The Unseen Power of the Union Household
A labor organizer argues that the path to better wages and shorter hours starts at home, by educating the women who control the family's purchasing power.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
There is one phase of the trade union movement which is overlooked to a great extent which if properly studied and acted upon would be of inestimable benefit to the union cause. We refer to the organization of the women of the wage workers into auxiliary societies. Many women do not understand the relation of the trades union to the home through a lack of education along trade union lines. They know the provider has a certain daily wage, with which to clothe, feed and house those dependent upon him. They know in most cases it is pitifully small and inadequate, and they scrimp and save in their love and loyalty. That they themselves could help to hold up wages, shorten hours of labor, and thereby add to the comforts of the home, does not enter their minds. I have personally known of men who were out on strike, the winning of which meant a great deal, who were driven to scab by their wives who wailed and pleaded for them to accept any terms to get their jobs back. Many women, wives of union men in some instances, patronize non-union firms, or buy scab-made goods unthinkingly. The purchasing power is in their hands. Very few men buy the necessities of life. They earn the money and the women spend it. Merchants everywhere know this and cater to their trade and when the women demand that the union label must be on their purchases, the merchants know that they must handle those goods or go out of business.
“The purchasing power is in their hands. Very few men buy the necessities of life. They earn the money and the women spend it.”
This piece captures the critical role of the 'domestic sphere' in early 20th-century labor battles. It frames the housewife as a vital economic actor—a precursor to modern discussions about the power of ethical consumption and boycott movements in forcing corporate change.
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