Katarina
Norte
May
3, 2012
Sweatshops
and the Uprising of 20,000
Sweatshops
are a type of workshop that utilizes low wages, poor working
conditions and long working days. Sweatshops have been around for
many centuries, however, they became more common in the United States
in the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. They were
part of a phase of economic development, enforcing the employment of
lower class, immigrants, even children as a way to profit off of
cheap labor. “The sweatshop, whether in a modern factory building
or a dark slum cellar, exists where the employer controls the working
conditions and the workers cannot protest.”1
Any worker caught protesting ran the risk of being dismissed. In one
given work day there was no set amount of hours, and the worker was
paid based on the amount of piecework that had been done. The
majority of workers were immigrants that were easily manipulated into
working for low wages.
Europe
began a streak of anti- Jewish violence in many Eastern countries
around the late nineteenth century. Many foreign immigrants were
encouraged to move and flee to the United States to avoid this
misery. Immigrants who came to America encountered numerous problems.
They realized that the necessary cost of basic living needed in
America was too high; many searched and took any job that was
available. Due to the lack of experience or skill and the foreign
language barrier, most took up jobs through the garment industry.
Just about anyone can sew and little skill level is needed. The lack
of communication skills made it difficult for immigrants to push for
better working conditions. A company is in control of all its
employees and unions had little power in the structure of companies
and organizations. Workers were constantly in fear of losing their
jobs and being replaced by the multitude of other immigrants.
Many
had suffered until the Shirtwaist Maker’s Strike of 1909, also
known as the Uprising of 20,000, where more than twenty thousand
people consisting of young women began a strike in New York’s
shirtwaist industry. Led by young Ukrainian immigrant, Clara Lemlich,
it became the biggest strike led by women in United States history.
During the meeting at New York City’s Cooper Union on November 22,
1909,
Clara Lemlich, after listening to countless hours of nonsense from
union leaders stood up and made her way to the podium. She made an
impacting speech leading to the walkout and initiation of one of the
biggest strikes in the United States. This led to fourteen weeks of
nonstop strikes and protests regarding the working conditions, hours,
and the low wage pay of these industries. Facing arrest and police
brutality, these women suffered until their employers met their
demands.
Clara
Lemlich became one of the biggest union labor activists in United
States history. Born in a small Ukrainian town in the year 1886,
Lemlich and her family hit financial and social hardships. Having
been Jewish, Lemlich was not able to attend public school because the
only school in her city excluded Jews. Her family was subjected to
increasing anti-Jewish violence and was soon forced to flee to the
United States. Shortly after arriving in New York, just like most
other immigrants, Lemlich began working in the garment industry in
the Lower East Side. When Lemlich was only 17, she was already
enraged with the poor working conditions of the women in the
Shirtwaist Factory and she wrote that the women could be compared “to
the status of machines…The regular work pays about $6 a week and
the girls have to be at their machines at 7 o’clock in the morning
and they stay at them until 8 o’clock at night, with just one-half
hour for lunch in that time”2
These teenage girls would work all day with little break. They were
forced to do a full days work and any work that was not finished or
happened to be damaged in the process would be deducted from their
paychecks. Lemlick also stated “At the beginning of every slow
season, $2 is deducted from our salaries. We have never been able to
find out what this is for”3
Girls would work non-stop and get their pay deducted without knowing
what it was for.
On
November 22,1909, in New York at Cooper Union, Samuel Gompers, leader
of the American Federation of Labor, held a meeting to discuss the
possibility of a strike.
Clara
Lemlich had had enough of listening to speakers of the Local 25
stating the same caution about going on strike. She
arose to the podium and made her famous speech:
“I
am a working girl," proclaimed Lemlich. "One of those who
are on strike against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening
to speakers who talk in general terms. What we are here for is to
decide whether we shall strike or shall not strike. I offer a
resolution that a general strike be declared now."4
When
the speech ended thousands of men and women, a majority of them
female teenagers, roared in agreement and marched right out of the
meeting. This was the beginning of the Shirtwaist Makers Strike.
These young women had been worn out; they were finished with hard
work and little to no reward. This strike lit a match within the
society and caused strikes throughout the city. The culmination of
the workers was dubbed the Uprising of Twenty-Thousand.
Twenty-thousand immigrants walked the streets of New York City
demanding shorter hours, higher wages and better working conditions.
New
York City was the economic center of the United States. 30,000
overworked garment industry employees lived within the city. Many of
the teenage girls hadn’t been in a previous strike or even known
what they had gotten themselves into. “Lemlich
and her supporters were often physically harmed by policemen and
thugs hired by factory owners. In one case Lemlich was hospitalized
after a beating she received while standing in the picket line.”5
Teenagers were being physically abused, as well as emotionally, by
just
peacefully protesting. Some sought out help from the Women’s Trade
Union League for support and guidance for peaceful protesting. Two
girls that were involved in the strike, Sue Clark and Edith Wyatt,
later reported that, “We hardly knew where to go-what to do next,
But one of the American girls who knew how to telephone…called the
Women’s Trade Union League… Then the leader spoke to us and told
us about picketing quietly and the law.”6
This helped them turn from a mob into a more organized labor
movement. They continued to be abused and hospitalized but many kept
with the strike and never gave up.
Fortunately,
most employers were persuaded within the first few weeks and agreed
to give the workers what they demanded. For each day employees didn’t
work was another day lost in profits. As more companies agreed, many
of the strikers joined the fairly new union, International Ladies
Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). The ILGWU became the most influential
garment industry union for both men and women. It was able to win its
members many different benefits including: higher wages, better
working conditions, and also health checks. “In
February 1910, the ILGWU came to an arbitrated settlement with most
of the factory owners that improved wages, conditions, and hours.
While the companies still refused to recognize the union, they agreed
that should there be future disputes, they would arbitrate with
community leaders.” 7
Even though they did not get all of the needs and benefits that they
desired, the ILGWU made it possible for women to return to work with
less stress and under improved conditions.
The
Shirtwaist Maker’s Strike led up to the evolvement of Unions and
helped start strikes state-wide. Clara Lemlich and the numerous
employees of the garment industry contributed to the movement towards
the abolishment of sweatshops in the working class in the United
States.
1
Stein, Leon.
"Introduction." In Out
of the sweatshop: the struggle for industrial democracy.
New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co., 1977. xv.
4
American Experience. "Clara
Lemlich . Triangle Fire . WGBH American Experience | PBS."
Accessed May 1, 2013.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/triangle-lemlich/.
5
American Experience. "Clara Lemlich .
Triangle Fire . WGBH American Experience | PBS." Accessed
May 3, 2013.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/triangle-lemlich/.
7
Harvard University Library: Open
Collections Program: Home. "Open Collections Program: Women
Working, Uprising of the 20,000." Accessed May 3, 2013.
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/uprising.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment