Sweet Beginnings: Butte's First Union
In 1878, underground miners at the Alice and Lexington silver mines declined to accept a pay cut from $3.50 to $3 a day for risking their lives underground. They gathered 400 strong behind a brass band and paraded through the silver camp in a show of solidarity.
That evening, they gathered at the Orphean Hall to hash out the principles for the new union. They took their constitution nearly word for word from the preamble and bylaws of the unions on the Comstock Lode in Nevada that many had belonged to before arriving in Butte. The Butte Workingmen's Union formed at that 1878 meeting launched an era of union organizing that earned Butte the reputation as the "Gibraltar of Unionism."
By 1900, 34 different unions advocated for nearly 18,000 workers in a variety of trades. Unions represented the construction trades, brewers, teamsters, blacksmiths, blacksmiths, and hackmen. Musicians had a Protective Union as did Theatrical Stage Employees and Theatrical Ushers. Other unions represented typographers, waitresses, and bartenders. Even newsboys had their own union and their own strikes.
When Toil Meant Trouble: Butte, Montana's Labor Heritage and Sites to Visit
Maybe those that have never put on a pair of working boots and clothes should read about the troubles and safety measures that have changed because of organzed workers.
The way most workers were treated before organizing was disgusting.
Sweatshops in the USA......100 yrs ago...conditions changed because of the power of workers uniting.
A century after 146 garment workers died in a fire at the Triangle shirtwaist factory, new immigrants still try to sew their way to the American dream. But these days, especially in New York, garment work is hard to come by. Safe working conditions and living wages in unionized factories are a legacy of the Triangle fire, but in other factories, day laborers from Latin America say they are treated poorly, paid less than minimum wage, or not paid at all. That is, if they can find work.
Garment Work in New York 100 Years After the Triangle Fire - NYTimes.com
