Read the passage and answer the following question.
Founded at the dawn of the modern industrial era, the nearly forgotten Women’s Trade
Union League (WTUL) played an instrumental line role in advancing the cause of working
women through the early part of the twentieth century. In the face of considerable adversity,
the WTUL made a contribution far greater than did most historical footnotes.
The organization’s successes did not come easily; conflict beset the WTUL in many forms.
During those early days of American unions, organized labour was aggressively opposed by
both industry and government. The WTUL, which represented a largely unskilled labour
force, had little leverage against these powerful opponents. Also, because of the skill level of its workers as well as inherent societal gender bias, the WTUL had great difficulty find-
ing allies among other unions. Even the large and powerful American Federation of Labour
(AFL), which nominally took the WTUL under its wing, kept it at a distance. Because the
AFL’s power stemmed from its highly skilled labour force, the organization saw little eco-
nomic benefit in working with the WTUL. The affiliation provided the AFL with political
cover, allowing it to claim support for women workers; in return, the WTUL gained a potent
but largely absent ally.
The WTUL also had to overcome internal discord. While the majority of the group’s
members were working women, a sizeable and powerful minority consisted of middle- and
upper-class social reformers whose goals extended beyond labour reform. While workers ar-
gued that the WTUL should focus its efforts on collective bargaining and working conditions,
the reformers looked beyond the workplace, seeking state and national legislation aimed at
education reform and urban poverty relief as well as workplace issues.
Despite these obstacles, the WTUL accomplished a great deal. The organization was in-
strumental in the passage of state laws mandating an eight-hour workday, a minimum wage
for women, and a ban on child labour. It provided seed money to women who organized
workers in specific plants and industries, and also established strike funds and soup kitchens
to support striking unionists. After the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911, the
WTUL launched a four-year investigation whose conclusions formed the basis of much sub-
sequent workplace safety legislation. The organization also offered a political base for all
reform-minded women, and thus helped develop the next generation of American leaders.
Eleanor Roosevelt was one of many prominent figures to emerge from the WTUL.
The organization began a slow death in the late 1920s, when the Great Depression choked
off its funding. The organization limped through the 1940s; the death knell eventually rang in
1950, at the onset of the McCarthy era. A turn-of-the-century labour organization dedicated
to social reform, one that during its heyday was regarded by many as “radical,” stood little
chance of weathering that storm. This humble ending, however, does nothing to diminish the
accomplishments of an organization that is yet to receive its historical due.