Female Labor Leaders on Work and Wages
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WTB8 AONTH NESTOR, PRESIDENT IN
TKRNATIONAL GLOVE WORKERS
OK AM Mill CA.
(Copyright, 1904, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
tABHINGTON. May 12.-(Spedal
WCorrenpondence of The Bee.)
"What should women do to help
their sex as to labor matters?"
itHJ "Aro trades unions a good thing
lor women?"
"Do they not tend to unsex them make
them masculine?"
"Will women stand by their union In
Striken?"
"What should be done with the nonunion
"Do you believe in the cloned shop?"
"What has your union done for women In
your trade?"
"Will women ever have the same pay and
hours as men?"
"How far will women's trades unions ex
tendto factories, to clerks, to typewriters,
servant girls?"
In this letter I give you answers to the
above questions which I have Just received
from some of the most prominent of the
women labor leaders of the United States.
Few people realize how rapidly the organi
sed woman worker Is Invading our indus
trial life. She controls twenty-rtx different
trudes In Chicago, and In that city alone
numbers 35,000 members. She Is to bo found
In all of our factory centers, and she will
soon be as many as are the Russian sol
diers In Manchuria. There are now trades
unions In neurly every branch of woman's
work, and muny of the men's unions are
admitting women members. In Chicago
von the scrubwomen have a union.
The sausage girls, who work In the pack
ing factories are organized, and there nre
unions of laundresses, candy 'workers, tele
phone girls, horseshoe nail makers, foundry
girls, paper box makers and even school
teachers. Indeed, the Women School Teach
era' union of Chicago embraces more than
1,000 public school teachers. They have an
organisation which has fought the big cor
porations, which has carried Its wrongs
Into the courts and has mode the city In
crease Its salaries. A leader of this union
Is Miss Margaret Haley, who gave as her
excuse for not immediately answering my
questions that she was aiding In the con
duct of tho suit of the Chlcugo Teachers'
federation In the courts.
One of the fast growing women's organi
sations of the United States Is the Union
of Lady Retail Clerks. Its members are
found in most of our big department stores.
There are l.WO of them in Chicago alone,
And they have locals in nearly all the large
cities. I have a letter before me from Miss
Emma Lumphere, the general organiser of
this union. She has traveled all over the
Country, and is well-known everywhere In
labor circles. She says:
"I believe that trades unions are a good
thing for women, and that they are abso
lutely necessary to their business and in
dustrial success. This Is especially so as re
gards retail clerks. The female help In most
tores is uncertain. There is so much
floating help here today and gone tomor
rowthat it is very annoying to the mer
chant and unsettling to the employes. ,
Many of our saleswomen work only for pin
money, thereby keeping out others who are
Compelled to depend upon their own re
source for a living. It la necessary that a
Saleswoman should have good, up-to-date
Clothes, and she must have a good salary
to pay for them, otherwise she must steal
or secure money In other ways. Indeed,
hundreds of young girls go to ruin yearly
through the low salaries paid by the retail
merchants of thin city of Chicago. I there
fore say that every woman should help in
the cause of organised labor. It is by this
means that we cau raise wages aud secure
fixed employment, and by these means only.
- - - '
MISS MARGARET HAI.BT, A LEADER
OF CHICAGO'S FEDERATION OF
SCHOOL TEACHERS.
"You ask what the retail clerks hive
done. Through our union we have reduced
our hours of labor from fourteen and six
teen hours per day to ten hours, and In
some places to eight and nine. We have
secured fixed legal holidays, and in some
cities a weekly half holiday during July
and August. We have cared for our sick
and burled our dead.
"As to wages, the woman recall cierk re
ceives from 12.60 to $1 ier week. About
80 per cent of our saleswomen aro getting
less than $7 per week and 60 per cent, less
than that.
"You ask whether trodes unions urtfex
women and make thorn masculine. I don't
think so. If they are unsexed It Is from
the lack of respect that men have for them
since they have entered the field of labor.
They look upon us as competitors, and do
not remember that we are an absolute ne
cessity, and that If we withdraw from the
field an enormous amount of foreign labor
would have to be brought in to do our
work. The woman now takes her own
chances in all public places. Sho has to
fight for her seat In the street car and
man fights against her for it. Is it any
.wonder that such battles. have a tendency
to make her appear masculine?
"Will women ever receive the same wages
as men? That time is far distant, but it
will come. It has come In some crafts. In
union printing offices women typesetters aro
paid tho same as men. In union cigar fac
tories women are paid by me union scle,
and it is so in some other branches of
union labor.
"As to strikes, women make excellent
strikers. They will do and dure more than
the men. They are more determined and
more persistent. I believe in reserving tho
right to strike, and that the strike serves
as a school ' in which both employer and
employe learn to know and appreciate each
other better. I believe in the boycott us one
of the best weapons of the trade unions,
and that without it but few battles could
bo won."
My next letter Is from Boston. It Is writ
ten by Miss Anna Bowen, the head of the
women cigar strippers of that city. She
says:
' "Women can do much to help their sex In
labor matters. They should demand union
cards from the saleswomen of whom they
make their purchases, and they should in
sist that all goods bought by them have
union labels. If the women of the country
would do this they would elevato their sex
moro rapidly than by any other method.
If they will demand the union label upon
all goods they buy they will compel every
factory to obtain that label, and this means
that the factory will pay fair wages, give
fair hours and estbllsh good working con
ditions for its hands. By demanding the
union card they will make it so that every
woman clerk must belong to the union, and
the result will be that 05 per cent, of our
women workers will get higher wages for
shorter hours, and that under better sani
tary conditions.
"Do trade unions make women mascu
line? Certainly not; why should they?
They tend to make women practical, and
show them that their sex does not protect
them from the greed of an unfair emp'oyer.
They teach them that they must organise
to protect their own interests.
"What la the aim of women's trade
unions?"
"The same aim as that of other trades
unions the betterment of our conditions.
We want more pay and less hours of labor.
We want better conditions of work, and
by our union we secure them. In some of
the factories we now work fifty-five hours
per week, in others fifty-three and in some
the girls have a half holiday every Satur
day the year round. Our wages are no
where less than $t per week, and upon
piecework the girl cigar strippers makt
from 17 to S12 per week."
"Will the time come when women will
receive the same pay as the men?"
"Yes, Just as soon as they realise that
they must adopt the same methods to get
it The advantages men have are only
thoae which they have been able to de-
MISS EMMA STEOITAOBN OF THTJ
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE
WOMAN'S BOOT AND SHOE WORK
ERS' UNION.
mand. When women ure organised as th
men they will secure tho same advantages.
At present the women cigar mukers receive
the same wages as the men. The same is
true in many other trudes where unionism
prevails. I
"I think the women stand by their de
mands in strikes us steadfastly as the men."
This Is shown by their actions in the re
cent strikes at Fall River, Lawrence,
Gloversville and in the garment working
trades, and also In the shoe workers' strike
of Lynn, Marlboro" and Haverhill. I do
not believe in strikes except when they are
absolutely necessary, nnd think every pos
sible means toward an amicable settlement
should bo made. I do believe in the boy
cott In all cases where un employer threat
ens to lower the standard of labor in a
given Industry, and think it the duty of the
whole people to boycott such employers.
"You ask me what organised labor has
done for my trade? It has raised the
wages from 10 to 12 per cent, has bettered
our working conditions and has reduced the
hours of labor one hour per day, with a
Saturday half holiday during the summer
months. It has raised the self-respect of
the working? girl by making her feci that
she Is something more than a mere work
ing machine, and that she has an influence
in fixing the conditions under which she
works. This has been to the mutual ad
vantage of both employer and employe."
"Will trades unions eventually prevail
among our clerks, typewriters and servant
girls?"
"Yes, they have alredy extended to
clerks and typewriters. The trades union
Is big enough, broad enough and liberal
enough to cover all classes of labor irre
spective of Its nature."
Miss Vlda Scudder of Wellesley college is
president of the BoBton Woman's Union
Label league. She is a bright woman In
tellectually and much interested lu wom
an's work. She writes:
"The Boston Woman's Union Label
league is composed of women who may or
may not belong to trades unions, but who
feel It their duty, as consumers, to patron
ize union-made goods. They believe the
label to be the most effective means we
have of extending practical loyalty to the
great principle which is revolutionizing
modern industry. This principle they hold
to be that the primary consideration in in
dustry is the welfure of the producer; and
that only when tills welfare is adequately
protected may we rightfully aim at cheap
ness or quality of product. Organized labor
in America is the most important agent
which is pressing practically toward the
enforcement of this vital principle; and,
therefore, toward a social order more sta
ble, democratic and Just than that which
wo at' present enjoy."
As to trades unions, Miss Scudder writes:
"Trades unions are certainly a good thing
for women If they are a good thing for
men; and I believe that women can help to
improve the Industrial condition of their
sex more effectively by entering the ranks
of organized labor than in any other way.
To belong to a trades union 'unsexes' a
woman no more than to belong to one of
the women's clubs popular among the
privileged class. Indeed, It strengthens
more directly a high feminine ideal. Inas
much as the primary aim of the woman's
club is usually intellectual self-culture,
While the primary aim of the trades union
Is ethical and humane. Nothing more en
larges the sympathies and uplifts the de
sires of a working woman than to belong
to the right kind of a trades union, and to
learn to look beyond the personal advant
age of the moment to the permanent wel
fare of all her comrades In labor."
The Boot and Shoe Workers' union Is
found in many parts of the country. It
numbers thousands and is especially strong
In the west, I have a letter before me
from Miss Emma Steghagen of the execu
tive board of this union. It is dated Chi
cago. She says that the Woman's Label
league la a great help to the union, as lta
J
MISS EMMA LAMPirERH, CHIEF" OR
GANIZER OF THE LADIES' RETAIL
CLERKS' UNION.
members are pledged to buy none but union
stamped shoes, and ail other commodities
which bear the union label. She writes
that this league is national in its scope,
and that its mission Is to educate trades
union men's wives, women workers and
club women up to the standard of union
ism. This league demands the union label
on every purchase and is helping women
and children workers to better conditions.
Miss Steghagen says that the Boot and
Shoe Workers' union has a woman in the
field whose duty It Is to organize the women
of the trade, and also to work for the union
label. This organization pays 15 per week
sick benefits, 6 a week to every one of its
members on a strike and from $50 to $100 In
case of death. She says that her union has
but few strikes, and that most of Its trou
bles are settled by arbitration.
As to women's trades unions, Miss Steg
hagen writes that their objects are a ra
tional number of working hours, fair wages
and the elimination of child labor. She says
that In some parts of the country the shoe
factories work their hands nine hours per
day and in others ten. Piecework is most
common, and $10 a week is considered a
medium wage for experienced workers. In
her trade the hours are the same for
women as for men, and some women earn
quite as much as the men. She thinks
woman a good striker, but advises strikes
only as a last resort. She says that or
ganization has greatly benefited her trade.
She believes that women's unions will
steadily grow, and that in time they will
cover every branch of woman's work, even,
to the servant girl. About 30 per cent, of
tho boot and shoe workers are women.
Among the most interesting of the wom
en's trades unions Is that of the glove work
ers. They have branches in Gloversville,
N. Y. ; in Chicago and In other glove-making
centers. As to this union, I have a letter
from Miss Agnes Nestor, a member of th
executive board of the International Glov
Workers' union of America, from which I
abstract the following:
"Glove making consists of fine work and
heavy work. Most of the fine work Is on
kid gloves, which are made in the east and
chiefly at Gloversville, N. Y. This work re
quires considerable skill, and It pays welL
It is done by the piece, and the wages de
pend upon the speed of the worker. The
heavy work Includes the making of gloves
of horsehlde, calfskin, buckskin, etc. This
Is mainly done in the west, and Is divided
up Into different crafts. There is one
branch known as "closing," which is most
difficult to learn, and which pays best, the
girls receiving 20 cents an hour for it. Men
receive the same wages."
Miss Nestor writes that her trades union
has done much for the glove workers of
Chicago. The union there has been organ
ized only two years, and It has already se
cured the "closed shop" and the Saturday
half holiday during the summer months. It
has abolished the system of paying 60 cents
per week per operator for the use of steam
power, avd has gained other things. The
same advantages have been secured In olher
parts of the country.
Miss Nestor says that It is as necessary
for a woman to belong to a trades union
as It Is for a man, and that it does not un
sex woman nor make her masculine. She
wrltest
"We will keep our womanly dignity
through It all. We now have our own lo
cals. We transact our own business and
we have shown that we can be business
like as well as the men. We are sure that
the time will come when women will have
the same hours of work as men, and when
they will receive the same pay for the samA
work performed."
FRANK a OARPKNTEiSj ;
