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 ar-
rived 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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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, gain-
ing 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 all- 
female union in the United States, to press for higher 
wages and safer work conditions after employers had re-
peatedly 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 Wom-
en’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 im-
portant 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 leg-
endary 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 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the life of Kate Mullany attests to the expe-
rience of working women in 19th century America 
and their struggle to obtain safe working conditions, 
reasonable wages, and respect from the entire Amer-
ican labor movement; 
(2) Kate Mullany demonstrated the indomitable 
will of working women everywhere who continue to 
fight for equal pay and equal opportunity in work-
places through union organizing and collective bar-
gaining; and 
(3) Kate Mullany reflected the best American 
tradition of using her intellect and courage to over-
come outdated barriers tied to gender, live and work 
with dignity, and have the confidence to pursue her 
dreams both in her careers and with her loved ones. 
Æ 
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