The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-04-08
HOME AND
THE UNION
Organize and Educate the
Women.

movement which is overlooked to great
extent which if properly studied and
acted upon would be OF incstimable ben
eft to the union cause. We refer to
the organization of the women of the
wage workers into auxiliary societies
Many women do not understand the re-
lation of the trades union to the home
throuzh lack OF education along
trade union of lines. They
know that the provider has a certain
income, certain daily wage, with which
to clothe, feed and house those depend,
ent upon him for support. They know
that in most cases it is pitifully small
and inadequate, and they, poor souls,
scrimp and save and go without many
things dear to the feminine heart in
their love and loyalty to their homes
and families. If wages are good and
work plentiful they are glad and thank
full and correspondingly dishcartened if
circumstances are the reverse. That
they themselves could help to hold up
wages, shorten hours of labor thereby
adding to the comforts and convenicnces
of the home, does not enter their minds.
I have personally known of men who
were out on strike, the winning of which
meant a great deal to the family, who
W. ri To NV hoiY 1t-;x- m
walled and pledged for them to accept
any kind of terms to get their Jobs
back Strikes are, it is true particu-
larly hard upon the women of the wage
earners but they cannot realize that if
better conditions are obtained through
suffering temporary hardships, they are
worth the cost. Many women, wives
of union men in some instances, patron
ize non-union firms, or buy scab made
goods, unthinkingly. Thus the very
people who are forcing misery into the
homes of the wage earners are being
kept in business. In time of war one
army would hardly be expected to keep
the other army in provisions and am
munition. And yet that is Just what
these good women are doing. Willfull
ignorance? Oh, no. The average work
ing mans wife would make any sacri-
flee possible to help her husband is she
only understood. Ii she would study
the economic principals underlying the
trade union movement and how she could
aid her husband in maintaining a high
standard of living, she would learn how
to help him.
This brings me back to the opening
sentences of this little sermon. Organ
ization by the women for their own ben
eft. 1t is noticeable fact that in
places where the women organize into
auXiliaries or label leagues, are found
the best union conditions. They meet
and talk over the great problem which
they are facing every day Of their lives
the maintenance of the homes. They
learn the relation between good wages
and comfortable surroundings. They
learn that the greater the call for union
goods the greater labor power of pro
ducing those goods is demanded. That
higher wages and shorter hours means a
new piano in the parlor, an education
for the son or daughter, many more
little household convenences to tighten
her toll. The purchasing power is in
their hands Very few men by the nee
essities of life. They earn the money
and the women spend it. Merchants
everywhere know this and cater to their
trade and when the women demand that
the union label must be on their pur
chases or insist on knowing that articles
they buy were made under union condi
tions, the merchants know that they
must handle those goods or 90 out of
business.
There is in this city at the present
time a ladies auxiliary attached TO one
of the large and powerful unions. These
women are accomplishing something
They are alive to the situation and you
couldn't sell one of them a scab made
article if you tried. | venture every
one of them knows more about the un-
ion movement since the formation of
this society than they knew in all their
lives before. It's just problem of ed
ucation, of learning how they can help.
There ought to be thirty of these aux
iliary societies in this city instead of
one. Why, just one good, live organi
cation of this kind can do more to solve
the emancipation of women from drudg-