Food Relief for Striking
Westinghouse Workers, 1956
Courtesy, Special Collections/University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.

The women shown here are collecting groceries as part of the food relief efforts on behalf of women members of the IUE, the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine & Furniture Workers, AFL-CIO, who were striking the Westinghouse plant in Metuchen. After World War II, women increasingly participated in labor unions, although only a few achieved leadership positions. During strikes, women workers picketed, while they continued to help strikers through auxiliaries. In the 1950s, women participated in several strikes against Westinghouse.