August 27, 2014 at 2:37 p.m.
Early union activity at Rhinelander paper mill showcases the movement that created Labor Day
Early union activity at Rhinelander paper mill showcases the movement that created Labor Day
By By Kyle Rogers-
But as is clearly indicated in its name, Labor Day began as a way to recognize the American worker. By 1894, when Congress officially passed the act making the first Monday of September a national holiday, 23 states had already been recognizing a Labor Day.
The labor movement in Wisconsin can be traced back to the mid-1800s. By that time, the city of Milwaukee had 20,000 inhabitants and as the state's leading port city it was there that Wisconsin's first unions were formed. Two of the earliest unions were the bricklayers and the carpenters, founded in 1847 and 1848, recounts Robert W. Ozanne in his book, "The Labor Movement in Wisconsin: A History."
In Rhinelander, unionism largely grew out of the paper industry. Of the state's local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, Rhinelander had the distinction of being the first to be successful at bargaining for an eight-hour shift. The International Brotherhood of Paper Makers was struggling during the early part of the 20th century.
"In 1909 it reported zero assets," writes Ozanne. "President Jeremiah Carey mortgaged his own house for money to keep the union alive, and from 1909 through 1912 he and Vice-President George A. Schneider of Appleton worked for the International without pay. While they struggled to revive the IBPM, they succeeded in organizing lodges in Rhinelander, Merrill, Grand Rapids (now Wisconsin Rapids), Stevens Point, Green Bay, and Niagara. Not until 1912 did one of these lodges have the strength to ask for shorter hours again, and then it had President Carey do the asking, first by letter and then in a meeting with the Rhinelander Paper Company. Surprisingly, the company agreed, and on July 8, 1912, paperworkers in Rhinelander began working eight-hour shifts in three 'tours' a day."
Two other paper companies soon followed suit. That was the extent of the push for an eight-hour workday at that time, but it was a catalyst for further union activity.
"No other Wisconsin lodges were strong enough at that time to demand the eight-hour day, but its adoption in these mills spurred union organization at other sites," writes Ozanne. "Paperworkers in Nekoosa, Port Edwards, Tomahawk, Wausau and Eau Claire formed lodges. Even in the Fox River Valley, where all had been quiet since the devastating defeats of 1904, the Appleton and Kaukauna paper mill workers reorganized their old locals for the same reason: they were 'not in love with the 14-hour night shift.'"
Rhinelander also represents the back-and-forth struggle that occurred between unions and paper companies. A decade after being the first paperworkers' union to find success in the request for an eight-hour workday, the Rhinelander paper mill was again "open shop," writes Ozanne. In April 1921, the Rhinelander Paper Company cut wages by 20 percent then locked out all the workers.
"Company spokesmen visited each employee and offered him a job provided he would resign from the union," writes Ozanne.
Some workers complied. Others went on strike.
"In January 1922, the company cut wages further and lengthened the hours," writes Ozanne. "For a moment the strikers hoped that those working in the plant would join the strikers, but they did not. In April 1922, Rhinelander elected a Socialist mayor and Socialist city council. The new mayor created more public works jobs to employ the strikers. This was not enough. Gradually the strikers withdrew from the union and returned to the mill or went to other jobs."
By August 1923, the union no longer had a single member.
Things began to take a turn after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president. In 1933 Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act and in 1935 it passed the National Labor Relations Act. That spurred on union activity in Wisconsin's paper industry.
"By the end of World War II, about 95 percent of the Wisconsin paperworkers were working under union shop agreements," writes Ozanne. "The next 35 years saw unparalleled advances for workers in wages, pensions, health and life insurance, job security, and reductions in the yearly hours of work. The early union struggle for Saturday night off and the eight-hour day was transformed, year by year, into a movement pressing for longer vacations and more paid holidays."
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