Divided Workers, 1900-1917

I. The Divided WorkforceA. EthnicityB. RaceC. Gender

II. CausesA. ChanceB. DiscriminationC. Employers

III. Confronting DiversityA. SuccessesB. Craft ExclusivityC. Worker AttitudesD. Line-crossingE. Radical potential

Ethnicity

• Europeans are diverse workforce.

• Divisions of language, religion, and culture correspond to occupational differences as well.

Nationalities at Duquesne Steel Mill, 1919

Race• In 1890, most

blacks work in southern agriculture– Tenant farming

• Begin moving to southern cities, taking jobs in wage labor

• Between 1910 and 1920, 500,000 blacks leave the South for Northern cities Sleeping car porters’ local union, Oakland,

n.d.

Gender• Between 1900-

20, small increase in women working as wage earners outside the home

• But big change in which women work– Married women

• Big change in the jobs they do– Light industry

Chance

• Location

• Skills

• Timing

Mohawk iron worker

Discrimination

• Majority bias overwhelms demands for equal treatment.

Moses Fleetwood Walker

Toledo catcher

Adrian “Cap” AnsonChicago Colts Player-

Manager

Employers

• Paternalistic egalitarianism

• Divide and conquer

William Perry, c. 18901st black Ford worker

Anti-union auto magnate Henry Ford

Union Successes

• Race– Miners– Longshoremen

• Gender– Telephone

operators– Waitresses– Washerwomen

African-American coal passers talk strikeGeorgia, 1911

Craft Exclusivity

• View homogeneity as essential to craft governance

• Fear that diversity will undermine discipline

Martin “Skinny” MaddenChicago steamfitters’ union official

Worker Attitudes

• Some union officials cannot overcome their constituents’ resistance to open membership.

• Other union officials hold stereotypical view of blacks, women, Asians, etc. See them as ungovernable.

Flyer, Butte Miners Union, 1898

Vicious Circle

• Unions restrict admission

• Non-unionists cross pick lines

• Unionists cite betrayal as justification for exclusivity

StrikebreakersChicago packinghouse strike, 1904

Radical Possibilities

• The craft mentality had been a source of strength, but has become a weakness

• Must find way to cross race, gender, ethic lines

Coal miners, Alabama, 1907