Nick Bonanno oral history interview, August 29, 1995

Interviewed by Christine Lutz: Bonnano tells of growing up in New York City, vivid descriptions of life in the Bowery, father a dress presser, mother a doll dresser. He attended classes at New York University, was involved with the American Labor Party, and worked as a sewing machine operator, attending “Dubinsky’s Institute”—classes on the history and theory of labor, for training labor leadership, established by David Dubinsky. Bonnano was sent to the South as an organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). He tells vivid stories of picketing knitting mills in North and South Carolina, going to jail in Asheville, North Carolina, on the eve of his wedding. Bonnano discusses the civil rights movement and its impact on unions. He discusses his own work to integrate unions. He discusses the merger between the ILGWU and the men’s clothing makers union -- under the new name UNITE. He makes candid remarks about major union, political figures, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).