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Picketing in paradise: The garment, laundry, and hotel workers' unions in 1950s Miami, Florida

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Date Issued:
1995
Summary:
Miami's economic and demographic boom of the post-World War Two years attracted many workers to south Florida. In this tourist town on the South's periphery, the service sector industries played an important role. Hotel, restaurant, and laundry workers provided services to the tourists and many new residents. But manufacturing, such as in the garment industry, also expanded in the Miami area. Labor unions followed the workers to south Florida. But they encountered a hostile environment in a "right to work" state. Nonetheless, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), the Laundry Workers International Union (LWIU), and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HERE) made a difference in Miami, facilitating its transition from a south tourist town to the multicultural international city of today. Labor historians, though, have ignored Miami's interesting labor history, perhaps because it does not represent a typical southern workplace. This thesis is an attempt to draw scholarly attention to Miami and its workers. Florida labor history is a "new frontier," but should not remain so.
Title: Picketing in paradise: The garment, laundry, and hotel workers' unions in 1950s Miami, Florida.
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Name(s): Jurkovic, Maria.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Mohl, Raymond A., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1995
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 149 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Miami's economic and demographic boom of the post-World War Two years attracted many workers to south Florida. In this tourist town on the South's periphery, the service sector industries played an important role. Hotel, restaurant, and laundry workers provided services to the tourists and many new residents. But manufacturing, such as in the garment industry, also expanded in the Miami area. Labor unions followed the workers to south Florida. But they encountered a hostile environment in a "right to work" state. Nonetheless, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), the Laundry Workers International Union (LWIU), and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HERE) made a difference in Miami, facilitating its transition from a south tourist town to the multicultural international city of today. Labor historians, though, have ignored Miami's interesting labor history, perhaps because it does not represent a typical southern workplace. This thesis is an attempt to draw scholarly attention to Miami and its workers. Florida labor history is a "new frontier," but should not remain so.
Identifier: 15132 (digitool), FADT15132 (IID), fau:11907 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1995.
Subject(s): Laundry workers--Labor unions--Florida--Miami--History
Hotels--Employees--Labor unions--Florida--Miami--History
Clothing workers--Labor unions--Florida--Miami--History
Labor unions--Laundry workers--Florida--History
Labor unions--Hotel employees--Florida--History
Labor unions--Clothing workers--Florida--History
Labor--Florida--Miami--History
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15132
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.