Flesh and Blood So Cheap

There was a massive power disparity between factory owners and employees. Factory owners set the rules and could fire an employee at any time. Employees attempted to gain power by forming trade unions, which would participate in collective bargaining, or negotiations on behalf of all member employees. Unions began to form in the United States in the late 1860s in industries such as steel, coal, and railroads. The garment industry proved more difficult to unionize because of the sweatshop system, which involved small, scattered shops. In addition to this, most garment workers were women, and the men at the American Federation of Labor (AFL) did not see them as equals, arguing that “they lacked men’s ‘drive’ and ‘fighting spirit’” (76). The new-model factory, however, made garment industry unions possible because it gathered so many women workers in one place.

In 1900, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) was formed, but it had few members, little power, and only four dollars in its coffers. In September 1909, the Shirtwaist Union, Local 25, voted to strike against Triangle for increased wages and shorter hours. Factory owners rallied together and resolved to break the strike. They planned to hire scabs—“non-union workers who take strikers’ places” (78). Strikers would block the factory entrances by picketing “with signs telling of their grievances and demands” (78). When many scabs were sympathetic to picketers and refused to cross the picket line, factory owners hired sex workers from The Bowery to assault picketers. When the picketers held strong, factory owners hired shtarkers, or gangsters who could be paid for violence: “For example, they charged four dollars to blacken a person’s eyes, ten dollars for breaking a nose, twenty-five dollars for a stabbing, and one hundred dollars and up for murder” (80).

One striker who was assaulted was Clara Lemlich; two shtarkers, including a former professional fighter, attacked her as she walked home. They broke six of her ribs. Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party headquarters that in effect ruled the city, had a lot of influence over the police. Each election district had a Tammany-sponsored boss, who provided resources and help to the community in exchange for votes. Once elected, Tammany bosses leveraged their power to profit from bribes offered by bidders on city contracts or people who wanted positions of power within the legislative and judicial ranks. Tammany sided with the factory owners in the strike, which meant that the police did nothing to help Clara Lemlich or the other strikers.

Without public support, the strikers made little progress. Local 25 invited thousands of people to a meeting to discuss the situation. There were many celebrities and speakers at the meeting, but their messages were weak and uncertain until Clara Lemlich stood and announced that she had something to say. She called for a general strike, which was a risky move; such a strike would shut down the entire shirtwaist industry.

The strike began on November 23, 1909. The women striking were nervous, but very brave, as very few had the resources to pay for food or rent while they were on strike. That day, more than 20,000 workers left their sewing machines. This would become known as the “Uprising of the 20,000.” Press coverage followed, which gained the strikers allies in the Progressive movement—a political faction pressing for change. One such ally was Mary Drier, a wealthy woman and president of the New York chapter of the Women’s Trade League Union (WTUL). The WTUL helped by providing telephones to keep strikers in touch and hiring lawyers to defend arrested strikers in court. Drier also waged a propaganda battle in the newspapers to win public sympathy. WTUL members—more affluent women than the strikers—joined the picket lines to deter police violence, as upper-class women could not be handled as roughly as those from the lower class. The strikers had found their Friends in High Places.

Many of the strikers were arrested and fined. Some were sent to the women’s workhouse on Blackwell’s Island, where they were forced to do hard labor. This did not work as intended, as those women returned to the picket lines stronger and became martyr figures. Their courage helped the other strikers to hold fast, which won them more allies. Black women workers had been barred from the garment industry by racial prejudice, but the strike allowed them to work as scabs. Despite this, in a mass community meeting, the Black community resolved to ally itself with “the cause of union labor” (93); this meant that they would not break the strike by working as scabs.

Feminists also allied with the strikers. The feminist movement was relatively new and focused on equality for women, especially on gaining women the vote. One prominent feminist, Alva Belmont, passionately argued that working conditions were connected to the right to vote; she saw the strike as an opportunity to educate the public. Belmont spent nights at the police station, posting bail for arrested strikers. She inspired other wealthy women to aid the strikers. Known as the Mink Coat Brigade, these women held many well-attended and well-publicized events to bring attention to and garner support for the strikers. On January 2, 1910, they held a rally at Carnegie Hall that went awry: The main speaker, a leader of the Socialist Party, associated the labor movement with socialism. This alienated supporters and caused some members of the Brigade to abandon the cause.

The strike took its toll on both workers and owners: Workers were not getting paid, and factory owners were unable to fill orders. Some women broke the strike and went back to work, but most did not. The strike ended on February 15, 1910, after Max Blanck met with organizers secretly and begged them to agree to a compromise that would help him save face: Workers would receive a 12% pay raise, a 52-hour workweek, and “an end to petty abuses like charging for needles and chairs” (103), but would not get the proposed “closed shop” model that would only allow factories to hire union members.