The School of Unionism
A young worker discovers the power of collective bargaining when he moves from a non-union shop to a city factory.
A country boy went into a country shoe factory to learn a part of shoemaking. After working there for a couple of years, during which time he had never heard the word 'union' mentioned, he went to a large city, attracted by reports that the workers there earned much larger wages. He went to work in a factory and, on taking out his first case, asked the employee next to him what price was paid for that work. He was informed that there was a price list on the wall of the factory which was an agreement between the manufacturer and the union. He found he was getting approximately 85 per cent more for the same class of work than he had received in the factory where he had learned his trade. In the factory where he was formerly employed, the wages were fixed arbitrarily by the employer. It was now borne in upon his mind that by acting together in combination, the workers had been able to negotiate a collective bargain for the sale of their labor.
“The trade union is a school for the toiler; it is the workingman's university.”
This 1911 piece illustrates the foundational argument for organized labor in Everett's early industrial economy. Today, while the manufacturing base has shifted, the debate over 'collective bargaining' vs 'arbitrary' wage setting remains central to debates about the gig economy and minimum wage in Washington.
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