Unions - Mutual Aid Through Collective Bargaining
Fruit Never Falls Far from the Tree
While various historical threads combine in the history of Freemasonry, it is clear that at the core of the fraternity’s history and tradition was its function as the stonemasons’ guild. In other words, as an organization of operative stonemasons - as opposed to modern, speculative Freemasons – it was for the most part a trade union or craft guild that regulated the industry and protected its members and the public from encroachment by the "uninitiated" or "un-apprenticed." In operative Masonry,
"A Cowan was forbidden to work with lime-mortar, as was a dry-stone waller or diker: the term was applied derogatorily to a labourer who worked with stone, but who had not been regularly apprenticed, so it was given to anyone who was uninitiated into the secrets of Freemasonry. …Freemasons had regulated wages, and were superior to Cowans, who were regarded with suspicion and hostility for trying to find the secrets of Freemasonry which would enhance their position. Cowans, therefore, became defined as sneaks or prying persons, the uninitiated, the outsiders, the profane. So it was clear that Freemasons had an interest in maintaining their position as craftsmen of superior nature, and that their secret signs were a means of ensuring status, wealth, and keeping the untrained at bay. Thus a Freemason, in the Craft sense, would have been familiar with the trowel, but a Cowan would have no use for such a tool, as he was forbidden to use lime at all." The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry, James Stevens Curl, pp 20-22 (Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY, 1988)
In respect to this regulatory function performed by operative masons’ Lodges, many are unaware that the first scaffold laws were the rules set and enforced by masons: If a master's scaffolding fell with workmen, the master responsible for the works would be prohibited from working again since his failure to insure basic safety would be proof he did not understand geometry – the core of the craft’s secrets. As with many union’s whose goals include uplifting their membership, Freemasonry succeeded beyond measure, to the point of transforming itself through the centuries from trade union or craft guild to a speculative, philosophical society of friends and brothers, where it has not been unknown for even Kings to lay aside the scepter for the trowel so as to join in the "labor" or philosophical work of the Lodge.
Modern, speculative Masonry may be dated to 1717: The first Masonic Lodge in North America was formed on July 30, 1733 at Boston, Massachusetts. The next great fraternal organization, the Odd Fellows friendly society, was not organized in North America until 1819. As historians have noted, Freemasonry is one of the great antecedents of the modern labor movement. Chronologically, the organization of labor in North America followed the foundation of such progressive fraternal organizations, with the actual term "Trade Union" not making an appearance until 1830. Freemasonry’s organizational structure – lodge and grand lodge system - have been imitated by virtually all modern labor unions.
…[L]abor organizations came on the scene in the 1860s and 1870s. Freemasons were involved in the founding of the Sons of Vulcan (for ironworkers), the Knights of St. Crispin (for shoemakers), the American Flint Glass Workers’ Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. These fraternities used secret rituals to create solidarity among skilled tradesmen by separating themselves apart from both unskilled workers and factory owners. ¶The most ambitious of these new "fraternal unions" was the Noble Order of Knights of Labor of America, founded in 1869 by Freemason Uriah S. Stephens. It sought to organize all workers, regardless of skill or trade. By 1886, the Knights of Labor membership reached 711,000, as it welcomed black and female workers. Despite such national power, Stephens’ successor and brother Mason, Terence Powderley, complained bitterly that its rank and file often preferred ritual performance to collective bargaining. After the brutal failures of the 1886 Haymarket riot, the 1892 Homestead Steal Strike and the 1894 Pullman strike, the Knight of Labor membership dropped dramatically, and by 1900, it was nearly extinct. Its demands for an eight hour work day, the end of child labor and equal pay for equal work became the cornerstones of the 20th century labor movement. (American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities, Mark A. Tabbert (National Heritage Museum, New York University Press, NY, 2005)
Thus, the importance of Freemasonry to organized labor cannot be underestimated: The various fraternal Lodges provided the training ground for many of the men who would go on to form and lead labor unions and build the labor movement in the United States.
Ordo ob Chao –
Westward Expansion and the Civilizing of the West
Renowned mining historian Duane A. Smith succinctly described the Westward progress and impact of fraternalism, particularly as it related to friendly societies, across the United States during the second half of the 19th Century:
In their own way, the fraternal lodges promoted law, civil government, and the betterment of the community. Not only did they provide a forum for men to meet and discuss local affairs, but a vehicle for civic action and for individual improvement. The lodges had come West with the first rush to the gold fields, and the individual members came from all over the country. Before long, a few brothers became acquainted and met together to establish ties with the national organization and open their own chapter. While many different lodges appeared in the camps, the most popular were the Masons, Odd Fellows, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Knights of Pythias. At least one of these four would be organized in the community, and probably members of all these and others were scattered throughout the district.
The motives for organizing and the functions served varied considerably. They certainly provided a continuity and a sense of belonging for the members, as they drifted throughout the mining West from camp to camp and year to year. Each lodge provided social activities for its members, such as dances, parties, and dinners. They offered association with men of similar cultural backgrounds and perhaps political affiliations - a key to an unknown community. More than this, they were benevolent and even beneficiary organizations, aiding less fortunate members and their families. Lodge cemeteries were organized and maintained for the brotherhood to find a last resting place. Special life insurance policies for members were another inducement to join. In the Ancient Order of United Workmen, for example, each man upon joining received a beneficiary policy of $2,000, which cost on the average $16 per year. The dangerous work engaged in by a large proportion of the population made it almost mandatory for the family man to provide some aid for his wife and children in case an accident should befall him. In that day of fly-by-night insurance companies and high rates by respectable firms, the fraternal society provided a good substitute. Here one could count on his brothers to fulfill the obligations of the association, not some unknown stranger. Where else could the minor and merchant secure social and benevolent benefits for so little money?
In addition to these activities, the lodges made a contribution in the cultural field by sponsoring lectures and shows open to all. The importance of fraternal organizations in the community cannot be understressed. They provided charitable work (rivaling the church in this respect), represented an element of cohesion, permanence and social control, and influenced social, political, and cultural development. The private and semiexclusive nature of the clubs even aggrandized the social aspirations of society. With all considered, the lodges had a comparatively greater impact on the community and were more popular than they have been since. Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: The Urban Frontier, Duane A. Smith, pp. 189-190 (Boulder CO: University Press of Colorado, 1992)
Fraternal organizations helped lay the infra-structure necessary to successfully organize labor: In their Lodges, members learned leadership, procedures, and techniques that would ultimately be successfully transposed and applied to organizing labor.
Aiding in the westward progress was the expansion of the rail system in America. The railroad fraternities, or unions that were organized before and after the Civil War, have been identified as having been especially influenced by Freemasonry. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was founded in 1863 as a secret, fraternal, mutual benefit labor organization. It became the model for other railroad fraternities: Order of Railway Conducters, founded in 1868; the Brotherhoods of Railway Locomotive Firemen, 1873; Railway Carmen of America, 1890; and by the Switchmen’s Union of North America, 1894. According to historian Albert C. Stephens, The Cyclopedia of Fraternities, pp 381-382 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., 1899):
The reasons which induced the founders of the Locomotive Engineers’ Brotherhood to adopt the secret society system for attaining their ends are not made public by their successors, but when the Brotherhood was organized, there were only a few widespread secret fraternities in the country compared with the number now in existence. The more conspicuous of those which crossed State lines at the outbreak of the war were the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Improved Order of Red Men, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Ancient Order of Druids, the Senior and Junior Orders of United American Mechanics; Patriotic Order, Sons of America; the Rechabites, Good Templars, Sons of Temperance, and the older Greek-letter fraternities scattered through leading colleges. …There is very little likelihood that the engineers framed a ritual and ceremonial and adopted signs of recognition, passwords, and the like, similar to the "work" of the college fraternities, the temperance societies, the patriotic organizations, the Druids, or the Hibernians. Nearly all of these directly or otherwise drew their plans on Masonic models, which, in view of the visible evidences of the symbolism and general organization of the Brotherhood, leads to the conclusion that its founders, or some of their successors among its leaders, were affiliates with the mother of nearly all modern secret societies of good repute.
As to the Railroad Carmen of America, Stephens stated: "Among the founders were several Knights of Labor and one Odd Fellow, but the ritual of the Brotherhood suggests the Masonic influence which dominated those who prepared rituals for the societies after which this was modeled. Id. at 383. The RCA’s motto is "Friendship, Unity, and True Brotherly Love." Id.
Key labor leaders were clearly the beneficiaries of Masonic influence. The Knights of Labor’s founders possessed Masonic and other fraternal connections with various mutual aid societies which had arisen in imitation of Masonry. "Uriah S. Stephens was initiated an Entered Apprentice Mason in Kensington Lodge No. 211 in Philadelphia on December 9, 1864; passed to the Degree of Fellowcraft on February 25, 1865; and raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on March 24, 1865. He was also a member of Keystone Lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias, and Fidelity Lodge No. 138, Independent Order of Odd Fellows." Scottish Rite Journal, August 1999, "Freemasons and the Knights of Labor", Rev. Robert L. Uzzel. Stephens established the Knights of Labor "…in 1869 as an oath-bound secret society with a ritual which borrowed heavily from Masonry, the Knights removed most of their secret elements in 1882, only to restore them in 1895." Id.
Other founding members of the Knights of Labor likewise had strong connections with Freemasonry and various mutual aid societies: "Cofounders Roberrt Keen and Robert Macauley belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic and the Knights of Pythias, respectively. Charles Litchman, who served as Grand/General Secretary from 1878-1881, and from 1886 to 1887 belonged the Pythians, the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Royal Arcanum, and the Order of the Golden Cross. Beyond Labor’s Veil: The Culture of the Knights of Labor, Robert E Weir, 22 (Penn State University Press, University Park PA, 1996)
Terence Powderley was initiated into the Knights of Labor at Philadelphia on September 6, 1876. He rose rapidly within the order, being elected Grand Master Workman in 1879 and holding that office until 1893. Scottish Rite Journal, August 1999, "Freemasons and the Knights of Labor", Rev. Robert L. Uzzel. Powderly himself took membership in the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Irish Land League." Beyond Labor’s Veil: The Culture of the Knights of Labor, Robert E Weir, 22 (Penn State University Press, University Park PA, 1996) Terence Powderley became a Mason on October 2, 1901, initiated as an Entered Apprentice in Osiris Lodge No. 26, Washington, D.C., and subsequently took all of the degrees in the York and Scottish Rites of Freemasonry except the 33rd Degree. The Path I Trod, Terence Powderley (Columbia University Press, NY, 1968 ed.) He said,
I recalled every incident connected with my work in the Machinists and Blacksmiths International Union, the Industrial Brotherhood, and the Knights of Labor wherein the question of church authority had been raised, and this came to my mind. While I was General Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, I made it a practice to get to the scene of dispute as quietly as possible. My aim was to reach there before trouble started, before either side, employer or employed, got a chip on the shoulder, for I realized that there was, and I think always will be, a knocker for every chip. I managed, whenever I could, to get to town before the time set so that I could look the field over without the aid of committee or brass band. On walking about, I usually selected some man wearing a Masonic emblem as a person to make inquiry of. That day, holding the petition for the Knights of Columbus in my hand, I recalled the fact that never once was I misled or misinformed as to local conditions by a man who wore the Masonic emblem. If that man was not a party to either side of the contention or dispute, he invariably gave me a candid, truthful account of the trouble. Often I had said to myself: "That organization must be based on sound principles to attract such men to it." I never filled out the application of the Knights of Columbus. Id.
As the power of the Knights of Labor declined in the wake of the Haymarket riot, the Homestead Steal Strike and the Pullman strike, the American Federation of Labor rose to the top under the leadership of Samuel Gompers. Gompers received the degrees of Masonry in Dawson Lodge No. 16 in 1904 and the Scottish Rite degrees in the Albert Pike Consistory. In his autobiography, Samuel Gompers had this to say of Masonry: "…in my Masonic life I have visited Lodges in many lands, and I have learned that Freemasonry in many countries …is the principal means whereby freedome of conscience, of thought, and expression is preserved." Gompers had been President of the United Cigar Markers Local No. 144, gone on to be elected Chairman of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1882, a position which he held until 1886 when the title the American Federation of Labor was adopted. He served as President of the A.F. of L. for 27 years (except for 1895) until his death in 1924.
As seen in the foregoing survey of the progress of fraternal organizations across country, fraternal organizations preceded the founding of the first labor union in Marin. Marin Lodge No. 191, F & AM was founded in 1868; Marin Lodge No. 200, IOOF, was founded in 1872. The first Marin County labor union, the Carpenters, followed the institution of the Masonic Lodge and Odd Fellows Lodge when the Carpenters was founded in 1875. Thereafter two more fraternal organizations were organized, the Ancient Order of United Workmen was founded in 1878, followed by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 3, in the 1870’s and the Knights of Pythias in 1881. A wave or labor organization then followed.
Brotherhood, Ritual and Symbols Forge Cohesiveness
It would be easy to assume that wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment were and have always been the common ground on which labor came together. Focusing completely upon these three common interests of working people, fails to recognize the importance of another aspects of Freemasonry imitated by early unions. In a great measure, the internal strength of these unions was the fraternal aspect borrowed from Freemasonry and the friendly societies. The unions were brotherhoods that utilized formal rituals together with rules that both served to bond workingmen together. "Social affairs were a convivial phase of union activity. They came as welcome relief from the monotony of work. Balls, picnics, and excursions served not only to cement bonds of fraternalism but also to increase membership among workers not already in the fold." American Labor, M.B. Schnapper, p 240 (Public Affairs Press, Washington, D.C., 1972).
During the period following the Civil War,
great changes were made in labor organizations. Many of the old unions were reorganized, and numerous local amalgamations took place. Most of the organizations now took the form of secret societies whose initiations were marked with naive formalism and whose routines were directed by a group of officers with royal titles and fortified by signs, passwords, and ritual. Some of these orders decorated the faithful with high-sounding degrees. The societies adopted fantastic names such as "The Supreme Mechanical Order of the Sun," "The Knights of St. Crispin," and "The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor," of which more presently.
… … …
One of the typical organizations of the time was the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, so named after the patron saint of the shoemakers, and accessible only to members of that craft. It was first conceived in 1864 by Newell Daniels, a shoemaker in Milford, Massachusetts, but no organization was effected until
1867, when the founder had moved to Milwaukee. The ritual and constitution he had prepared was accepted then by a group of seven shoemakers, and in four years this insignificant mustard seed had grown into a great tree. The story is told by Frank K. Foster, [footnote omitted] who says, speaking of the order in 1868: "It made and unmade politicians; it established a monthly journal; it started cooperative stores; it fought, often successfully, against threatened reductions of wages...; it became the undoubted foremost trade organization of the world." But within five years the order was rent by factionalism and in 1878 was acknowledged to be dead.
The Armies of Labor: A Chronicle of the Organized Wage-Earners, Samuel Peter Orth, pp 72, 74-75 (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1920).
The terminology adopted by the early Unions to describe their lodges is familiar to fraternalists familiar with the rites of Freemasonry, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, etc. Examining the Knights of Labor, with some change of terminology, the ritual of the Order would sound very similar to members of other fraternal orders. The lodge room or assembly hall was known as the "Sanctuary" and the entrance door was known as the "Veil." The officers included the Master Workman, the Worthy Foreman, the Worthy Inspector, the Venerable Sage, the Unknown Knight, the Inside Esquire, and Outside Esquire. (See, Adelphon Kruptos: The Secret Ritual of the Knights of Labor, Ezra Cook, 1886)
The Machinists and Blacksmiths Union demonstrates many of these same quasi-Masonic features in terms of the form of the Lodge; excluding non-members from the Lodge; roles of officers, including a conductor of candidates; lectures stressing the nature of brotherhood and benefits of mutual aid and assistance; secret signs and passwords; and fixed rates of monetary relief, including increases for dependants, including spouse, children, and parents. The president charged the candidate for initiation that:
Ours is a Mutual Benefit Society in the fullest sense; by joint effort we strengthen each other and advance our cause. We combine to relieve, to counsel, and protect each other. Like the strands of a cable, individually weak, while separated we are easily broken or turned aside in our purpose, but when combined in one common bond of brotherhood, each supports and strengthens his neighbor, and exerts a tenfold power not to be obtained by individual and divided effort. The objects which we claim the particular attention of our association are these: A more general diffusion of the principles of the mechanic arts on which our trades are based; the elevation of the standard of intelligence among our brethren, thereby insuring them a greater proficiency in every branch of our profession; to aid each other in obtaining employment; to afford protection to each and all of our brethren, against the encroachments of unprincipled employers, who may seek to deprive us of our rights and privileges as men and citizens of a free community; and to secure as far as possible, a fair remunerative compensation for labor performed. You are expected in your intercourse with the world, and especially with the members of our organization, to set a manly and consistent example, to give your attention to these objects as set forth before you, and earnestly exert every influence that shall raise the dignity of our callings, and that shall reduce the hours of labor to the limit most conducive to health, and afford opportunity for mental improvement. Ritual of the Machinists and Blacksmiths Union (Ezra Cook, Chicago, IL, 1876)
The new initiate in the Machinists and Blacksmiths Union was obligated to:
…[f]aithfully and fraternally aid and protect the interests of all worthy brothers of this organization; that I will appraise them of approaching danger, whether from their own imprudence or evil designs of others, so far as lies in my power; and that I will, on proper and suitable occasions, extend to them and their families by brotherly attention and care, neither wronging them myself nor permitting others to wrong them if within my power to prevent the same…. (Ritual of the Machinists and Blacksmiths Union (Ezra Cook, Chicago, IL, 1876)
The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen of America, organized in 1901, followed the fraternal model: Their lodge room was laid out very similar to an Odd Fellows or Knights of Pythias Lodge; non-members were barred from the deliberations of the Lodge by inside and outside guards called Semaphores; the conductor, termed the Lever, assured the Lodge that the candidate came of his "own free will and accord;" gavel raps were used to raise and seat officers or the whole Lodge; candidates obligated themselves to, inter alia, "That I will always be considerate to the widows and orphans….and that I will always be an earnest advocate to create an active interest in each other’s welfare. And …will always extend my right hand to aid a brother, and that I will defend his interests…."; the candidates were charged by the Lodge’s Chief Signalman, that, "[I]t should be a source of gratification that in your rough and rugged path through life you will ever find cheering words and encouraging smiles to aid you onward and upward toward that goal we are all rapidly approaching and when life’s fitful dream is o’er, and your spirit in a single moment passes hence to that great beyond, the sympathetic tears from the eyes of those strangers to you in physical form, yet brothers in the sacred rites of our Order, will become a pleasant assurance that, although dead, you will live in the hearts of your brethren."; and included a burial service for deceased members which included reference to the "veil of fraternity." (Ritual of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen of America (1931).)
While some historians have suggested that quasi-Masonic fraternalism waned in the United States during the early decades of the twentieth century, at lease one new and successful union, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, was adopting such rituals and continued to work them through the 1930’s:
The STFU’s first degree, the Degree of Duty, involved a test of endurance and courage, with a candidate sitting on a tin seat under which a lit kerosene lamp was placed. To pass this degree a candidate needed to show the nerve to protest and stand up and object when the seat became too hot. Although this ritual could involve some ‘good natured laughter’, it clearly celebrated independent action in the face of personal difficulty. Candidates and witnesses were reminded that protest was a Union duty. For the second degree, a candidate was escorted around a meeting room by the local Conductor ‘in an inspection of the local’ to ‘learn things’ that the Union claimed would be of value to a member as long as he or she lived. On a symbolic journey a candidate was brought face to face with adverse situations in which a planter attempted to deceive him. Candidates were shown how using a distress call in fearful circumstances would prompt the immediate assistance of their fellows, thus fostering group identity. Spatial passage during the ritual marked a change in the candidate's social position; each stage of his travels brought him or her to a deeper understanding of the Union’s truths. Through these experiences the candidate was transformed. The third degree was a small play in which a candidate played the role of a hungry and tired STFU member who received assistance from other members after asking ‘What is the time?’, thereby signaling his membership of the Union. This degree sought to impress on members the duty they owed each other as well as the Christian principle that ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ 40 The performance of these degrees not only integrated outsiders into the Union, they also reminded those witnesses who were already members that they belonged to a special and sacred organization. The degrees taught ‘lessons in Unionism to new members and old’ 41 ; their performance bolstered members’ commitment, engendered community spirit, and aroused enthusiasm. 42 Candidates were empowered through their participation and transformation. Through joint participation, members re-affirmed their allegiance to the STFU and to each other.
(Australasian Journal Of American Studies, "Rituals and Secrecy in the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union,"Gregory John Hall, p 6.)
Even the symbolism which had developed as Masonry was transformed into a speculative science, was to a high degree incorporated into fledgling modern labor unions. Labor historian, Dr. Bob James, identified in the divergence of trade unions from their antecedents in friendly societies and Freemasonry post-1700, the use of four major visual elements that link the divergent strands:
the Eye of Providence; other representations of 'God', including the 'Light on the Hill'; the Temple form, including the triangular canopy or over arch, and 'Greek' columns; and the paraphernalia of lodge. By this last, I mean the regalia, ritual, both public and private, certain highly significant administrative practices, and a large number of other symbols, usually associated with the Bible's Old Testament – e.g., the bundle of sticks, the Ark, beehive, cornucopia, iconic female figures, mirror, hour-glass, skull & crossbones, etc, etc.
While the symbols may appear to have been arbitrarily adopted and modified at certain times, the underlying belief system has been genuine and remarkably consistent. The evidence indicates a very long-standing and a very deep-seated cultural stream based on the dignity of work, a generalized and hierarchical Christianity and what we now understand as fraternalism, group solidarity and democratic practice.
These thoughts strengthen the further conclusion that the 'secret' knowledge was deliberately psychically-charged. The lodge journey from darkness into light, from ignorance to self-knowledge, was an individual's rite of passage, and links the 'misteries', through what is called the Hermetic tradition, with contemporary psychology. At the same time, it has to be said, the organizational processes generated 'in lodge' to convey the information developed in such a way as to make the information less and less accessible even by lodge members.
The extent to which 'the labour movement' has embraced scientific rationalism and materialist agendas is a further measure of its loss of self-awareness, individually and collectively, and a pointer to its difficulties with change and adaptation.
(See, Secret Societies and the Labour Movement, by Bob James, a pamphlet produced by Bob James for the 6th Biennial Conference of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, which was held 1-4 October 1999 in Wollongong.)
Some unions have moved away from the quasi-Masonic form, or were formed later in the twentieth century and never adopted such a form.
The initiation ceremony and the oath of allegiance, the secret signs, codes and handshake have also been set aside and form nothing more than a memory amongst our older members.
When trade unions were illegal organizations there was always going to be need to make certain that the new recruit was a genuine believer in trade unionism and not a government spy! In many early unions, therefore it was sensible to have some sort of procedure for swearing allegiance. The early sheet-metal worker swore over a skull that he would not betray the union! ….
However the concept of making to joining process a significant act continued. (Peter Carter, "Strike the Nails with your Fist!")
Other unions clearly have retained their traditional rituals. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers current ritual evidences its origins rooted in the Masonic and/or mutual aid society model. These include, excluding non-members from the Lodge’s meetings; officers including sentinel and conductor; obligating members; secret signs (sign of courtesy); reciprocal, binding duties between member and Lodge; and having a non-denominational funeral service for members that extols faith, hope, and charity.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America has retained much of its ritual, which includes, exclusion of non-members from the Lodge’s meetings; a password (changed quarterly) to gain admission; a warden securing the door to the Lodge to insure privacy; an emphasis on reciprocal rights and benefits and duties between member and lodge, brother/sister and brother/sister; that members must pledge that they come of "my own free will and accord;" and that they are received by "the hand of fellowship."
Unions have benefited from Freemasonry’s example, and key labor leaders have been influenced by the fraternity’s principals. Unions have fulfilled the need of working people to render mutual aid to make the workplace safer, reduce hours, secure fair wages for work, and to level a playing field that was always stacked against them.
History of Labor Unions in Marin County
Railways and Railroad Fraternities
Other Marin County Labor Unions
Examples of Public Activities and Festivities of Organized Labor in Marin
Labor Day - Origins and Early History of the Peoples’ Holiday
Labor Day Activities in Marin County
© Copyright.
All rights reserved. No portion of this page may be reprinted or otherwise duplicated
without express written permission from the respective authors.
___________