Alysha Sobeck The Textile Strike of 1934 MGMT 451-790 Labor Law Lake Superior State University Introduction In the 1920’s North Carolina was one of the biggest producers of textiles in the United Sates. The south had low wages and a great deal of opportunities to build many factories and mills who made yarn and cotton. Thousands of workers who lived in the Piedmont regions worked long hours for low wages and felt unsafe in the current working conditions. In 1929, the Great Depression hit and left one out of four workers without a job (Textiles, 2010). Workers could not eat, struggled to keep their homes, but relied on President Roosevelt to find a way to help them through it. There were several uses of threats in Newspapers …show more content…
There were too many people and there was not enough organization and events in the strike for it to be effective. The strikers plan was weak and they did not have a real style of leadership. It was also hard for the laborers to gain support from the public. Since the great depression, lots of people were scared of what would happen if the mills failed. Some people did not see the dangerous working conditions and could not understand why the union was on strike (Wave, 2012). Most importantly, the strikers could not gain support from the newly elected democratic president. President Roosevelt’s new administration did not benefit the workers and certainly left the middle and lower class in a bind. Since the president’s administration did not support laborers, neither could the state …show more content…
It is extremely disappointing the strike was not successful because they had the support from the union and enough laborers to truly make a difference. It was the only opportunity the south had ever had to provide better working condition and pay for their laborers. In my opinion, the missing key was leadership. The union did not have key leaders and planning to keep the strike going. Leadership is a truly important role and if there is a leader there will be followers. The laborers did not have anyone to follow or to look up to. They were alone and it showed when it came to protesting. They needed several leaders to take charge in different areas of the country. What happened in the south in the 1930’s is the same thing that is happening in China, Honduras, and Mexico at this very moment. Someone needs to stand up for their people and demand better conditions and wages. If the strike had been successful, I think we would have seen change and more opportunities develop all over the world. If the outcome would have been positive, I think we would see a much stronger and united workforce
The main cause of the strike was when the American Federation of Labor (AFL) started to hire unskilled workers into the steel industry. The skilled jobs that the AA worked in were starting to fade away. The AA was not pleased,
They concentrated on higher wages, shorter hours, and personal issues of workers. The American Federation of Labor’s main weapon was walkouts and boycotts to get industries to succeed to better conditions and higher wages. By the early 1900’s, its membership was up to ½ million workers. Through the years since The Great Depression, labor unions were responsible for several benefits for employees. Workers have safer conditions, higher paying jobs to choose from, and better benefits negotiated for them by their collective bargaining unit.
During this time period and previous years, Jim Crow laws in the South were greatly in affect and causing African Americans a rough time due to the racism they faced. After Reconstruction had ended, white supremacy had taken its toll in the South and Jim Crow had taken over.. The North, Midwest, and West of the United States began to face a shortage in industrial laborers due to World War I beginning and putting an end to immigration of Europeans to the United States. African Americans felt that heading north was their escape from harsh laws and unsatisfactory economic opportunities. Many people, including teenagers, from the South would write letters to the Chicago Defender asking for help to come North and find work because in the South it was hard to make a living.
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike that are still important today. Was striking a proper means of getting what the workers wanted? Were there better means of petitioning their grievances? Was government intervention constitutional? All these questions were raised by the Pullman Strike.
Due to severe discrimination in the South, aid from New Deal programs often did not reach blacks. Many blacks were also fearful for their life and the wellbeing of their families and refrained from signing their names when writing to officials and President Roosevelt. African-americans wrote letters to President Roosevelt complaining about conditions they faced when trying to participate in New Deal programs. One writer complains that, “som gets a little and some gets none” whenever a shipment of food arrives in the town (McElvaine, 83). Another african-american complains that provisions never reach them and that the officials in Georgia are using everything that is sent for themselves (McElvaine, 83).
The unions were limited prior to the Civil War, there were limited efforts to establish a union by organized workforce at any scale, due to the lack of understanding of what a union represented. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the people who worked in rural settings, like the farmers faced deplorable conditions by working longer hours and were paid low wages. Women and children were paid very low wages, as well as men who barely made enough to live on or provide stability for their family. Business owners didn’t want fair pay for a decent day of work, company owners just wanted to exploit workers, men, women, children to work beyond eight hours a day, for low wages and no voice of opinion to anything.
President Roosevelt worked towards many different objectives throughout his 8 years of presidency. He believed in the social justice and economic opportunity of the people. For this reason, he committed himself and the government to trying to regulate big businesses and being in favor of the workers after being elected president (Doc A). One example of this taking place would be the Coal Strike of 1902. During this strike, workers demanded shorter work days, higher wages, and recognition of the union. When the coal company failed to meet the workers’ demands, the government was forced to intervene to avoid the risk of a coal shortage for the winter. The go...
The 1930’s were a decade plagued by the colossus economic downturn known as the Great Depression. With unemployment levels surpassing 20%, people did anything to earn money. This included riding the rail lines in order to look for work in other cities. In the American South, the problems of economic downturn and the problems of racial tension met in 1931 during the court case of the Scottsboro Boys.
The 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike demonstrated how violent measures can result from extreme wage reductions. Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 was a major textile center, a leader in the production of woolen and worsted goods. By 1900, mechanization in the textile industry had allowed factory owners to eliminate or reduce the number of skilled workers and to substitute large numbers of unskilled
The Strike of 1934 displayed the power the organized labor had, and how the mistreatment of labor can shut down an entire city and coast. The timing was just right for the maritime workers to strike. The grips of the Great Depression fueled laborers to maintain and improve their quality of life and security for their families. Congresses investigation into the 1934 San Francisco Strike concluded that “the aspirations of labor which led to the strike were directed from the change in public opinion expressed in the National Industrial Recovery Act. The potentialities of a protected right to bargain collectively were quickly perceived by waterfront workers.
In conclusion, the laborers in the latter part of the 19th century had to face many problems. The problems ranged from being replaced by machines to the introduction of corporations. Even though the laborers had to face these problems, many of them address these problems. They addressed the problems by creating unions and by having strikes. Even if the unions or strikes were successful or not, they laborers always strived for better living.
Norma did a really amazing thing by standing up for workers rights and by not letting any of the obstacles she faced on the way stop her from her main goal. Unionization of the factory will help protect every employee and set standards of safety so no one will get hurt and also protect the amount they get
The strike affected much of the country, and it had great influence on public opinion on the rights of workers. It showed how the roles of management and the roles of government handled this situation. The Pullman Strike of 1894 and its aftermath had a huge effect on the course of the labor movement in the United States. The use of federal troops and the labor injunction sent a message to U.S. workers that would not change until the new deal of the 1930s. George Pullman was no longer look at as the great enlightened employer who took care of his workers, but a greedy intolerant man. After the strike he was worried that people would rob him so when he was buried he had it lined in concrete so no one could. The Pullman strike ultimately was unsuccessful at the time. Workers were sent to jail and many couldn’t find any jobs after. Although, it was successful in several ways. The federal government was involved for the first time in history because of a strike, and because they all took a stand for their human rights it impacted the future and how workers are treated
...s became even more desperate at the time of the great depression that ultimately led to the great railway strike, in which many workers lost their lives at the hand of the Pennsylvania militia. This act proved to be a major turning point in the evolution of the labor movement in the United States.
My first reason supporting the motion that workers should be allowed to strike is in order to bring to the fore poor safety conditions. For instance, in the nuclear power industry, any breaches of safety can have tragic consequences. If the employees are exposed to nuclear material, this could lead to serious illnesses such as cancer, leukaemia and radiation sickness. Radioactive material could also affect residents of the surrounding area, as in the case of the Chernobyl disaster. In the light of poor safety conditions, workers striking can be justified by the fact that the government and public would be informed.