Strike Causes 2

The strike was sparked by a 3-1/2% reduction in wages stemming from a state law which was to take effect on January 1, 1912. The law reduced the maximum weekly work hours for women and children from 56 to 54 hours. The mills’ owners decided that if the workers’ hours were to be decreased, then their wages also would have to fall. Otherwise their mills could not stay competitive with mills in New Hampshire, Vermont, and the south where wages were even lower.  In December of 1911, the Lawrence mills paid their workers an average weekly wage of $8.76. An adult made, on average, $400 a year working in the textile mills. However, most of the striking workers took home even less pay – close to $6.00 weekly – because half of them were women and children, and nearly all were unskilled labor.

The workers had other grievances. In addition to low wages, the workers felt exploited by the premium, or bonus, system under which they labored in the mills. This system cumulatively rewarded each worker with a bonus for increasing her output within one month, provided she missed only one day of work in that month. Thus, in order to obtain the bonus, employees worked a tortuous seven-day week. The system also encouraged favoritism; due to the structure of the workplace, one worker’s bonus depended on another worker. (For instance, a repairman would first fix the looms of weavers who were already ahead in their work. Those who were behind fell back further.)

Employers in Lawrence had thwarted every effort to organize workers. Consequently, in 1912, no strong labor organization existed in the mills. When the employers reduced wages, there was no dialog between management and workers. Management simply stated it was impossible to maintain wages for employees working only 54 hours a week and assumed workers would accept the reduction without protest.

But the workers did protest, and their demonstration eventually became a full-fledged strike. The strikers officially demanded a a 15% increase in pay, maintenance of the 54-hour work week, double pay for overtime, and abolition of the bonus system.