SNIPPET: Kate MULLANEY, born in Ireland circa 1845, was one of three thousand women working in the commercial laundries of Troy, New York, working 12-14 hours a day for three to four dollars per week in brutal conditions, suffering from intense heat, chemicals, and burns from irons. In February of 1864, nineteen-year-old MULLANEY organized nearly 300 other women to form the Collar Laundry Union, one of the nation's first all-female unions. Almost immediately, MULLANEY led the women out on strike against Troy's fourteen commercial laundries for higher wages and better conditions. One week later, the owners relented and agreed to a series of wage increases. By 1866, Ms. MULLANEY and her fellow women were earning fourteen dollars a week. Kate remained active in labor organizing. In 1868, she attended the national convention of the National Labor Union (predecessor to the Knights of Labor) in New York City and was appointed Assistant Secretary and National Organizer for Women, becoming the first woman appointed an officer in a national labor union. -- Excerpt, E. T. O'Donnell, "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History," (Broadway Books/NY 2002).