Labor Unions’ Rough Start
Ohio: History of a People
Ch. 10: “Labor and Liberty”
In the twentieth century, after the emergence of the industrial revolution in the United States, Ohioans began to see drastic changes within their state. It had shifted from being mainly agricultural to a highly industrial place. Dr. Andrew Caytan writes that Ohio’s jobs had become mechanized and bureaucratic. People flooded into cities and suburbs to work in factories, while the family farm was disappearing. Machines replaced skilled workmen; so unskilled workers took their place for a cheaper price. Corporations and government became more powerful.
By the 1950s, labor unions were the most influential institutions in Ohio, but they did not start out that way. In the early twentieth century employees sought to challenge wages and improve working conditions, but they were not challenging capitalism. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) “wanted respect (305). United Mine Workers (UMW) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were more radical. These unions used direct action, such as sit-down strikes. A few thousand Ohioans joined the IWW because the members “hoped collective through collective action to increase wages and improve their conditions of employment” (306).
Labor was in a strong position during World War I. The demand for manufacturing was up because more goods were becoming available to buy. The demand for goods exceeded the number of available workers. Employers had to accommodate their employees, therefore earnings increased by thirty-six percent between 1914-1919 (306).
Employers got the upper hand back after the war. Fewer goods were manufactured. Wages were cut, employees lost hours, and many employees were laid off. Also, anti-immigrant hysteria was peaking. In 1919, there were 237 strikes (306).
Many strikers gave up when they felt both the government and their community were against them. During a May 5, 1919 strike at Willy-Overland Company the District Court was able to issue a retraining order limiting the number of strikers allowed to assemble; the governor refused to intervene. Most affluent, middle-class, and rural Ohioans did not approve of labor strikes (308). Many suburban citizens started city watches against immigrant workers. Cayton states, “local officials openly sided with steel companies” (308). 100,000 Ohioans were involved in the Great Steel Strike of 1920, and they achieved nothing.
Eventually, workers became less concerned with competition from immigrants. Women and African-Americans were seen as a greater threat. They were both “competitors who would work cheaply and drive down wages” (312). Few of either minority were allowed to belong to unions, rather unions rallied against them. Women were limited to working traditionally female manufacturing jobs, like candy or apparel, or they had to work as secretaries and waitresses. On average, a twenty-year-old woman supporting herself in Cleveland in 1925 earned $10 below the poverty line each month, while a sixty-year-old woman would ear even less (312).
African-Americans were seen as unskilled workers and not hired at many factories. Some Cincinnati employers claimed, “They did not wish to mix black and white employees,” while others cited a “lack of separate facilities” (310). The few unions opened to African-Americans included the Sanitary Drivers and Helpers’ Union. Even worse were African-American women who were limited to jobs as household laborers.
Cayton, Andrew. Ohio the History of a People. The Ohio State University Press: Columbus, 2002.
