Jack Rubenstein, was a labor-union official who led efforts to organize textile workers in the 1920's and later became a vice president of the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O.
Mr. Rubenstein was a picket captain in the Passaic woolen strike that began early in 1926 and lasted for 13 months, in which Communist-led organizing groups sought to unionize textile plants throughout northeastern New Jersey. He was arrested 30 times during picket line clashes there and later during strikes in New Bedford and Fall River, Mass., and in Providence, R.I.
Mr. Rubenstein broke with the Communist union leadership and was expelled from the National Textile Workers Union. In 1933 he led a strike of 20,000 textile dyers and printers in Paterson, N.J., and became an organizer for the Federation of Dyers, Finishers and Printers that resulted from the strike.
In 1937 he joined the Textile Workers Union of America, a predecessor of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers. He managed the union's New York Joint Board and was its New York State director before retiring in 1973 as a vice president of the union and of the state A.F.L.-C.I.O.
Jack Rubenstein died in Margate, Fla., where he lived. He was 81 years old and a former Bronx resident.
Author: New York Times News Service
This collection contains paperwork corresponding to specific meetings and the outcomes of the meetings in relation to unions and textile workers.
