He was the first Vice President of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and organizer of the Italian-American Labor Council (IALC).

Contact with hard daily work soon transformed Luigi into an active defender of workers' rights, at a time when trade unions, already established in Europe, were still in their infancy in the United States.

In 1916 he became the editor of the Italian-language periodical L'Operaia, which promoted the unionization of Italian women workers, significantly increasing their membership in the ILGWU.

In 1919, Italian workers formed an autonomous section within the ILGWU, which was given the name of "Local 89" (the number 89 was a reference to the year of the French Revolution).

La Voce della Locale 89, a radio program of music and politics hosted by Antonini himself since 1934, allowed him to reach the general public and gave him wide popularity.

It also became the pulpit from which Antonini attacked fascism and fought for racial tolerance, even if this put him at odds with large sectors of the Italian-American community itself.

In December 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was the principal founder of the "Italia-American Labor Council" (IALC), which under his presidency, with over 300,000 registered workers, worked to help America win the war and the Italian people regain their freedom from fascist dictatorship.

As early as January 31, 1942, he organized the "Freedom Rally" at Madison Square Garden, attended by over 2,000 people, to demonstrate the loyalty of Italian-Americans to the American cause.

Called to plead the Italian cause, he participated in the Paris Peace Conference of 1947, fighting for fair treatment in the post-war conditions.

^ Thirtieth anniversary italian dressmakers' union local 89, ILGWU (New York, 1949) Bibliography Media related to Luigi Antonini at Wikimedia Commons This biographical article about a workers' rights activist is a stub.