Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), routinely spoke out against membership for women and minorities. Thus, the establishment of the ILGWU in the garment wear industry, which employed mostly women, is an aberration in the early history of the AFL. The ILGWU was founded in New York City in June 1900 by eleven delegates representing two thousand members of seven locals in four cities. Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor as a semi-industrial union, the ILGWU's initial grievances included seventy-hour workweeks and pay limited to thirty cents per day because of a work-at-home shop system. Its largest advance came in 1909 with the walkout of twenty thousand garment workers for more than three months. Now known as the "Uprising of the 20,000," the grievances of that strike included poor labor conditions, long hours, and low pay. The...