Agnes Nestor

Agnes Nestor (24 June 1880 – 28 December 1948) was an American labor leader, politician, and social reformer. She is best remembered for her membership and leadership roles in the International Glove Workers Union (IGWU) and the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), where she organized for women's suffrage and workers' rights . Nestor's prominent activities included organizing women workers in Chicago in the early 1900s, running for public office, serving on national commissions to promote education, and securing work-hour limitations for women. Her father owned a grocery store there, but due to the depression of the 1890s he returned to his old trade as a machinist in Chicago, Illinois. In spring of 1897, Nestor and the rest of her family followed after their father and headed to Chicago. The strike was successful, all the women's demands were met; workers received a raise in pay, no longer had to pay rent for their machines, and the Eisendrath company took greater responsibility for their machinery, its greatest outcome being the implementation of a union shop. As a leader in the International Glove Workers Union, Nestor gained prominence among labor leaders and earned access to network with notable women in Chicago society, many of whom she met through her involvement with women's clubs.

The Women's Trade Union League seal exhibits the phrases "The Eight Hour Day," "A Living Wage," and "To Guard the Home," thereby conveying the message that the WTUL believed that in advocating for reduced work hours, and raising wages, women workers would be able to better attend domestic responsibilities at home. and wrote "The Working Girl's Need for Suffrage" about how union women can improve work conditions by influencing legislation.

Selected works (1910), The working girl's need of suffrage (1917), The trend of legislation affecting women's hours of labor (1921), Women workers marching on (1942), Brief history of the International Glove Workers Union of America, organized at Washington, D.C., December 17–20, 1902, charter granted December 23, 1902, by the American Federation of Labor (1954), Woman's labor leader. An autobiography