Agnes
Nestor was
born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 24th June, 1880. In 1807 the moved
to Chicago where she went to work in a glove factory.
Nestor became an active trade unionist and in 1898 emerged as one
of the leaders during a ten day strike at her factory. In 1902 she
helped form the International Glove Workers Union. The following year
Nestor joined with Mary Kenney O'Sullivan,
Jane Addams, Mary
McDowell, Margaret Haley, Helen
Marot, Florence Kelley and Sophonisba
Breckinridge to form the Women's Trade Union
League (WTUL).
Over the next few years Nestor campaigned for women's
suffrage, a minimum wage and maternity health legislation. She
was also a strong opponent of child labour.
Nestor held several senior posts in the International Glove Workers
Union, including vice president (1903-1906 and 1915-38), secretary-treasurer
(1906-1913), general president (1913-1915) and director of research
and education (1938-1948). Agnes Nestor died in Chicago
on 28th December, 1948.
Leaders of the Women's Trade Union in 1907.
Shown from left to right
are Hannah Hennessy, Ida Rauh, Mary Dreir, Mary
Kenney O'Sullivan,
Margaret
Robins,
Margie Jones, Agnes Nestor and Helen Marot.
The narrative text on this website
is copyright. This means that any school which copies the site for
local use onto a school cache is in breach of copyright. If your school
wishes to copy the site in this way, there is a tariff of charges.
Please contact Spartacus Educational spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
for details.
Last updated: 7th January, 2002
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
