User:Indy beetle/Harriet–Henderson Cotton Mills Strike

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Background[edit]

In 1895, David Y. and John D. Cooper established the Henderson Cotton Mill north of Henderson, North Carolina. As the operation became successful, the co-founders decided to open a second facility, the Harriet Mill, south of the city, in 1901.[1][2] The latter operation was expanded with additional buildings in 1909 and 1913.[1] The combined workforces of the two mills eventually grew to be the largest source of employment in Henderson.[3] In the late 1930s, the mills—like others around the nation, were subjected to a modernization program to increase their economic competitiveness.[1] As a result, new technology was introduced, old managers were replaced by college-educated leaders, piece work pay structures were implemented, workloads were increased, and managers began more closely scrutinizing individual worker performance.[4]

Dissatisfied with the changes, in 1943 the workers voted to unionize and join the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA),[1] with Local 578 and Local 584 being formed to respectively represent the employees at Harriet and Henderson.[2][5] The union locals grew to encompass about 90% of the combined workforce of the textile plants and secured a joint contract with management. The company did little to resist the unionization, with its lawyer convinced that the presence of a union could help the mills modernize their labor relations.[6] Workers anticipated that the union would allow them to harmonize their relations with their employers, while mill management hoped they could use the union to increase and standardize their control over production. The contrasting expectations led to conflict[7] and the mills underwent strikes in 1951 and 1954.[5]

In the early to mid 1950s, North Carolina textile mills faced increasing competition, and dozens closed. Management at the Henderson and Harriet mills pushed for larger workloads to increase their competitiveness, which led to pushback from the union.[8] By 1958, about 60 percent of the mill workers were women, the majority of whom had worked for multiple decades at the mills.[9] The mills' workforce was also disproportionately unionized relative to the rest of the state, with its workers accounting for around one seventh of all unionized workers in North Carolina.[10]

The strike[edit]

In 1958, mill managers refused to renew the expiring union contract and proposed an agreement which eliminated several provisions favorable to the union, particularly the ability of union members to seek arbitration of grievances with the company. Local 584 president Luther Jackson and Local 578 president Charlie Rains declared that without arbitration there was "no way for orderly, peaceful redress of employee grievances".[11] Faced with the prospect of losing their contract, members of Local 578 and Local 584 met on November 16, 1958, and unanimously voted to strike.[1][12]

Following the vote, the union began picketing.[12] The mills closed and management refused to negotiate with the strikers.[10] In December, the union opened commissaries to feed the strikers.[12] On February 9, 1959, the picketers pulled a driver out of his truck when he attempted to deliver a load of cotton to the mill.[10]

The mills reopened in February 1959.[12]


Aftermath[edit]

More than 90% of the workers involved in the strike did not return to work at the mills.[5]

Governor Terry Sanford commuted the sentences of Boyd and other union activists on July 4, 1961. On December 31, 1964, he granted Boyd a full pardon.[13] Payton later wrote a book about his conviction in argument of his innocence, Scapegoat: Prejudice, Politics, Prison.[14]

Historian William A. Link labeled the dispute "the most significant labor conflict since the Gastonia strike of 1929".[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e York, Maurice C. (2006). "Harriet-Henderson Cotton Mills Strike". NCPedia. North Carolina Government & Heritage Library. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Frankel 2019, p. 106.
  3. ^ Frankel 2019, pp. 104–105.
  4. ^ Frankel 2019, pp. 108–109.
  5. ^ a b c Ludwig, Julie Ann; Wheaton, Nathalie (2005). "Harriet & Henderson Cotton Mills Records, 1885-1999". Wilson Special Collections Library. UNC University Libraries. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  6. ^ Frankel 2019, pp. 109–110.
  7. ^ Frankel 2019, pp. 110–111.
  8. ^ Link 2018, pp. 431–432.
  9. ^ Frankel 2019, p. 105.
  10. ^ a b c Link 2018, p. 432.
  11. ^ Frankel 2019, p. 111.
  12. ^ a b c d Frankel 2019, p. 112.
  13. ^ Glass 1992, p. 90.
  14. ^ Crow & Tise 2017, p. 198.
  15. ^ Link 2018, p. 431.

Works cited[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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