Document text
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Cheek one)
PPE. Livia/ Ire in
New Enftland
TITLE Shoo likator of /am
WRITER Jane IC. _Leary'
DATE 3/17/39 E.
CHECKER DATE
SOURCES_ czynt,(t) nterview E. -Robilum_.,
COMMENTS
Name: Jane K. Leary 32 Acorn St., Lynn, Mass.
Informant: Elmer Robinson, 101 Nahant St.
Assignment: The Shoe Laster of Lynn
Page 1
Section #2
I 7/3 7
"The Laster's Protective Union was organized in
18/9. In 1882 I come to Lynn from Maine where I practically
come up myself, because my mother died when I wuz a little
fella. I wuz a laster fur a good long while 'fore I went
into organization work for the unions. About twenty years,
I guess.
-41hen I asked Mr. Robinson about the unique tech-
nique of feeding himself tacks foremost from his mouth, a
reminiscent smile accompanied his acting out that bit of
drama for me.
"Like this?" he said as he took imaginary tacks
from his mouth and pounded them into an imaginary shoe with
an imaginary hammer.
But the outstanding reminiscent interest of this
informant is concerned with shoe union work.
"In the early days of the Laster's Protective Un-
ion, they had the industry sewed up. Ya just couldn't get
work in Lynn unless ya had a permit from the asters Union.
"We had a collector in every rink. Lasters usta
work in sorta a circle and we called that a rink. Well,
the collector tollected the dues on pay night. And if there
wuz a non union man workin' there, or one without a permit
from the union, the boys tould all knock off, until he wuz
let go.
"Well, the union held that kind of dictatorial
Page 2
power until the lastint machines come in. Ant if they
hadn't voted ta fight the machines they mighta kept that
power.
"I always thought the unions should not have
fought the machines for the followinl reason, I'd been in
St. Louis on a visit some time before and I went to a meet
in' of the typographical union when the linotype machines
first come in.
"'What ya gonna do about it, boysidk I asked
them.
"'We're gonna vote for it,' they said, "beacuse
if there're any good, then we'll get the chance a runnint
emi whereas if they ain't practical, then we haven't lost
nothint."
"I felt that way about the niggerhead. If they
wan't no good, then we wouldn't have lost nothinl by votinl
for 'em. And if they did turn out to be practical, then
we'd be the boys to run tem.
"But the majority of the boys in the union felt
we should fight 'em so I joined in to fight against 'em.
I always believed in majority rule.
"That wuz the story in a nut shell. The old
niggerhead did prove practical, and because they fought
their cominl, many a the men lost out on the jobs a runnin,
lem and esab la,)or wuz brought in from outside.
Page 3
"Of course, some a the men and the union too
did kinda turn over ta the other side after they seen the
niggerhead wuz here ta stay. It wuz put in the factory of
Mark Worthley first and afterwards one by one, the pther
shops took it up. Then the bed machines come too.
"Then, after a while, there wuz a scramble for
them niggerhead jobs. Prices was set by the Labor Rela-
tions Board with the most ya could earn $10 a day. That
L.444
wuz good pay but some a the mfn connived ta earn more by
A
workinl beside a slow fella who could only get out about
d410 worth a lastin' a week. Well the smart fella would
do $10 extra work th t week and get the slow fella to
hand it in on his card. Thep he'd pay the fella for the
A
favor. There wuz all kinds a tricks to the shoe makinl
trade same as any other trade.
"Any one that would study the situation of the
old Laster's Protective Union of them days could see how
it wuz in a way, layin' the ground work for the indus-
trial form of union that the C. I. 0. has today. Because
the Lasters wuz the only strong shoe union of that time,
an' it jest about controlled the workers and the manufac-
turers. We wuz known as "the shock troops" because we
could tie up a factor with a strike. If all the lasters
wuz out on strike, no one else could work for very long.
We got so strong there for a time that any one who wanted
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ta work at any kinda work, usta come ta us for a work per-
mit. But as I said before, after the machines come, it
was easy ta shove in some one else at the niggerhead, and
we gradually lost a lotta power. All the strikes that wuz
called to fight the machine lost out in the end.
"But all the time, the leaders in the labor move-
ment saw the need for strong unions.
"Soon after 1900 I set out to organize the girls
in the shops (stitchers). Most everyone said it just
couldn't be done. But I done it all right. And sometime
after they wuz organized,
I called what wuz probably the first sit down
strike in America. It wuz this
"In a certain large shop in Lynn where they wuz
puttint out between eight and ten thousand pairs of shoes
a day, the manufacturer had agreed ta raise the girls'
wages and ta date the time of startint the raise back a
few weeks. Well, he kept puttin' off payin' them that
back pay part of the raise.
"I tried ta get him to pay it every way I could,
except call a strike. I didn't want ta do that for a
coupla reasons. One wuz that I didn't want ta antagonize
the manufacturer if I could help it. The other wuz that
if I called out all the girls in the shop, I would be
makin' an awful lotta workers lose at least a coupla days
pay.
Page 5
"Well, I conjured my brain and finally I con
cocked the following scheme.
"I said to the girls. When I give t signal
in the morning, jest stop work, and then I'll disappear.
They did this, just sitting still at their machines and
when the manufacturer saw this he started huntin' around
wild for me. But I wuz under cover and couldn't be found.
But long about eleven o'clock that morninl, jest two
hours after the girls stopped work, I showed up at the
factory.
"'When will you pay the girls?' I asked the
manufacturer? He walked up ta one of the bookkeepers and
asked how much he owed them. When he wuz told he turned
around to me and said, I'll pay them now, if they start
to work.
"All I did was raise my hand, sorta like a
salute to the girls. But they knew what I meant. Right
away the machines begun ta buz again.
"Yes, that, zo far as I know, wuz the first sit
down strike in America. But it never got in the papers.
But we organizers used it two or three times on different
manufacturers in Lynn. It worked every time."
Page 6
"From my experience in shoe union work, I al-
ways thought it took three different kinds of leaders.
First would oe the fella to line up the union and get the
members. Then the second fella would be the one to whip
the organization into shape and maybe, call a strike.
The third fella would be the negotiator to settle the
strike.
"When I wuz in unior,14 I often tried to work with
some one else when we hada strike. There wuz one fella
in particular. Oft times I would go in to see a manufac-
turer for him in settlin' a strike, if he didn't stand so
well with the manufacturer himself. An' all the times
I wuz carryin' out his plans only he didn't show his face.
"An' he often done the same for me. There's
absolutely no use trint to get somewhere with a manufac-
turer if he's turned against ya. It's best ta work under
cover in such a case.
"Union work is politics of a high order. Ya
have ta be a good diplomat ta be a good union agent. Or
else you'll be sure ta be in hot water most of the time.
The smartest union workers don't want no notoriity. They
work from behind the scenes."