Labor Conflict in the Suburbs: Organizing Retail in Metropolitan New York, 1954–1958

Abstract

From 1954 to 1958, District 65 of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), engaged in several campaigns to organize the new branch department stores opening in the suburbs of New York City. These department stores were a significant aspect of the post-World War Two suburban boom, significantly reshaping commercial space. The organizing drive was also an important, if neglected, part of the economic transformation of the suburbs in the US in the 1950s. Rather than contribute to the union's apathy, suburbanization sparked District 65's largest organizing drive of the decade. In branching out beyond New York City, District 65 adapted its organizing strategies, de-emphasizing its militant past and reaching out to women workers. By and large, District 65's efforts were unsuccessful, due to both challenges posed by the suburbs as well as the larger political and economic context of the US in the 1950s.