Labor Strike The labor strike in which I chose was the textile workers strike. The textile strike happen in 1934 which then was in U.S. history the largest labor strike. The strike involved half of million strikers. Textile workers came from New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the U.S. Southern states. The strike present o for twenty-two days. They strike twenty-two days about issues were deplorable working conditions, low wages, and lack of union recognition. However, The United Textile Workers (UTW), which had 15,000 members in February 1933, grew to 250,000 members by June of 1934, about half cotton mill workers. Many of those workers were strikers, due to so many textile workers the governors of the time call the National Guards against the strikers. Many textile workers were shot and killed, some shot in the back fleeing for their lives. As I research “The U.S. textile industry had begun to suffer in 1929. Wages fell, and to reduce costs, mill managers implemented a "stretch-out," increasing individual workers' responsibilities while banning restroom trips and other breaks.” -(North Carolina and the New Deal (Raleigh, 1981) ). The inside of North Carolina and the New Deal (Raleigh, 1981) say “During September 1934, 65,000 North Carolina textile workers stayed home, shutting down the state's textile industry. The center of the strike in North Carolina was Gastonia, where on Labor Day thousands of textile workers held a downtown parade.” - (North Carolina and the New Deal (Raleigh, 1981) ).The strike commenced with exultation, but as September drew on, the celebratory tone of the strike cooled. Heeding the advice of textile manufacturers, North Carolina Governor John C.B. Ehringhaus mustered the National Guard to protect the mills from rowdy strikers. I learn last year from social studies that “A mediation panel appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt concluded that the grievances of textile workers called for further study, but no concrete government action was taken in behalf of the workers.”-(wikipedia®).On September 23, after President Roosevelt himself implored the striking workers to return to the mills, the strike ended. The textile workers made no gains through the strike, which left the union with only nugatory influence for the rest of the Depression. However the way this strike was moving I am witnessing is the Chicago teachers strike there were no need for national guards but we are out of school for two days so maybe the textile workers set the tone for labor strikes over the world.
Citation I. "Textile Strike of 1934." North Carolina History Project :. North Carolina and the New Deal (Raleigh, 1981, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . II. Franklin D. Roosevelt." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . III.
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