Strikes

A detailed Summary of Strikes

The book Three Strikes reflects on three different labor strikes in the early 1900's. Three different authors have comprised this book to show the different ways that strikers have handled their struggles. One important lesson of labor history is that when workers get together they make a very powerful team to deal with. Another very important lesson in labor history is that strikes can make major companies crack or attack. When a company cracks, it gives in to the demands of the striker. When a company attacks, the company will physically get rid of the strikers or deliberately hurt them. This book gives stories on both of them and shows what happens at the end of the strike. There are many other ways that laborers have challenged corporations. Sit-downs were used in the Woolworth strike, and probably worked better than the conventional strike. The truth is many different kinds of strikes for different laborers have happened, but the reason for the strike is always the same. One thing that needs to be established to have a chance at winning a strike is a strong following from publicity. Another agent that helps in a strike is when you have some kind of political leader helping.

The coal miner's strike was one of the

The girl strikers of Woolworth had many things that they wanted in their strike. The reason they wanted them was because they were given nothing. Large corporations like Woolworth's took advantage of young girls. One of the reasons they hired women for the job was that it did not qualify as a skilled job. (Frank 70) This took away the possibility of them getting involved with the skilled laborers union. Woolworth's was a company that did everything to make a profit. Many of the worked long hours on their feet and caused them to have fallen arches. (Frank 72) The girls orchestrated a sit-down that worked wonderfully. Their demands were a raise, time and a half after a regular work week, and some other extra things. One important thing to recognize is the power that the girls had. First of all, Woolworth stores were considered a "menace to the community". (Frank 66) They were thought of this way because they were popping up all over the nation. This chain store was running little businesses under. People did not want to see a monopoly like this. The point of this is the strikers gained power from their public problems. Another public relations problem they had was Barbara Hutton who was the heiress to the founder of Woolworth's. The girl was very rich and spent money like crazy. She would spend money on her husbands and she reached an all time low when she gave up her US citizenship for a tax break. This woman was very bad publicity for the company. It also strengthened the strikers' power. Then the strikers took down another store and threatened them even more. They could not raid the store because this would also be bad publicity to see police pulling and shoving young women. So their choices were either wait them out or settle. The company decided to settle.

At the beginning of the last strike in the book, they talk about the pr

Some common words found in the essay are:
San Francisco, Barbara Hutton, Union Constitution, Sit-downs Woolworth, , Guard Lieutenant, Iron Company, LM Bowers, Lou Tikas, Mother Jones, labor history, woolworth strike, lesson labor history, major companies, happen people, lesson labor, strike laborers, girl strikers, coal miners, company decided, reason strike,

Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History