The Labor movement in Memphis in 1937 was characterized by many events that shaped the landscape of unionization for good. Notable unionists rose to lead the labor movements, some of the unionists were women working in the garment industry like Merle Zappone. Merle Zappone worked as a machine operator in a garment factory, but was radicalized by the union strikes I . As a garment factory worker, Zappone had a first-hand experience of the challenges faced by women workers due to lack of unionization. She was underpaid, overworked in an unsafe environment, and she was easily dispensable like most garment women workers. She was eventually inspired to join other unionists with the hope of improving conditions and pay for women’s labor in San Antonio, and later in Memphis.
Zappone became one of the most influential members of the International Ladies Garments Workers Union (ILGWU). Zappone was the organizer for the union, and was responsible for bringing together women garment workers, organizing and coordinating various strikes against garment factory owners who refused to grant unionization to women workers. Zappone organized a number of strikes, for instance, the strike against Shirlee Frocks Inc. on 25th March 1937, and the strike against Nona-Lee Dress Co. Plant II .
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Zappone’s role as the union organizer was quite challenging. Before joining ILGWU, Zappone was a machine operator and she traded her simple life for the challenge of fighting for women’s rights. Her involvement in ILGWU affected her personal life too. Mary Zappone’s husband filed for divorce, citing her involvement in ILGWU as the reason III . Don Zappone claimed that his wife’s activities in the ILGWU caused him humiliation; the couple was officially separated on the 16th January, 1937. Due to her public role in ILGWU, Zappone’s divorce made it to the local news.
It is worth mentioning that ILGWU activities officially began in 1933 in San Antonio. The group grew slowly because recruiting women to join the movement was hard; dutiful wives and daughters refused to join the movement without their husbands’ and fathers’ approval. What differentiated Zappone from other union members is that she joined the union on her own accord after many years of working in a garment factory IV . Zappone believed in the cause and her popularity led to her role as the San Antonia ILGWU organizer. Organizing ILGWU activities was challenging, in the early days, the union lacked enough members, but later on inspiring women to engage in strikes was much harder. Between 1934- 1935, Zappone worked together with Rebecca Taylor to recruit garment women workers to the union from the A.B. Franks and the Halff garment factory. Many women workers joined the union, only for A.B. Franks to be closed and the Halff garment factory started manufacturing men’s garments after the firm had been unionized to avoid fulfilling ILGWU terms.
There were other notable strike-related setbacks that affected Zappone’s work. Garment workers who joined the union were dismissed immediately by their employer. The courts also sided with the garment factory owners on numerous occasions by giving injunctions to the factory to prevent garment workers from engaging in ILGWU strikes V . Union members including Zappone were arrested severally. In the 1936 strike against Dorothy Frocks Company, fourteen garment workers were arrested and tried for violating the terms of an injunction VI . They were given sentences of one to ten days in prison, and a fine of $100 to $250. Nona-Lee Dress Co. Plant also pursued legal action against Zappone for inciting garment workers, but Chancellor L.D. Bejach ruled in favor of Zappone that the defendant could not be arrested twice for the same offense. This showed that on certain occasions the courts also supported the union’s activities.
Zappone welcomed Mexican women and other minorities by forging alliance between Mexican garment workers and the union. Zappone commented that “We will not discriminate against the girls who joined the union VII .” Unlike white women, Mexican and African American women faced more work problems due to discrimination in the society. They were underpaid, discriminated. San Antonia ILGWU had a bilingual organizer to attract Mexican women.
Zappone’s history in San Antonio’s ILGWU influenced her activities in Memphis. It equipped her with skills for bringing in new members, organizing skills and different methods of strikes VIII . When Zappone arrived in Memphis, she found an ILGWU in place. Unionists like Ida Sledge had organized meetings, peaceful protests and strikes for union members working in different sectors. She joined the movement, and she was in charge of the garment workers. Her skills from her previous role in San Antonia ILGWU came in handy, and soon Zappone made the headlines by organizing strikes in Memphis. The strike against Noma-Lee became one of the momentous strikes in ILGWU history in Memphis.
On the 26th March, 1937, Zappone led other garment women workers in a peaceful protest against Noma-Lee Dress Co. Plant but they were stopped by the police. This did not stop Zappone and the other union members from protesting, some of them were beaten and even stripped by the police and groups against the protest IX . In Memphis, Zappone became the face of the ILGWU because of the experiences with ILGWU, garment factories and the law in San Antonio. In Memphis, Zappone was not afraid to break the law or any negative public judgment because she had experienced it in San Antonio.
Zappone’s activities in Memphis supported the work of Ida Sledge. Ida Sledge was the organizer of the ILGWU in Memphis. She was active in the activities of the Congress of Industrialized Organizations (CIO) because she came from a wealthy family, unlike Zappone. The fact that both Zappone and Ida Sledge came from different backgrounds meant that their combined efforts could bring together women from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Zappone and Sledge share the same values about women workers in the garment factories; they both wanted better pay and improved bargaining power. Zappone had experience with factory work, and Sledge’s activities in the CIO improved the bargaining power of the union.
Zappone and Sledge shared other opinions on the way forward for ILGWU in Memphis. They believed that members should be treated equally regardless of their ethnic background. Ed Crump had denounced unions, particularly those that admitted African Americans. Crump, the son of a former slave owner, did not believe the African Americans were equal with whites. African Americans represented 40% of the work force, and they were exploited X . With the help of Sledge and Zappone, many African American garment workers took to the streets to protest and demand for unionization.
Evidently, Zappone encountered a lot of personal and professional hurdles as the organizer of ILGWU, but she remained relentless. She helped female garment workers achieve some of their goals, but ILGWU’s activities in Memphis were thwarted by Ed Crump’s leadership.
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