It’s a family affair at Buckingham picket line: 1941
A family pickets the Buckingham community center in Arlington, Va. June 9, 1941 after a strike was called by the Laborer's Union in a contract dispute over wages and benefits.
The strike was called by the Laborers’ District Council, Alexandria, an affiliate of the AFL after the management of the 1800-unit apartment complex refused to respond to a contract offer submitted a month before by union officials.
Painters, porters and yardmen joined the strike causing delays in trash and garbage collection. The interracial strikers were pressing for increased wages, vacation, a paid sick leave plan and a closed union shop.
While the workers were both black and white, the apartment complex was for whites-only and would be the target of a year-long effort at integration 25 years later.
The Buckingham Civic Association, representing 4500 tenants at the complex, adopted a resolution supporting “the position of the striking employees” and called on management to meet with the union and engage in collective bargaining.
The Arlington Labor Non-Partisan League called for public support saying that workers faced “intolerable working conditions.”
The League was initiated by the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1936 and though opposed by the American Federation of Labor, many affiliates of the AFL joined. It was named non-partisan because it supported both Republicans, Democrats or third party candidates that were pro-labor. Differences between its leaders caused its dissolution later in 1941.
After a scuffle between a striking worker and a supervisor, a heavy police patrol was instituted in the area.
The strike was settled after five days with the workers winning a pay increase and a new “welfare plan” that would aid workers when they were unable to work due to injury or illness.
The strike gives an idea of how widespread labor unions were by representing workers at apartment complexes where few have union representation in the 21st century.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmGa6cGE
The photographer is unknown. The image is a Washington Daily News photograph that is part of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
It’s a family affair at Buckingham picket line: 1941
A family pickets the Buckingham community center in Arlington, Va. June 9, 1941 after a strike was called by the Laborer's Union in a contract dispute over wages and benefits.
The strike was called by the Laborers’ District Council, Alexandria, an affiliate of the AFL after the management of the 1800-unit apartment complex refused to respond to a contract offer submitted a month before by union officials.
Painters, porters and yardmen joined the strike causing delays in trash and garbage collection. The interracial strikers were pressing for increased wages, vacation, a paid sick leave plan and a closed union shop.
While the workers were both black and white, the apartment complex was for whites-only and would be the target of a year-long effort at integration 25 years later.
The Buckingham Civic Association, representing 4500 tenants at the complex, adopted a resolution supporting “the position of the striking employees” and called on management to meet with the union and engage in collective bargaining.
The Arlington Labor Non-Partisan League called for public support saying that workers faced “intolerable working conditions.”
The League was initiated by the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1936 and though opposed by the American Federation of Labor, many affiliates of the AFL joined. It was named non-partisan because it supported both Republicans, Democrats or third party candidates that were pro-labor. Differences between its leaders caused its dissolution later in 1941.
After a scuffle between a striking worker and a supervisor, a heavy police patrol was instituted in the area.
The strike was settled after five days with the workers winning a pay increase and a new “welfare plan” that would aid workers when they were unable to work due to injury or illness.
The strike gives an idea of how widespread labor unions were by representing workers at apartment complexes where few have union representation in the 21st century.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmGa6cGE
The photographer is unknown. The image is a Washington Daily News photograph that is part of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.