IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 218 

Commemorating the life and legacy of labor pioneer Kate Mullany in honor 

of Women’s History Month. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2023 

Mr. TONKO submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating the life and legacy of labor pioneer Kate 

Mullany in honor of Women’s History Month. 

Whereas, in 1838, Kate Mullany was born in England to 

Dominic and Bridgit Byrne Mullany of Roscommon of 

Ireland; 

Whereas, on July 24, 1850, Mullany emigrated to New York 

City with her siblings Mary, Kate, and Bridgit, and arrived in Troy, New York, around 1853; 

Whereas the city of Troy, New York, played a significant role 

in the development of the detachable collar industry, 

where women made up 85 percent of the workforce and 

worked up to 14-hour days for as little as $3 per week; 

Whereas women who worked in the detachable collar industry 

were subjected to significant health and safety hazards, 


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•HRES 218 IH 

including widespread exposure to caustic chemicals, hot 

water, and bleach, and demands for rapid work added to 

the incidence of severe burns and other dangers; 

Whereas Dominic Mullany died in 1864 prompting Kate to 

step up as a family breadwinner at 26 years of age, gaining employment at one of the 14 laundries in Troy, New 

York; 

Whereas, in February 1864, Kate Mullany formed and led 

the Collar Laundry Union of Troy, the first bona fide allfemale union in the United States, to press for higher 

wages and safer work conditions after employers had repeatedly ignored collar laundresses’ demands for fair pay; 

Whereas, on February 23, 1864, Kate Mullany led 300 

women on strike for 5 and a half days as part of the 

newly established union; 

Whereas the Collar Laundry Union of Troy successfully 

gained a 25-percent wage increase and improved working 

conditions with support from the Troy Iron Molders 

Union No. 2 and the community at large, legitimizing 

and elevating itself as a prominent organization in Troy’s 

growing labor movement; 

Whereas Kate Mullany again led the Collar Laundry Union 

of Troy in a second strike in 1866, successfully raising 

workers’ wages from $8 to $14 a week, and a third strike 

in 1869, maintaining higher wages for union members 

than the lower wages that most working women earned, 

and securing benefits that would be available to members 

even during illness and family death; 

Whereas, in 1868, Kate Mullany traveled to New York City 

to attend the National Labor Union meeting alongside 


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only 3 other women delegates: Mary Kellogg Putnam, 

Susan B. Anthony, and Mary A. MacDonald; 

Whereas Kate Mullany was appointed Assistant Secretary by 

the National Labor Union President William Sylvis on 

the last day of the conference, the first time in United 

States history that a woman served as a national labor 

union officer; 

Whereas, despite dissolving the Collar Laundry Union of 

Troy in 1870, a union that had lasted more than twice 

as long as any other women’s union at the time, Kate 

Mullany continued to be a leading part of a network of 

labor activists and helped author the resolution of the 

Working Women’s State Labor Union of New York in 

support of cooperatives; 

Whereas a local newspaper claimed there were not enough 

women in New York to be labor organizers, and Kate 

Mullany responded confidently: ‘‘You show me the women 

and I’ll turn them into organizers.’’; 

Whereas Kate Mullany was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, in 2000 

where it is noted: ‘‘As a labor leader and organizer, 

Mullany is one of early American labor history’s most important women’’, and into the Labor’s International Hall 

of Fame in Detroit, Michigan, in 2018; 

Whereas the enduring legacy of Kate Mullany is as a legendary champion in the struggle for economic and social 

justice for America’s working class, and a role model for 

subsequent generations of working women; and 

Whereas the Kate Mullany House at 350 Eighth Street in 

Troy, New York, was designated a National Historic 

Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior in 1998 and 


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a National Historic Site by an Act of Congress in 2004, 

and is owned and being restored by the American Labor 

Studies Center: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the life of Kate Mullany attests to the expe4 rience of working women in 19th century America 

5 and their struggle to obtain safe working conditions, 

6 reasonable wages, and respect from the entire Amer7 ican labor movement; 

8 (2) Kate Mullany demonstrated the indomitable 

9 will of working women everywhere who continue to 

10 fight for equal pay and equal opportunity in work11 places through union organizing and collective bar12 gaining; and 

13 (3) Kate Mullany reflected the best American 

14 tradition of using her intellect and courage to over15 come outdated barriers tied to gender, live and work 

16 with dignity, and have the confidence to pursue her 

17 dreams both in her careers and with her loved ones. 

Æ 


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