Fonds consists of Canadian national office records, n.d., 1948-1976, 3.83 m; Local 1430, n.d., 1920-1974, 0.4 m; South-Western Ontario Joint Textile Board records, n.d., 1945-1967, 7.15 m; Greater Toronto Textile Joint Board, n.d., 1957-1970, 7.2 m; and Greater Cornwall Textile Joint Board, n.d., 1933-1980, 7.56 m.
Fonds also contains photographs related to activities of locals of Textile Workers Union of America in Canada, including meetings, picnics, and picketing, [ca. 1954-1962]; a photograph of a business block in Galt, Ont., damaged by fire, 1960; and an aerial view showing the Courtaulds Textile plant and part of the town of Cornwall, [ca. 1930].
In addition, fonds contains 2 Textile Workers Union of America badges, 1 Textile Workers Union of America Steward badge, 1 Amalgamated Clothing and Textiles Workers Union Retired Member badge, and 1 Textile Workers Union of America 30th Anniversary in Canada badge, [ca. 1975].
Also included is the National Film Board of Canada documentary film entitled Local 100 = Contrat de travail (1950). The film tells the story of how Local 100, an affiliate of a national union, was formed.
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union : In an effort to expand and consolidate union organization in the textile industry, the Canadian Congress of Labour asked the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) to come to Canada in 1945. Locals affiliated with the Congress' Textile Workers Union Organizing Committee and with the National Union of Textile Workers subsequently joined the TWUA, whose first Canadian Director was Sam Baron. His successors were J. Harold Daoust (1951-1954) and George C. Watson (1965-1977). The TWUA quickly became the largest textile workers union in Canada, with contracts for workers employed in major mills such as Canadian Cottons plants in Ontario and New Brunswick, Courtaulds Ltd. in Cornwall and Monarch Knitting Mills in Toronto. Joint boards were set up to coordinate and supervise the locals in centers of the industry including Toronto, Southwestern Ontario, Cornwall and the Eastern Townships.
In 1976, the TWUA merged with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. Charles (Bud) Clarke succeeded George Watson as the director of the textile workers division of the new union in 1977.
