National Nurses United

The Hidden History of Workers Labor's Untold Story By Richard Boyer and Herbert Morais 380 pp. Published by the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America f you're like most people and have a New Year resolution to improve yourself in some way, here's a book to crack open that will deepen your understanding of society, of history, and of your role as a nurse activist. Labor's Untold Story has been a classic labor history book since it was first published in 1955, but it's likely you've never heard of it and were never taught the true story of the labor movement in high school or college. It is said that history is written by the victors, so even though the story of labor is really the story of the American people, the focus in most history textbooks is generally on our country's origins, industrial and technical development, wars and government, and corporate actions. Labor has a different story – an amazing history of battles, betrayals, and triumphs. While there were local trade unions in the United States in the 1790s, trade unionism as a national movement began during the Civil War and the fight for black freedom. Fueled by the war, great new factories, using new methods of mass production, were built to provide needed supplies. With the rising industrial system came great riches for industry and banking, and mass poverty for workers. It also created a "troublesome" labor movement and goaded William Sylvis, one of the great names of American labor, to frenzied action. Sylvis, who died at age 41, devoted his life and energy to black and labor solidarity, equal pay for women, and a living wage. When employers, growing ever wealthier, tried to impose a 25 percent wage cut at bayonet point in 1864, he fought for union solidarity and the right to strike. He was spurred to fury by those who said labor and capital had a common interest, a theory we hear today from labor-management "partnerships." He retorted by asking why labor had to fight for a living wage and benefits if workers' interests were their employers'? After the Civil War ended, the plight of workers worsened. Tycoons imported castles I JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2008 stone by stone while the desperate unemployed lived in dark tenements and fought exploitation by forming the first national labor organization in 1866, the National Labor Union. Employers banded together, too, combining into associations to fight back at labor who, "working from the darkness of early morning to the black of night" were demanding an 8-hour day so they would be "men and not drudges." The National Labor Union only lasted six years and as industry grew ever stronger, wages soon dropped to around a dollar a day. Then came the depression of 1873: laborers, paid below minimum living standard, were forced to work excessively long hours under new "speed-up" techniques to increase production and profits. As capital, choosing not to distribute those profits equitably, took too much and the people producing the wealth got too little, an economic glut developed that spelled disaster. Millions were unemployed. Starvation, especially during strikes, and death from cold in winter were not unusual. When unions, such as the miners' union, fought back, they were defeated by hired vigilantes who ambushed or killed militant miners, by the loss of leaders who were W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G arrested and later hung as "traitors," and by months of hunger. But throughout these times, men and women continued to fight for justice and equality for working people. It's hard to imagine today, but union activists at the time ran the very real danger of shedding blood, getting shot, and even dying for their actions. Lucy and Albert Parsons fought the growing power of monopolies and rallied workers to fight for the 8-hour day. He also was arrested and hung, crying out "let the voice of the people be heard." Eugene Debs, a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, challenged the shocking collusion between corporate monopolies, the government, and local law enforcement to brutally suppress workers and organizers. He was a man of great integrity who quoted Abraham Lincoln's great words, "Liberty before property; the man before the dollar," and championed the new concept of an industrial union uniting all workers rather than dividing them into separate crafts. He too was imprisoned, even as an old, arthritic man, for speaking up in public for the right to free speech. By 1934 labor solidarity had almost reached its peak, as demonstrated by the great San Francisco General Strike that year in which 127,000 workers transformed the city into a ghost town, and the 44-day General Motors sit-in actions in 1936. However, after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, trade union organizing was stifled, "right-to-work" laws were encouraged, and when individual unions like the International Longshore and Warehouse Union were expelled by the national organization for being too "left," the authors believe the formula for victory was broken. Today we continue to face a crisis in the right to organize, in healthcare, in privacy and free elections, in worker protection and financial security. Yet in every crisis there is both opportunity as well as danger. As in the past, if the people of this nation unite and work with their labor unions and allies to solve these grave problems through peace and democracy, we can return "this rich and lovely American land to the American people who have made it great." This book should amaze, shock, and motivate nurses and union members to do just that. —elizabeth pataki, rn REGISTERED NURSE 7

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