Thursday, July 12, 2012

Unions in the US: 11 July 1917

There is nothing new under the sun.

[Corporations were quick to see the opportunity wartime hysteria offered. Among them was Phelps-Dodge. One of the nation’s largest mining conglomerations, Phelps-Dodge operated on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, mining a number of minerals, but especially copper. As the company moved on both sides of the border, so did workers. Phelps-Dodge operations in southern Arizona were staffed by native-born American, Mexican, and eastern European workers.

Bisbee, Arizona was one of the major operations. The copper companies completely controlled Bisbee. Mine safety was a major problem. Housing conditions were extremely poor for most workers...

In response to the terrible conditions in Bisbee and around the border mining belt, the Industrial Workers of the World organized the miners...

As it did with its actions throughout the nation, the I.W.W. took a flexible approach to its organizing, subsuming its larger ideological desire for worker control over the means of production to whatever local workers needed. On June 24, 1917, the I.W.W. in Bisbee presented the copper companies with a list of demands. Among them were better living and working conditions, more men per machine, and nondiscrimination against union workers. The copper companies refused to negotiate. By June 27, about 50% of Bisbee miners were on strike.

Phelps-Dodge and the smaller operations in Bisbee decided to use the war {World War 1} as a pretext to crack down on the Wobblies once and for all. Newspapers in Bisbee and around the nation accused the I.W.W. of pro-German sympathy. This was absurd, though the Wobblies did oppose the war. However, I.W.W. leadership also told workers to make up their own mind about the war. Local elites created the Citizens’ Protective League under control of the sheriff. And it decided to round up the Wobblies and ship them out.

On July 11, 1917, the Citizens Protective League put out a call to the surrounding areas for deputies. 2000 men assembled by the next morning. They took over the Western Union office to prevent word getting out about their actions. They then went around to the miners’ cabins and rounded people suspected of radicalism or of being Mexican or eastern European. They collected 1186 men many of whom were not on strike or even miners. They marched them to waiting trains, where they were pushed into cattle cars knee deep in manure. The train took off, went to the New Mexico-Arizona border, and dropped them off in the desert.]
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2011/07/this-date-in-labor-history-july-12-1917

Do they organize banal, boring bloggers? International Workers of the World: http://www.iww.org/

Phelps Dodge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge

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