Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union
The Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union (CHCMW) was a trade union for hat and millinery workers in the United States and Canada. It began in 1901 in New York City as the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of North America and joined the American Federation of Labor (AFL) on June 17, 1902. From 1903, it began accepting women, with the first women’s branch led by Rose Schneiderman.
The CHCMW had a long dispute with the United Hatters of North America over who should organize straw hat makers and millinery workers. In 1917 the AFL decided these workers should join the Hatters, so the CHCMW withdrew and was suspended from the AFL in 1918. In 1923 the United Hatters agreed to stop representing milliners, and the CHCMW was readmitted to the AFL in 1924. The following year it adopted its final name.
By 1926 it had about 11,000 members. In 1934 it merged with the United Hatters of North America to form the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union. The union’s journal began as The Cap-Makers’ Journal, later became Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers’ Journal, and from 1917 was The Headgear Worker.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:11 (CET).