Encyclopedia Dubuque
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PACKING HOUSE WORKERS' LOCAL NO. 150: Difference between revisions
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PACKING HOUSE WORKERS' LOCAL NO. 150. Over the years, packinghouse workers built a strong, powerful union. The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America (AMC) was the first national organization dedicated to bringing up the working standards of the meat industry through unionization. At the turn of the century, AMC organizers united workers in the Chicago stockyards and packinghouses. They organized butchers of Irish and German heritage and central and eastern European immigrants who made up the majority of the workforce at growing companies like Amour and Swift. | |||
During the 1920s, black workers began entering packinghouses and earning skilled positions as butchers on the killing floors. During the early 1930s—and thanks in part to the New Deal’s pro-labor policies—black, white, and immigrant workers of all backgrounds took the lead organizing packinghouse workers in Chicago. These workers overcame ethnic and racial tensions in meatpacking plants that had kept workers divided and unable unite at the bargaining table. | |||
United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) was formed in 1943. Because of their large, active, and committed membership, UPWA was able to wield real power at the bargaining table. Through their solidarity, the workers of the UPWA were able to successfully bargain for increased wages and better working conditions. And they were able to use their tremendous power to benefit our entire society. UPWA was deeply involved in Chicago’s community-based struggle for racial equality. | |||
Not many people at that time believed that equal pay for black workers was possible—but unionized packinghouse workers had equality written into their contracts. And, talking about pay equity for women did not become politically correct until the 1970s, but packinghouse workers had it written in their contracts in the 1950s. It was a union ahead of its time—regardless of color; sex, or immigrant status, union meatpackers got equal pay for equal work. These meatpackers build a strong, powerful union that would defend their interests as workers and defend their civil rights as well—a tradition that the UFCW is proud to carry on today. | |||
The 1939 and 1941 ''Dubuque City Directory'' listed 2011 1/2 White. | |||
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Source: | |||
"United Food and Commercial Workers. Online: http://www.ufcw.org/meat-packing/ | |||
[[Category: Unions]] | [[Category: Unions]] | ||
Latest revision as of 19:49, 10 March 2019
PACKING HOUSE WORKERS' LOCAL NO. 150. Over the years, packinghouse workers built a strong, powerful union. The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America (AMC) was the first national organization dedicated to bringing up the working standards of the meat industry through unionization. At the turn of the century, AMC organizers united workers in the Chicago stockyards and packinghouses. They organized butchers of Irish and German heritage and central and eastern European immigrants who made up the majority of the workforce at growing companies like Amour and Swift.
During the 1920s, black workers began entering packinghouses and earning skilled positions as butchers on the killing floors. During the early 1930s—and thanks in part to the New Deal’s pro-labor policies—black, white, and immigrant workers of all backgrounds took the lead organizing packinghouse workers in Chicago. These workers overcame ethnic and racial tensions in meatpacking plants that had kept workers divided and unable unite at the bargaining table.
United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) was formed in 1943. Because of their large, active, and committed membership, UPWA was able to wield real power at the bargaining table. Through their solidarity, the workers of the UPWA were able to successfully bargain for increased wages and better working conditions. And they were able to use their tremendous power to benefit our entire society. UPWA was deeply involved in Chicago’s community-based struggle for racial equality.
Not many people at that time believed that equal pay for black workers was possible—but unionized packinghouse workers had equality written into their contracts. And, talking about pay equity for women did not become politically correct until the 1970s, but packinghouse workers had it written in their contracts in the 1950s. It was a union ahead of its time—regardless of color; sex, or immigrant status, union meatpackers got equal pay for equal work. These meatpackers build a strong, powerful union that would defend their interests as workers and defend their civil rights as well—a tradition that the UFCW is proud to carry on today.
The 1939 and 1941 Dubuque City Directory listed 2011 1/2 White.
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Source:
"United Food and Commercial Workers. Online: http://www.ufcw.org/meat-packing/