During the late 1970s and 1980s, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) successfully organized many garment factories in Los Angeles where the many workers were undocumented immigrants and women. Organizer Cristina Vázquez (center), an immigrant from Ecuador and former garment worker, led the campaign at Glydons that resulted in a clear victory for the union in February 1980. Standing beside her is Cornelius Wall, an ILGWU official who was sometimes at odds with the union’s young, progressive, Spanish-speaking organizers. As was common practice, union members posed for a photograph indicating the election vote count. In the terms of the National Labor Relations Board there were 149 votes for union representation and 10 for no union. The union framed the vote somewhat differently, as a victory for workers (obreros) over the company (compañia).
Source: ILGWU Photographs, Box 5, Folder 14, Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives at the Cornell University Library.