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Hello for Wonder Media Network. I'm

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Jenny Kaplan and this is Wamanica.

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This month, we're talking about workers, women

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who fought for labor rights and shaped the way

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we do business today. They

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advocated for reform to make the office

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wherever it is, a more equitable place.

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Today, we're talking about a garment factory worker

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who was part of one of the longest strikes in the

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history of San Francisco's Chinatown.

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She and her fellow garment workers joined

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forces with a white leg union to win better

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pay and shorter hours and a huge

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victory for the Chinese American workforce.

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Let's talk about Sue Ko Lee.

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Sue Coo Lee was born on March ninth, nineteen

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ten, in Honolulu, Hawaii, though

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she grew up in Watsonville, California. She

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was the oldest of ten children. When

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she was eighteen years old, she married Lee

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Ju Hing. He was a Chinese

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immigrant who worked as a bookkeeper at the dry

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goods retail chain National Dollar Stores.

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The company was owned by entrepreneur Joe Shun,

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one of the first Chinese American millionaires

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in the country. Sue

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took a job at the same factory in San Francisco

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as her husband and several other family members.

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She earned twenty five cents an hour as a buttonhole

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machine operator. At

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the time, most Chinese and Chinese American

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workers in the city were employed at Chinese

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owned businesses. As

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Sue later explained, you couldn't

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get out of Chinatown and work anywhere else. Most

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white employers refused to hire them. Chinese

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employers did provide families like Sue's

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with job opportunities, but

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their wages were often low working

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conditions were poor. Sue

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later recalled her employer National Dollar

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Stores, breaking labor laws. Unlike

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many of their white counterparts, Chinese

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workers weren't unionized, and

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bosses often took advantage of the friendship

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and family ties they had with their workforce

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to discourage attempts at bargaining for better

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conditions. By the nineteen

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thirties, that was all beginning to change. The

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International Ladies Garment Workers' Union,

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or at the ILGWU, campaigned

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to bring black, Latina and Asian workers

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into the fold. White

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union members argued that when Chinese

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workers were underpaid and overworked, they

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became a more attractive workforce for

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employers to exploit, undercutting

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the white union's bargaining power, so

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it made sense to have Chinese workers joined

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their union ranks. At

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first, unionizing efforts stalled.

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White organizers failed to make connections with

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the local Chinese American community, but

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the tide turned when Jennie Maitas, a

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Hungarian immigrant and labor organizer,

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started to canvass Chinatown. She

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built trust with many Chinese garment workers

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and championed the benefits of unionizing.

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In nineteen thirty eight, Sue and her fellow

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garment workers voted to join the ILGWU.

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They formed the Chinese Ladies Garment Workers

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Association. After

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several rounds of negotiation, the union

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and National Dollar Stores signed a preliminary

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agreement, but this win

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was quickly overshadowed when the company's owners

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sold it to a group of its own managers.

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The newly unionized workers interpreted

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this as a sneaky way for National Dollar

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Stores to get out of its end of the bargain, so

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they decided to go on strike. Sue

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and more than one hundred and fifty workers walked

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out, many of them also women. The

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ILGWU helped them organize

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picket lines at the factory and several of

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the company's retail locations. Union

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organizers often also provided donuts

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and coffee to the striking workers. White

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retail clerks also refused to cross the picket

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line, forcing shops to temporarily

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close during the strike. The

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management at National Dollar Stores campaigned

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against the workers in the local Chinatown community,

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arguing that the company was the victim.

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Sue recalled the striking workers being labeled

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as troublemakers by many fellow Chinese

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Americans. Still, they

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refused to budge. As

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they wrote in a union bulletin in nineteen thirty

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eight, we will fight our fight

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to the end and hope to raise the living conditions

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not only for ourselves, but for the other workers

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of Chinatown as well.

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The strike ended up lasting for one hundred and

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five days, the longest in the history

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of San Francisco's Chinatown at the time. Sue

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and the other workers won a new contract with the

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factory owners. They gained

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higher wages, a forty hour work week,

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time and a half overtime, and a paid

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holiday on Labor Day. It

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felt like a huge victory, especially

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considering the racial and cultural barriers

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the striking workers had broken by joining the

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ILGWU. Sue

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later said, in my opinion,

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the strike was the best thing that ever happened, a

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change our lives. We overcame bigotry,

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didn't we. A

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year later, the union's contract expired

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with the company. At the same

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time, the company conveniently went out of business,

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ensuring its owners would not have to negotiate

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another agreement with its newly unionized

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workforce. But

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Jenny Mitas helped many Chinese and Chinese

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American workers, including Sue, get

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new jobs in white owned factories where

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conditions in pay were usually better. In

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the nineteen fifties, Sue joined the ILGWU

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as a business agent and convention delegate

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and attended national labor conferences.

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Sue died of cancer on May fifteenth, nineteen

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ninety six. She was eighty six

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years old. All

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month We're talking about workers. For more information,

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find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica

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podcast special thanks to

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Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator.

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Talk to you tomorrow.