On June 23, 1937, a group of 78 women spinners at Chicopee Manufacturing Co. began a "sit-down" strike to protest new work rules; the plant's 650 workers joined, and pressure from the strike led to a national contract for all Johnson & Johnson plants.
CHICOPEE — On this Labor Day weekend I remember my friend Walter Wrzesien, who recalled that at the age of 12, he was delivering tea and sandwiches to CIO (Committee of Industrial Organizations) "sit-down" strikers at the Chicopee Manufacturing Co. on Main Street in Chicopee Falls.
His mother, Karolinia Wrzesien, was one of 78 female spinners who had shut down their machines, refusing to leave the factory.
Work stoppages and strikes cannot succeed without public sympathy and support. In the 1930s, Walter's mom and my parents were members of a radical new union which was originally a committee of the American Federation of Labor. The Committee of Industrial Organizations was formed to unionize workers in large mass-production industries.
The CIO signed up unskilled as well as skilled workers. When the AFL refused to accept the new unions, the CIO formed its own federation and changed its name to the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Seventy-one years ago, the Textile Workers Organizing Committee, a CIO affiliate, was negotiating a recognition agreement with the main office of the Johnson & Johnson Co. to cover all its plants. Conversations had been in progress for 10 days between Sidney Hillman, national director of the Textile Workers Organizing Committee, and Robert Johnson, president of Johnson & Johnson.
The proposed collective bargaining agreement would be companywide, covering plants in New Brunswick, N.J. , Manchester, N.H., Gainsville, Ga. and the Chicopee Manufacturing Co. in Chicopee Falls.
In 1937, Chicopee was a union town. The workers at the old mill on Main Street were keenly aware of the New Jersey negotiations. Still, no one could have predicted the events of June 23, 1937.
Unlike the recent labor news about unhappy screenwriters, the young women textile machine operators had serious concerns about their modest compensation.
On that warm afternoon, as the second shift waited to enter the plant, the discussion on the benches outside the mill centered on some new work rules.
That evening, the New York papers would headline news from Chicopee. A group of 78 women spinners had shut down their machines and were engaged in a "sit-down" strike.
The newspapers reported that national negotiations in New Jersey were suspended, pending clarification of the situation in Massachusetts. Clarification came quickly that night as the CIO union at the plant voted at a mass meeting to endorse the strike.
The strikers were ensconced on the third-floor window sills, determined to occupy the building until management discarded its new system of operations. After reading the evening newspapers, it was clear that the citizens of Chicopee were overwhelmingly in support of the workers.
The reason for the spontaneous job action was the announcement by management that a new work schedule was to be put into effect, increasing the number of spinning machines each operator was expected to handle. The practice, called "stretch out," would have operators on "long frame," carrying 325 spindles, increasing the number of machines they attend from 11 to 15, while "short frame" operators, carrying 256 spindles, were expected to increase the machines they handled from 14 to 22.
Horace A. Riviere, sub-regional director of the Textile Workers Organizing Committee, said: "The strike was an eruption and a protest against the 'stretch out' and an effort on the part of management to increase the burden of operators beyond their capacity."
He would have preferred to have the women come out of the plant and continue the strike in other forms, rather than the "sit down," but the spinners themselves did not want to come out.
Management allowed no one from outside the plant to go in to see the strikers, aside from Riviere when he tried in vain to get them to come out. During the protest's first day, the striking spinners found early support from Sydlo's Bakery and Steve's restaurant. These two concerns, upon learning of the strike, sent doughnuts and coffee and were permitted to deliver them to the third floor.
The strikers, who earned between $14 to $18 a week, remained in the building for three days. The women finally gave up their posts in the spinning department after Riviere visited them with a message from Sidney Hillman.
Hillman, leader of the national union, regarded it as essential for the spinners to leave the mill before it would be possible to negotiate an industry-wide agreement. William Sikora, a Textile Workers Organizing Committee organizer, led the strikers out in an orderly column across the canal bridge, while 100 strikers at the gate cheered them.
The women marched to the Polish Home on Grove Street, where they were served tea, sandwiches and doughnuts.
The Springfield Daily News reported: "In spite of their two nights sleeping on factory floors with newspapers as mattresses and bed sheets, the woman's orderliness found them dressed in clean house dresses and street frocks when they left the mill. After a brief address by Messers. Riviere and Sikora, the women left for their homes, with the children of some gleefully chattering to their mothers as they followed them."
Compared to some of the violent strikes of the 1930s, the Chicopee strike, which lasted 17 days, was called a friendly and orderly dispute. Following the sit-down, there were no demonstrations during the rest of the strike and, except for routine meetings at the Polish Home, the strikers remained mainly off the streets to insure no disturbance of public routine.
The newspapers reported that Chicopee Falls merchants won the appreciation of strikers by their leniency in meeting needs for daily sustenance.
The Chicopee strike was settled on July 9, a Thursday afternoon, but the 650 strikers picked Monday as the date of their return to work, a decision dictated by the presence of a sweltering heat wave and the nearness of the weekend.
Two weeks later, Hillman would sign a general contract and working agreement covering all Johnson & Johnson plants.
The CIO newsletter cited the courage of the 78 Chicopee spinners, indicating that woman like Karolinia Wrzesien were the very heart and soul of the new American labor movement.
Stephen R. Jendrysik, a retired history teacher, is Chicopee city historian, a member of the Chicopee Historical Society's board of directors and president of the Edward Bellamy Memorial Association.