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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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bad, they were so heartless and so ruthless, and so forth and so on.

So about 1910 there had been formed a laundry workers' union. The strike probably gained some objectives, but it was abortive so far as building a permanent trade union. It was about that time that Woman's Trade Union League was a-borning. They used as an example the needle trades Woman's Trade Union League - that women are for the most part not in positions or in trades to organize great, big, strong unions in the trades. They need to be brought into a central body like the Woman's Trade Union League for their strength, education and sustenance. The laundry workers' union was in a woman's trade. The membership of the union was almost entirely women, and young women at that, or women with families. They couldn't give the time, or they didn't know how to run a union.

Anyhow the laundry workers lost the union, but Leonora O'Reilly remained. She had a token union. She became an active person in the Woman's Trade Union League and was one of their organizers for years.

When we did the laundry code, among other people we put Leonora O'Reilly on the advisory committee. You see, she knew something about laundries. I may say that she didn't know much about them technically. When it came





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