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
