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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
One of the earliest recorded strikes and the first recorded sympathy
strike in America occurred in these Paterson mills in 1828. The employees,
including a large number of children, walked out, demanding restoration
of the noon lunch hour (which the company had changed arbitrarily to
one o'clock) and reduction of the work day from 13 1/2 hours to 12 hours.
Carpenters, masons, and mechanics struck in sympathy with the millhands.
The strike was lost, although later the owners conceded the 12 o'clock
lunch.
Trade unions organized by journeymen in several crafts caused the first
real wave of strikes in New Jersey. Rising costs of living unaccompanied
by increased wages during the prosperous period 1830-1836 resulted in at
least a dozen important strikes. In 1835 or 1836 shoemakers in Newark,
Paterson, and New Brunswick; hatters in Newark; textile workers in Paterson; harness makers and curriers in Newark; and building trades workers
in Trenton, Paterson, New Brunswick, and Newark-all battled for high
wages, and in some cases for the 10-hour day. A majority of the strikes
was won by organized trade societies that closely resembled the present-
day "locals" of international unions. Early cooperation among such societies was evidenced by a $203 contribution from the Newark working-men to striking textile workers in Paterson.
Recognition of the value of such mutual aid led 16 trade societies to
form a Newark Trades Union, which today would be called a city federation or central labor council. Although this body sanctioned strikes and
lent moral and financial assistance, the individual trade societies shouldered the brunt of strike action. The Newark group played an important
part in 1836 in the formation of the National Trades Union; New Brunswick also had a trades union, but it did not participate in the national
movement. Paterson s organization, grandiloquently styled "The Paterson
Association for the Protection of Laboring Classes, Operatives of Cotton
Mills, Etc.," joined with the Newark Trades Union.
Workers' cooperation coupled with the burgeoning of radical thought
paved the way for labor's entry into politics during the turbulent thirties.
In September 1830 a group of farmers, mechanics, and workingmen from
Essex County met in Newark to form a Workingmen's Party. Although
the outcome is unknown, records show that the meeting demanded the
removal of property qualifications for voting, the taxation of bonds and
mortgages, and free schools. In 1834 and 1836 attempts were again made
to establish a labor party in Newark. Their failure may be traced to the
founders' apparent aim to build a patchwork political party rather than a
strictly labor party, as demonstrated by their nomination of a coach lace
manufacturer for mayor.
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