Jimmy Hoffa means of leveraging union strength at one company, to then move to organize workers, and finally to win contract demands at other companies. This process, which took several years starting in the early 1930s, eventually brought the Teamsters to a position of being one of the most powerful unions in the United States. Trucking unions in that era were heavily influenced by, and in many cases controlled by elements of, organized crime. For Hoffa to unify and expand trucking unions, he had to make accommodations and arrangements with many gangsters, beginning in the Detroit area. Organized crime influence on the
Waterproof Garment Workers' Trade Union at J. Meek and Co, in Manchester, and unhappiness about its handling of it led to the whole executive being replaced. This did not affect union membership, which reached a peak of 3,100 in 1947, with about three-quarters of members being women. From the 1950s, membership of the union declined in line with employment in the industry, and by 1971 it had only 714 members remaining. The following year, it voted to amalgamate with the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers. Waterproof Garment Workers' Trade Union The Waterproof Garment Workers' Trade Union was a trade union representing workers involved