Drawing the Line in the Sand

The foundations of labor organizations was formed in 19th century with the rise of merchant capitalism (mercantilism). ◦ But early unions didn’t truly form until the transitional stage from

merchant capitalism to modern capitalism. ◦ The transitional phase is often described as a shift from specialize and

small scale production to more uniformed, large scale production.

Characteristics of labor organizations under mercantilism: The working dynamic during colonial period brought together

the master workman, journeymen and apprentices to work on common projects or joint enterprises – It did not create an employer-employee relationship in the modern sense.

No differentiation in interest between the journeymen and those of the master who they labored beside.

Price lists set up for “bespoke work” (specialized work) determined wages.

Masters and journeymen acted together to maintain standards of the craft, upholding price lists and protected themselves from unfair competition.

Despite this – there were times when the journeyman struck the master workman.

17th Century First strike - 1619 Polish craftsmen strike – Jamestown, Virginia

◦ First strike in North America ◦ Polish craftsmen – brought over to make glassware, pitch and tar. ◦ Colony held its first election in 1619 – Polish Craftsmen were not allowed to vote. ◦ Went on Strike June 30, 1619. ◦ Due to economic importance of these craftsmen in the colony leaders bowed to the

pressure and gave full voting rights to the Poles.

1636 – Maine – Indentured Servants, workmen and fishermen “fell into a mutiny” because their employer withheld their wages.

1641 – Maine – carpenters engaged in a slow down over inadequate food.

1640 – Gloucester shipyards engaged in the first lockout 1661 – Maryland Indentured Servants’ Strike 1675 – Boston ship carpenter’s protest 1676 – Bacon’s Rebellion – Virginia 1677 – NYC Carters’ Strike 1684 – NYC Carters’ Strike

Eighteenth Century

1741 – NYC Bakers’ Strike

1763 – Charleston Chimney Sweepers’ Strike

1768 – Florida Indentured Servants’ Revolt

1768 – NYC Tailors’ Strike

1774 – Hibernia, New Jersey – Ironworks Strike

1786 – Philadelphia Printers’ Strike

1787 – Calton Weavers Strike

1791 – Philadelphia Carpenters’ Strike

1792 – Philadelphia River Pilots’ Strike

These strikes and “turn-outs” did not imply an organization that

could be defined as a labor union rather workers merely joined together on a temporary basis to press their demands or to protect their interests.

Transition to modern capitalism:

Retail shops and custom-order work gave way to wholesale business – Merchants (who sought control of supply) and ambitious artisans (who used the labor of others to enrich themselves) joined to enlarge the scale of production. ◦ Consolidation production – under one roof

◦ Drive costs down.

◦ Drive wages down.

◦ Increase work hours.

◦ Attempted to break down traditional apprenticeship system

◦ Use women and children for cheap labor

◦ Prison labor

Rapid growth of the nation between 1800 and 1840 kept labor relatively scarce – benefit to labor – high wages.

Relationship between master and journeyman began to break down – workers began to combine against the employer.

Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) – Philadelphia – (first attempt in 1792) - 1794 -1806 – first continuous organization of wage earners – trade union.

◦ Typographical Society (1794)

◦ Carpenters, cabinetmakers, masons, coopers and tailors soon emerged

Characteristics of Early Trade Unions

◦ Trade society or Guilds – Originally formed to act as mutual aid societies -sick and death benefits for members – aid widows or orphans

◦ Local in nature

◦ Confined to journeymen of a single craft

◦ Formed to protect trade skills and wages from “runaway apprentices” who were hired at reduced costs.

◦ Regulated the amount of apprentices a journeymen can have

◦ Established a minimum wage for work.

◦ Regulated hours

Characteristics of Early Trade Unions (continued)

◦ Membership in the organization would include an oath to work union wage scale and refusal to be employed at a lower rate.

◦ Enforcement of closed shop through pressure on the employer, driving scabs from employment and use “social boycott” (refuse to live in the same boarding house or eat at the same table of those not in the trade society or guild.)

◦ Started to see elements of collective bargaining – agreements made regarding wages working condition – strikes used to pressure and enforce contracts.

◦ First example of an action under the guise of collective bargaining - a strike and picket against the masters’ shop in 1799 – Philadelphia Cordwainers.

Employers’ Respond…

Like workers, employers also began to cooperate with one another to block demands for higher wages and combat closed shops.

Used courts and laws to combat labor -> Journeymen societies -> combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade

1806 -> Commonwealth v Pullis -> Cordwainers Conspiracy Case -> Journeymen Cordwainers of Philadelphia -> unlawful to form workers’ organization for the sole purpose of regulating wages and working conditions for a specific craft -> constituted an unlawful conspiracy.

“A combination of workmen to raise their wages may be considered in a two-fold point of view; One is to benefit themselves… the other is to injure those who do not join the society. The rule of law condemns both.” (Cordwainers Conspiracy Case)

Decision helped shape additional conspiracy cases against labor unions -> became law of the land

“Denounced as incompatible with the existence of freedom, and prostrates every right which distinguished the citizen from the slave.”

People v Melvin (New York Cordwainers Case) – 1809

◦ Convicted for attempting to raise wages – viewed as an issue of public welfare.

◦ Threw out the question of illegality of a combination to raise wage but instead addressed whether the men on strike had combined through unlawful means. (i.e., refusing to work for an employer who hired another person wo was willing to work below the union wage)

◦ Stated the labor societies could not use means “of a nature too arbitrary and coercive, and which went to deprive their fellow citizens of rights as precious as any they contended for.”

Commonwealth v Marrow (Pittsburgh Cordwainers Case) – 1815

◦ Confirmed that it is illegal to form an association with the intent to force an employer to pay higher wages, to force an individual to work at a higher rate or compel a person to join an association.

◦ Unlawful to conspire “to impoverish or prejudice a third person, or to do acts prejudicial to the community… to compel an employer to hire a certain description or persons” or to conspire to “prevent a man from freely exercising his trade in a particular place or to compel men to become members of a particular society or contribute to it or to work at certain prices.”

Labor’s Future Uncertain 1819-1822 – depression after the War of 1812– decline in demand for

labor – membership in labor unions declined – most unions destroyed. Characteristics: Regional (city-wide, trade/craft)

By 1820 – Merchant-Capitalist dominated house-building, printing,

textile and shoemaking industries. In an effort to push wages down – increased hiring of unskilled labor,

women and children. Pitted skilled against non-skilled.

1823 – End of Depression – many old unions revived – new unions in factories emerged in the textile mills of New England. ◦ New formations were quick to resort to strike and boycotts for higher wages, shorter

hours.

1824 – Pawtucket, Rhode Island strike – First female strike – mill hands Employer continued to use conspiracy cases to undermine labor

organizing ◦ New York Hatter (1823) ◦ Philadelphia Tailors (1827) ◦ Philadelphia Spinners (1829)

Labor Takes the Offensive – 3rd Party Politics 1827 – Mechanics’ Union of Trade Associations – Philadelphia –

First Union of Unions - in the US in essence a Central Labor Committee – created over a strike for the ten-hour day. ◦ This union – began to alter philosophy of labor – saw workers as the real

producers in contract to the capitalist class, which was parasitic – did not toil nor was a benefit to society.

◦ Turned to politics – encouraged workers to “throw off the trammels of

party spirit, and unite under the banner of equal rights.” – Wanted to elect politicians that represent the interest of the working class.

Workingmen’s Party – “Workies” – first labor-oriented political

organizations in the United States. The first Working Men's Party was founded in Philadelphia in 1828.

Plank ◦ State-supported Public education ◦ Universal male suffrage ◦ Protection from debtor imprisonment ◦ End to compulsory service in the militia ◦ Shorter working hours.

Working Men’s Party declined by the 1830 but forced both Democrats and Whigs to appeal for the labor vote by adopting several of the workers’ specific demands. ◦ Public Education ◦ Bankruptcy

Conditions in the 1830s encouraged the growth of

unions. ◦ Cost of living increased 66% between 1834-1836 ◦ Workers (white, male) joined unions to protect their

interests as were protecting their own interests from Employers still used women, children, “runaway apprentices” and convicted labor to suppress wages.

◦ Workers in new industries – freight handlers, steam boat firefighters, stage driver – began organizing.

◦ Women also found their own trade societies Baltimore – United Seamstresses Society New York – Ladies Shoebinders and Female Bookbinders Philadelphia – Female Improvement Society

Inspired by the Mechanics’ Union of Trade Associations (Philadelphia) – trade societies (i.e., labor unions) were now interested in forming “trade’s unions” - unions of local trade societies uniting for mutual protections (i.e. trade councils) ◦ These emerged in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston,

Washington, Cincinnati, Louisville, and other manufacturing cities.

1834 – Call was made to form a national organization

uniting all trades – National Trades’ Union. ◦ Purpose was to advance the welfare of the laboring class ◦ Promote the establishing of trade unions in all parts of the

country ◦ Publish information that would be useful to working men

Determined not to make the previous mistake of the Workingmen’s Party by focusing on political activities. “Workingmen belonged to no party”

Formation of the NTU saw an increase of strikes ◦ 1833-1837 saw no less than 168 strike ◦ Employers attributed this increase not to legitimate

grievances but to radical and subversive agitators, generally of foreign elements (Usually Irish).

◦ Demand for 10-hour day became a universal labor demand – wishing to replace “sun-up-to-sun-down” rule.

Workers in numerous cities struck for the 10-hour day Artisans and mechanics saw decrease in hour

Factories remained sun-up-to-sun-down

Federal gov’t induced a 10-hour rule for all public works

President (Van Buren) signed executive order for 10-hours for all government projects. (1840)

◦ The NTU collapsed with most of its constituent bodies

during the panic of 1837

Employers on the Attack Again

Employers turned to their own mutual protective associations. ◦ In New York – a group of employers (furriers and leather dealers agreed

that they would not employ “any man who is known to be a member of that [General Trades’ Union] or any other society which has for its object the direction of terms or prices for which workmen shall engage themselves.”

◦ Philadelphia employers formed the Anti-Trades’ Union Association – arguing that employers had the right to make whatever contracts with their employees without interference form any workingmen’s society.

Employers also used the courts ◦ People v. Fisher (1835) – New York - Society of Journeymen Cordwainers –

courts argued that combining to raise wages was causing a public injury because “a conspiracy for such an object is against the spirit of common law.” Reaction was so strong against this decision that two juries during the same

summer returned verdicts of not guilty in protest.

◦ Commonwealth v Hunt (1842) - Boston Journeymen Bootmaker’s Society

accused of criminal conspiracy – refused to work with nonmember - seven men tried. Courts ruled that labor combinations were legal provided that they were organized for a legal purpose and used legal means to achieve their goals.

Labor begins to organize and grow - first through local and then by national organizations - in attempt to protect its interests.

Labor attempts use both political and economic means to protect its

interests. Many times the view of “protecting labor’s interests” is about protecting

trade and skilled labor from being replaced by “the other” – non-union workers, women, children, immigrants and forced labor (slave and imprisoned)

As labor’s strength grows employers successfully use legal means (courts) to suppress labor’s growth. ◦ Right of Capital prevails over Rights of Labor. Conspiracy laws one sided. ◦ Individual Rights prevails over Collective Rights (Right to Work)

Employers use women, children, immigrants, forced labor (slave and

imprisoned) as a source of cheap labor. ◦ Profits from division along gender, racial lines.