The new union represents over 250,000 workers across Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico. The revelations that Kathie Lee Gifford clothing was being made in sweatshops in Central America and New York and that dozens of Thai immigrants labored in captivity under inhuman conditions making clothes for major U.S. retailers in El Monte, California, brings the issue of sweatshops to the national spotlight. The movement becomes the most vibrant student activism in decades. Their first contract, ratified in Feburary 2000, sets new standards for the southern textile industry, including guaranteed wage increases, paid sick days, significantly improved retirement benefits, and health and safety provisions. The protests succeed in shutting down the first day of trade talks.
Protesters demand that labor and environmental standards be enforced in global trade agreements.
Sidney Hillman is elected the first President of the new union. 1917 ACWA is established in Montreal. 5,000 workers, virtually the entire workforce in the menswear industry, go out on strike, forcing their employers to come to the bargaining table. 1921 ACWA wins a settlement ending a six-month lockout by New York clothing manufacturers. ACWA ratifies unemployment insurance plan for Chicago clothing workers.