Labor Update: On Iowa's Proud Labor History
by Tracy KurowskiOf the four legislative priority issues for labor in Iowa, guess how many, in Iowa’s Democratically-controlled legislature and executive branch, passed this year?
If you said none, you win. If you are from a working family, you lose yet again.
In fact, Iowa remains tied for last among states in passing worker friendly legislation on issues like choice of doctor for injured workers, prevailing wage for building trades, fair share for both private and public sector unions, and expanding the scope of bargaining to give greater voice for public sector workers.
Iowans proudly share this ranking with other progressive states like Arizona, Utah, Alabama, and the Carolinas. And for this great accomplishment, workers in these so-called right-to-work states can expect to earn 15% less than their counterparts in states that have passed any or all of labor’s legislative priorities.
The difference between Iowa and the other last-place finishers, however, is that Iowa has a rich and fascinating labor history that the other states lack.
Iowa’s own John L. Lewis is one of the giants in the labor movement in this country. The founder of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (the CIO in the AFL-CIO) was born in Lucas, Iowa, the son of a mine-worker. Lewis quickly rose to leadership of the United Mine Workers Union, eventually becoming president of what was then America’s largest and most powerful union back when everything ran on coal.
Lewis was a brilliant organizer, and soon realized that unions must move beyond organizing strictly among crafts and skilled trades, as had been the model of unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Instead, Lewis convinced the Mineworkers to fund nation-wide efforts to organize workers industry-wide, a bold move that recognized the impact that mass production was having on depressing workers’ wages. The effort led to the establishment of steelworkers, auto workers and rubber workers unions. By 1937, the CIO had more members than the AFL.
Meanwhile, back in Newton, Iowa, one of the CIO unions managed to organize the Maytag washing machine plant in just one week in 1937. Labor was so popular among the 9,000 inhabitants of the town that two thirds of them showed up for their Labor Day celebration that fall. Soon, workers at grocery stores, cafes and department stores in the town also organized themselves into unions.
This of course was not welcomed by the company. Despite having earned a 42% profits the previous year, controlling 20% of the market in washing machines, Maytag offered it’s newly organized workers a 10% pay cut. In their intent to provoke a strike, the company unilaterally denied all grievances, opposed all contract proposals and began to attack the union as anti-American in order to alienate the workers from the community.
The protracted struggle that ensued between union and company was ugly and involved years of lock-outs, sit-ins, and strikes. At one point, Iowa’s Governor Kraschel declared martial law across the entire state, illegally preventing National Labor Relations Board hearings that were looking into company violations of labor law. Still without a contract, the workers were forced to return to the plant under the watchful eye of National Guardsman wielding grenades, rifles and tear gas and surrounded by armored cars. Click here to read more.
The union did eventually get a contract under terms settled by the National War Labor Board, and after continued organizing, the employees eventually earned an average wage of $20-$25 per hour plus benefits. Unfortunately, Maytag shut down the plant in 2007, and 1800 workers lost their good paying jobs. The plant is now home to a wind turbine tower manufacturing operation visited by President Obama in April 2009, but the wages for the couple hundred non-union workers averages just $14 per hour despite heavy tax subsidies given to the plant.
The plant closure inspired a New York Times story that questions what will become of America’s middle class when manufacturing no longer provides decent wages, something we are all left to wonder when there are five people for every job opening, and when 20% of Americans are either unemployed or underemployed.
Newton is just one town and Maytag’s is just one union struggle. But Iowa’s history is filled with stories of workers organizing for better wages and working conditions. You can learn about many of these by reading “Radical Unionism in the Midwest: 1900-1950” by Rosemary Feurer.
The research, theme and just about everything for today’s Labor History piece come from a lesson plan prepared
by Jen Sherer and lectured by Matt Glasson from the University of Iowa’s Labor Center.
Read more by clicking here or here.
~Tracy Kurowski has been active in the labor movement for ten years, first as a member of AFSCME 3506, when she taught adult education classes at the City Colleges of Chicago. She moved to the Quad Cities in 2007 where she worked as political coordinator with the Quad City Federation of Labor, and as a caseworker for Congressman Bruce Braley from 2007 – 2009.
Tracy Kurowski writes a labor update every Monday on Blog for Iowa
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