34 Facts About David Dubinsky

David Dubinsky was a Belarusian-born American labor leader and politician.

David Dubinsky served as president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union between 1932 and 1966, took part in the creation of the CIO, and was one of the founders of the American Labor Party and the Liberal Party of New York.

David Dubinsky worked from early childhood delivering bread from his father's bakery to local shops, while attending a Hebrew school, where he studied Polish, Russian, and Yiddish.

David Dubinsky was later forced to leave a semi-private school he attended to take work in his father's bakery to replace a brother who had left abruptly.

David Dubinsky joined the bakers' union, which was controlled by the Bund, and owing to his superior education and fluency in several languages, was elected assistant secretary within the union by 1906.

In 1906 or 1907, David Dubinsky was arrested by the Okhrana, and was held for 18 months in prison before being sentenced to hard labor in Chelyabinsk, Siberia upon reaching the age of 16.

When David Dubinsky came to the United States in 1911, he began by working as a dishwasher.

David Dubinsky quickly rose to become a sewing machine operator, but ignored requests from relatives that he pursue a career in the medical industry, and did not join his brother as a baker.

Shortly after David Dubinsky was elected to the International Executive Board Benjamin Schlesinger, the International's president, resigned.

David Dubinsky campaigned hard for election of Morris Sigman, a former Industrial Workers of the World member who took office in 1923.

When it called a general strike on July 1,1926, David Dubinsky was given a nominal role in the strike, reflecting his power base in the cutters' union, but was largely sidelined.

David Dubinsky was somewhat disenchanted with Sigman's leadership by this point; while he was a wholehearted supporter of Sigman's attack on the Communist influence within the union, he thought that Sigman was too abrasive, alienating the right wing almost reflexively, given his dislike of "union bureaucrats" gained through his years in the Industrial Workers of the World.

David Dubinsky denied any personal ambitions and rebuffed a proposal from Abraham Cahan of The Forward to promote him as Sigman's heir apparent.

David Dubinsky set out to rebuild the ILGWU's base in New York City by striking a deal with the major manufacturers' group in 1929 that provided no pay raises but made it possible for the union to police the contract by cracking down on subcontractors who "chiseled", cheating workers out of pay or hours in order to gain a competitive advantage.

David Dubinsky was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the ILGWU at the end of 1929.

David Dubinsky was elected president after Schlesinger died in 1932, retaining the position of Secretary-Treasurer in order to avoid the sort of internecine battles that previous officers had waged in the past.

David Dubinsky held the Presidency until 1966, while remaining Secretary-Treasurer until 1959.

David Dubinsky proved to be far more durable than his predecessors.

David Dubinsky did not brook dissent within the union and insisted that every employee of the International first submit an undated letter of resignation, to be used should Dubinsky choose to fire him later.

David Dubinsky acquired the power to appoint key officers throughout the union.

David Dubinsky was unwilling, on the other hand, to split the AFL into two competing federations and did not follow Lewis and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America when they formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations as a rival to, rather than a part of, the AFL.

David Dubinsky had personality differences with Lewis, whom he resented as high-handed.

David Dubinsky was opposed to any form of collaboration with communists and had offered financial support to Homer Martin, the controversial president of the United Auto Workers, who was being advised by Jay Lovestone, a former leader of the Communist Party turned anti-communist.

David Dubinsky regained his former positions as a vice president and member of the executive council of the AFL in 1945.

David Dubinsky was the most visible supporter within the AFL of demands to clean house by ousting corrupt union leaders; the AFL-CIO ultimately adopted many of his demands when it established codes of conduct for its affiliates in 1957.

David Dubinsky ultimately left the ALP in 1944 after a dispute with Hillman over whether labor leaders in New York, such as Mike Quill, who either were members of the Communist Party or were seen as sympathetic to it, should be given any role in the ALP.

David Dubinsky had hopes of launching a national liberal party, headed by Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for president in 1940 who had soured on the Republican Party after his defeat in the primaries in 1944.

David Dubinsky proposed that Willkie begin by running for Mayor of New York City in 1945; Willkie died before the plan could get off the ground.

David Dubinsky took pride in negotiating a contract in 1929 that contained no raises, but allowed the union to crack down on subcontractors who "chiselled".

David Dubinsky even claimed to have once turned down an employer's wage offer in negotiations as too costly to the employers, and therefore harmful to employees.

David Dubinsky's focus on maintaining the stability of the industry and the union's place in it dampened the union's desire to gain significant wage increases for its members.

On March 17,1966, David Dubinsky resigned as leader of the ILGWU at the age of 74.

David Dubinsky died September 17,1982, in New York City.

David Dubinsky had a profound impact on the development of workers' rights, both in the garments industry and in general: among his achievements were the first garment industry pact for a 35-hour week, the first employer-contributed fund for worker vacations, affordable housing for workers, and initiatives in workers' health and training.