New Bedford Textile Strike Idled 30,000 Workers
In 1928, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge of Vermont decided not to seek another term. Instead, Coolidge's fellow Republican Herbert Hoover of California executed a humiliating 444 to 87 electoral college defeat of New York Democrat Al Smith. Hoover carried 40 states and Smith only eight, including Massachusetts.
In New Bedford, the textile industry that had prospered after World War I was in trouble. Wages for textile mill workers reportedly tripled between 1913 and 1920. By 1928, the industry was struggling.
On April 16, 1928, some 30,000 New Bedford textile workers walked off the job in a dispute over wages.
Mass Moments says, "In an effort to increase profits during a period of decline in the local textile industry, mill owners cut pay by 10 percent."
The strike, organized by the Textile Mill Committee, with reported ties to communism and later by the American Federation of Labor, was on. The striking workers are said to have demanded a 20 percent pay raise and a 40-hour work week.
The job action lasted until October 1928, when the workers agreed to a five percent wage cut and a promise of a 30-day notice of any future wage reduction.
Workers returned to New Bedford's textile mills on October 8, 1928.
Mass Moments says during the strike, "New Bedford's movie theaters reported record crowds." The site says, "For people who had worked nearly every day in the mills since the age of 12 or 13, the early days of the strike brought a welcome change in routine."
All three local newspapers reportedly supported the strike but called for state intervention.
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Gallery Credit: Stacker