Kate+Mullaney


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=**Kate Mullaney**=

Circa 1845-August 17, 1906

Kate Mullaney was one of many immigrants who changed American history. She formed the first female labor union in the country, and served as an influential leader in the National Labor Union. Her achievements paved the way for future women in the workforce.

During Mullaney’s early childhood, she and her family immigrated to Troy, New York. In her teenage year Mullaney was forced to enter the workforce after the death of her father, and her mother’s sickness. At the time, Troy, New York, manufactured 90 percent of the world’s detachable collars, ciffs, and white starched shirts. Mullaney became one of 3,000 women working in this industry.

For 12 to 14 hours a day, Mullaney found herself with hands emerged in boiling water, contaminated with bleach products. As faster starching machines were instituted, the number health and safety hazards inflated, and many women were badly burned. Despite the perilous conditions, Mullaney and her coworkers earned only three to four dollars a week.

Mullaney was not going to allow the current conditions to continue; she set her mind to organizing the female workers of Troy. In 1864, the Collar Laundry Union was formed, the first female union in the nation. During that same year, Mullaney and the 300 other members of her union went on strike against the 14 commercial laundries in Troy insisting on higher wages and safer working conditions. In less than a week, the laundries’ owners accented to the Union’s demands, and two years following the strike, the women’s wages were up to 14 dollars a week!

Mullaney’s business in Tory was not the extent of her work for the female workforce. In 1868, Mullaney was appointed assistant secretary and national organizer for women for the National Labor Union. She was the first women appointed to an office in the Nation Labor Union.

On August 17, 1906, Kate Mullaney passed away. She was buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Troy, New York. Her grave was unmarked for 93 years following her death. In 1999, Irish citizens and labor leaders in Troy raised funds to mark the resting place of a hero who greatly contributed to women in the work place.



The Patton Linen Collar Manufactory in Troy, New York, swarmed with female employees.



This is a map of New York State. Troy is located North-East of the state capital, Albany.

Bibliography: [| Doyle, Alison. "Women and Work." About. 2007. The New York Times Company. May 13, 2007.]