New-York tribune., 1903-08-30
WOMEN'S TRADE UNIONS.
Some Trivial Causes of Strikes-Their HUI
morous Side.

mo city in the country can furnish good an
illustration Of the effects Of women IN traoe
unions as Chicago" says Luke Grant, asslstai4U
secretary Of the Illinois State Board of Arbtra-
ton
In no other city it seems has the work OF or
ganization been so successfully carried out a
table prepared by Mr. Grant shows that Chicaso
trade unions composed wholly Of women nave
total membership of 31,400
One of the results of the enthusiasm OF Chlcaso
women for trade union principles has been 10 de-
monstrate that they can be as active and stancn
in their opposition to the encroachments OF caP'd
as men Their unionism, that is to say, is not Oh
the passive resistance kind but is active and ag-
gressive. Instances on record wnere strikes
have occurred in that city involving both men ana
women, in which the men were the nrst 10 Ie'UiH
to work without having gained the concessions
If Chicago presents the serious and dignided side
OF feminine trade unonism, there are other cities
which show up women in a lighter and more hu-
noorous relation to the great struggle between
labor and capital Strikes Of women are by no
means rare and sometimes the nature of these
strikes offers fine material for merriment The
hu1nors Of women's strikes and women strikers
are surely as well worth noting the graver as
poets of the case.
The introduction of mirrors was the cause OF one
strike among the girls in tobacco factory In this
city It was all the fault of the new manager
ANYWAY Finding that he could not see what
going on when his back was turned, he hit on
the scheme of arranging series of mirrors
around his desk in which every part of the room
was reflected. The girls said the mirrors were a
reflection on them. They complained that when
ever they looked at the manager they always
found him staring at them from the depths of his
mirrors. 1t Alice through the looking
glass" with a vengeance, and more than they
could tolerate and they all struck work, resolved
never to go back so long as the manager and his
inquitous mirrors stayed in the shop
This a comparatively recent strike, and it
had definite objects. So much cannot be said of
a women's strike which took place at Troy, n. Y,
seventeen years ago. This was a. sympathetic
strike, or rather an infectious strike The women
are said to have been satisfied with their wages
and the hours and conditions governing their work.
but there had been a number of strikes in the
neighborhood and the women fired by them
and quit work Fifteen thousand women went out
and stayed out two months. The women prisoners
in an English prison struck because they were
called upon to carry the coal for the laundry fires,
a chore which had been formerly performed by
the men. The strikers shut themselves up in their
respective cells. barricading themselves IN and de- de-
been settled in their favor. Ultimately this was
Then there was the strike of the women in an
Albany tobacco factory The manager particu-
Lar favorite with the girls was DISCHARGED where
out of sympathy. Then they held parades and In
fgnaoH meetings @ at winch H {Re gFeas feature s
while ago some of the Paris models had strike.
were getting better wages than they, This was
strike of plain women against the tribute laid at
artists went their way. the handsome models con-
tinued TO get the best engagements and the larg-
est wages, and the determination of the plain
ssterhood to stay out bothered no one but them
selves.
To revert to the serious women untoniStS of
Chicago the power of the union there, it is said.
has been employed toward a steady upHft of
wonens wages. and especially toward the improve
nent conditions in lines of industry hitherto un-
organized.
For instance. through their efforts, the twne
workers the plants of the harvester companies
have secured a nine hour day improved sanitary
conditions and increase of 10 per cent in wages
Girls in the canning departments of the packing
firms at the stockyards have had their wages ad-
vanced Is per cent. In the paper box industry,
where child labor in its worst form was formerly
the rule it is practically abolished; mini