Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Mohl, Raymond A.

Abstract

Miami's economic and demographic boom of the post-World War Two years attracted many workers to south Florida. In this tourist town on the South's periphery, the service sector industries played an important role. Hotel, restaurant, and laundry workers provided services to the tourists and many new residents. But manufacturing, such as in the garment industry, also expanded in the Miami area. Labor unions followed the workers to south Florida. But they encountered a hostile environment in a "right to work" state. Nonetheless, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), the Laundry Workers International Union (LWIU), and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HERE) made a difference in Miami, facilitating its transition from a south tourist town to the multicultural international city of today. Labor historians, though, have ignored Miami's interesting labor history, perhaps because it does not represent a typical southern workplace. This thesis is an attempt to draw scholarly attention to Miami and its workers. Florida labor history is a "new frontier," but should not remain so.

Extent

149 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1995.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT15132

Format

pdf

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