The union came to national attention with the
1910 Chicago Garment Workers' Strike, which had started as a spontaneous strike on September 22, by a handful of women workers at
Hart Schaffner & Marx. It spread to a citywide labor action of almost 40,000 workers that lasted until February 1911. Chicago was then the largest producer of men's garments in the United States, Hart Schaffner & Marx the largest of Chicago manufacturers, and UGW the only union in the industry. The strike was a bitter one, with hundreds of strikers injured and two killed. Future union president
Sidney Hillman was a rank-and-file leader, and lawyer
Clarence Darrow was involved with the settlement negotiations. The action not only pitted workers against management and against Chicago police on horseback, it also exposed divisions in the union—namely that the organization did not support its unskilled members. Similar allegations dogged the UGA's mishandling of the 1913 New York Garment Workers Strike, a nine-week walkout of some 85,000 workers. Later UGW strikes included one in February, 1913, in
Rochester, New York, where striker
Ida Braiman was killed and others wounded by gunfire. During a subsequent strike in Chicago in October 1915, striker Edward Kapper was killed in a riot on October 26, and 10-year-old bystander Leo Schroeder was crushed by a mob on the 29th. ==Presidents==