Bridgeport Working: Voices from the 20th Century


Preface by Dr. Cecelia Bucki
At the turn of the 20th century, American workers rarely belonged to trade unions. In 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) called for an 8-hour workday. Since the workweek was uniformly a six-day week, this meant a 48-hour workweek. On May 1, 1886, workers across the nation went on strike to attain the goal of an 8-hour, 48-hour workweek. Although most strikes were unsuccessful, the strikes helped create a goal for organized labor in the United States for the next five decades: an 8-hour workday. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was organized in December of 1886 out of the reorganized unions of FOTLU. Founded by twenty-five national labor unions that included Iron Molders, Miners, Carpenters, Cigar Makers, Typographers, and others, the AFL coordinated efforts to organize by providing solidarity, financial aid, and lobbying for pro-labor legislation. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Central Labor Union (CLU), affiliated with the AFL, was founded in the early 1890's by Bridgeport area trade and labor unions. The Central Labor Union was organized "for the purpose of organizing and concentrating the working classes for their own mutual protection, education and social advancement." Beginning in 1896, it published a weekly newspaper, the Bridgeport Advocate, with the union label of the Bridgeport Typographical Union No. 252. The Central Labor Union demanded the following:* an eight-hour day prohibition of child labor under fourteen years discontinuation of the contract system on public works abolition of contract prison labor payment of weekly wages in "lawful money" first lien for workmen's wages equal pay for equal work for both sexes government sanitary inspection of all workplaces. Most of these demands were not met since there was no legislation protecting workers from retaliation by anti-union employers. Only the most skilled workers could build strong craft unions to protect their interests. After the end of the economic depression in 1897, AFL unions like the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and other metal trades and building trades unions were greatly successful in gaining contracts for their members. By 1904, these unions had quadrupled their memberships nationally. In the next two decades, the unions then faced increasing employer resistance, as well as technological innovations that threatened the skills of their union members. Bridgeport Labor Unions, 1900. In Bridgeport Connecticut, thousands of Eastern and Southern European immigrants who had entered the industrial work force were waiting to be organized into unions. Industries like the garment industry in Bridgeport as well as the metal working industries depended on their unskilled and semi-skilled labor. In the 1910 Bridgeport census, the largest single occupation for immigrant men was Laborer, while for immigrant women, it was Domestic Servant, followed by Sewing Machine Operator. This time-line helps to show the story of the Bridgeport men and women who entered the work force and helped shape the unions and the labor force. Dr. Cecelia Bucki Associate Professor of History Fairfield University *Bridgeport Central Labor Union, Centennial Illustrated History (1900), pp.59, 350-52.

Preface by Dr. Cecelia Bucki