Gertrude Lane

For the American editor, see Gertrude Battles Lane.

Gertrude Lane (died 1953) was an American trade unionist and labor organizer active in New York City from the 1930s. Lane led the Office Workers Union and held roles in the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union.

Education and early career

Lane was a graduate of Hunter College.[1] She had wanted to become a librarian but left college during the Great Depression and so had to find work as a waitress.[2]

Trade unionism

Lane was a leading member of the Office Workers Union (OWU) in New York, a white-collar union established in the early 1930s and affiliated with the Trade Union Unity League. She was the highest-ranking official in the union and was credited for highlighting the important role of women in labor struggles.[3] In 1934, Lane was elected to the national committee of a conference held to look at establishing a national Office Workers Union.[4] She was chairman of the strike committee during the OWU strikes at S. Klein and Ohrbach department stores in 1935.[5] The OWU later merged into the United Office and Professional Workers of America (UOPWA).[6]

Lane was also a founder of the Hotel and Club Employees Union,[7] a local (Local 6) of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union.[8] She worked as its secretary-treasurer.[2][7]

Lane was supportive of The Daily Worker and encouraged union members to subscribe to and read it.[9] According to In These Times, there is evidence that Lane was a member of the national committee of the Communist Party of the United States although she was deemed "not currently of sufficient interest" to be added to the FBI's Security Index.[1] Lane was recorded as attending the Communist Party convention in July 1945 in a report by John F. Cronin.[10] Counterattack, an anti-communist newsletter, named Lane and her husband as communists in 1948 and announced it had sent information about Lane to Congress.[11]

Personal life and death

Lane was married to Jay Rubin, another trade unionist who was president of the New York Hotel Trades Council.[12] Lane died in 1953 after a period of illness and was survived by Rubin who died in 1990.[12][7]

References

1. Shaun Richman (3 September 2020). "A Brief History of the U.S. Government's Targeting of Left-Wing Immigrants". In These Times. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
2. "Library Unions Round Table". ALA Bulletin. 42 (9): 74–76. September 1948. Retrieved 8 February 2025 – via JSTOR.
3. Daniel J. Opler (2007). For All White-Collar Workers: The Possibilities of Radicalism in New York City's Department Store Unions, 1934-1953. Ohio State University Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 9780814210635.
4. "Office Union Makes Great Advances". The Daily Worker. 2 July 1934. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
5. "Gold to Speak At Strike Rally Of Office Union". The Daily Worker. 2 January 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
6. Gerald M. Monroe (1974). "Artists As Militant Trade Union Workers during the Great Depression" (PDF). Archives of American Art Journal. 14 (1): 9–10. Retrieved 8 February 2025. Primarily a union of bookkeepers, stenographers, office workers, and insurance agents, the UOPWA originally had been the Office Workers Union of the Communist-run Trade Union Unity League.
7. "Guide to the Gertrude Lane Papers WAG.162". NYU Libraries. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
8. Kostis Karpozilos (2013). "From "Slaves of the Kitchen" to "Thanks to the Union": Greek-American Hotel and Restaurant Workers during the Great Depression". Food & History. 11 (2): 239. Retrieved 8 February 2025. Thus in New York City alone there were at least twelve different locals operating in the ranks of the HRE: ... Local 6 (Hotel and Club Employees)
9. "Push Drive To Limit, Say Union Heads". The Daily Worker. 9 August 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
10. John F. Cronin. "The Problem of American Communism in 1945: Facts and Recommendations" (PDF). Maryland.gov. p. 111. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
11. "Communist Battle Is Near A Climax In Worst-Infested AFL Union" (PDF). Counterattack. No. 75. 29 October 1948. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
12. Joan Cook (14 August 1990). "Jay Rubin, 86, President Emeritus Of New York Hotel Union Council". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 February 2025.