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ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

The Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America coordinated union activities in the Rochester, N.Y. area.

In 1915, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) embarked on a large-scale organizing drive in Rochester, N.Y. After four years of extensive organizing, the union succeeded in forcing the Rochester Clothiers' Exchange (the main organization of employers) into adopting a 44-hour workweek. By 1929, the union had succeeded in unionizing over 12,000 of Rochester's clothing workers.