following the rally on July 15, 1982. Cornell University Kheel Center.
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The 1982 Garment Workers’ Strike was an important moment for Asian workers and the wider union movement. In 1980, about 430 garment shops in New York City’s Chinatown employed 25,000 workers—many of whom were immigrants and nearly 80% were female. Conditions in these shops were terrible, with cramped quarters spreading tuberculosis, poor safety leading to needle fragments shooting into workers’ hands, and pay of only $9 or $10 per day. However, the workers’ International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) Local 23-25 secured workers’ holiday pay, welfare payments and pension, full health care center coverage, and partial benefits for their families in contracts negotiated with the shop bosses. But in 1982, the bosses tried to slash those benefits and turn workers against their union, expecting that these Asian women workers would not resist. To their surprise, 20,000 of the workers, led by ILGWU organizers, walked off the job to rally and march in the streets of Chinatown. In the end, most bosses agreed to union demands to maintain or expand workers’ benefits, marking a major turning point for workers who had historically been expected to simply accept whatever their bosses demanded.
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