In this episode of The Voice podcast, host and UUP President Fred Kowal talks about the American Labor Studies Center and its connection to female union trailblazer Kate Mullany with ALSC Executive Director Paul Cole and Jolene DiBrango, the chair of the ALSC’s Board of Directors and executive vice president of the New York State United Teachers.
Located in Troy, New York, the ALSC works to promote teaching and learning about the American labor movement and its history in schools. The nonprofit organization offers curriculum materials for elementary and secondary school teachers on labor history, labor songs, art, literature, and issues affecting the labor movement.
The ALSC also owns the Kate Mullany House in Troy, which is a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Site. It is the only National Historic Site with a combined focus on labor, women’s and immigrant history. Mullany, who formed the first all-female union in 1864, lived in the Troy house from 1869 through 1871.
Then 24 years old, Mullany, an Irish immigrant, organized 200 women in February 1864 and became the president of the Troy Collar Laundry Workers Union. Days after forming the union, the collar workers went on strike, demanding a 25 percent increase in wages and safer working conditions—which they won. In 1868, she became assistant secretary of the National Labor Union. She died in 1906.
There are also plans to build a new National Trade Union Women's Memorial on the Mullany historic site.
For more information about the ALSC, go to https://www.labor-studies.org.
For more information about Kate Mullany, go to http://www.katemullanynhs.org.