Whereas, in 1838, Kate Mullany was born in England to Dominic and Bridgit Byrne Mullany of Roscommon of Ireland; Whereas, on July 24, 1850, Mullany emigrated to New York City with her siblings Mary, Kate, and Bridgit, and arrived in Troy, New York, around 1853; Whereas the city of Troy, New York, played a significant role in the development of the detachable collar industry, where women made up 85 percent of the workforce and worked up to 14-hour days for as little as $3 per week; Whereas women who worked in the detachable collar industry were subjected to significant health and safety hazards, including widespread exposure to caustic chemicals, hot water, and bleach, and demands for rapid work added to the incidence of severe burns and other dangers; Whereas Dominic Mullany died in 1864 prompting Kate to step up as a family breadwinner at 26 years of age, gaining employment at one of the 14 laundries in Troy, New York; Whereas, in February 1864, Kate Mullany formed and led the Collar Laundry Union of Troy, the first bona fide all-female union in the United States, to press for higher wages and safer work conditions after employers had repeatedly ignored collar laundresses’ demands for fair pay; Whereas, on February 23, 1864, Kate Mullany led 300 women on strike for 5 and a half days as part of the newly established union; Whereas the Collar Laundry Union of Troy successfully gained a 25-percent wage increase and improved working conditions with support from the Troy Iron Molders Union No. 2 and the community at large, legitimizing and elevating itself as a prominent organization in Troy’s growing labor movement; Whereas Kate Mullany again led the Collar Laundry Union of Troy in a second strike in 1866, successfully raising workers’ wages from $8 to $14 a week, and a third strike in 1869, maintaining higher wages for union members than the lower wages that most working women earned, and securing benefits that would be available to members even during illness and family death