| Summary |
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the causes of the 1930 strike at the Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mill. The thesis will also show how events at the mill were influenced by local and regional trends. By 1919, the Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills had become one of the largest and most prosperous mills in the South. In that same year, Harrison R. Fitzgerald became president of the mill and implemented Industrial Democracy, a company "union" based on John Leitch's book Industrial Democracy. The plan sought to give employees and employers a plan for working out their grievances, thereby ending the need for outside unions. All matters affecting employees were to be voted on and approved by employee- led committees before going into effect. Disputes were solved amicably at first, but problems arose when the management asked for wage reductions because of an industrywide depression. The workers objected, but the management cut wages anyway. Feeling betrayed and frustrated, workers invited the United Textile Workers to help them resolve the dispute. Throughout the spring and summer of 1930, the UTW signed up most of the workers and held rallies to encourage the mills to negotiate with the workers. After several months it became apparent that more drastic methods were needed to bring Fitzgerald to the bargaining table. The union members voted to strike in September 1930. Compared with other strikes in the South, the events at Danville were peaceful. although Governor John G. Pollard sent troops to Danville at the request of the mill management after an unruly parade by the strikers. The mill continued to ignore the union and hired new employees to keep the mills running. The UTW tried to support the strikers as best they could, but they lacked the funds to maintain thousands of workers and their families. Union leaders sensed that they could not expect to win a victory in the face of these pressures and asked the workers to vote to end the strike. The decision to end the strike came exactly four months after it began. The UTW, to save face, declared the strike a victory because the mill said that it would re-hire "loyal" employees regardless of their participation in the strike, thereby recognizing the workers' right to join an outside union. The mills won the real victory. however. They reduced the size of their workforce, fired troublesome employees, and benefited from the downtime caused by the strike. Although the strike was called to benefit the employees, the mills reaped most of the benefits of the striker's months of efforts and struggle. |
