2017 Honoree: Lidia Correa
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Lidia Correa spent much of her life as a sample maker and was very active in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. Coming to New York City from Puerto Rico in her teens, she followed her mother into the garment industry. As a young seamstress, Lidia participated in the 1958 Dressmakers strike all along the east coast, where she learned a lot about the union and worker solidarity. She studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology, worked in other fields, but soon went back to garment industry, where as a unionized sample maker, she made a good salary. Over the years, Lidia worked as a sample maker for several major design houses including Liz Claiborne, and became very active in the union. She worked as an organizer, in the education department and later with retirees, leading trips and planning political actions, all the while staying involved with community groups in her neighborhood in the Bronx. Now long retired, Lidia continues to show up on picket lines and protests, and currently works helping new retirees navigate applications for pensions and other services from the current garment workers' union, Workers United.
Interview
Video by Kuji Banks, interviewed by Rachel Bernstein
Awards ceremony
Video by Kuji Banks