About the Womens Trade Union League (WTUL)

The Womens Trade Union League (WTUL), nearly forgotten in much of the mainstream, feminist, and labor history written in the mid-20th century, was a key institution in reforming womens working conditions in the early 20th century. The WTUL not only played a pivotal role in organizing the garment workers and textile workers, but in fighting for protective labor legislation for women and better factory working conditions for all. The WTUL also served as a community of support for women working within the labor movement, where they were often unwelcome and barely tolerated by the male national and local officers. The women formed friendships, often across class lines, as working-class immigrant women and wealthier, educated women worked together for both union victories and legislative reforms. Many of the twentieth centurys best-known women reformers were connected in some way with the WTUL: Jane Addams, Mary McDowell, Lillian Wald, and Eleanor Roosevelt among them. WTUL Beginnings A 1902 boycott in New York, where women, mostly housewives, boycotted kosher butchers over the price of kosher beef, caught the attention of William English Walling. Walling, a wealthy Kentucky native living at the University Settlement in New York, thought of a British organization he knew a bit about: the Womens Trade Union League. He went to England to study this organization to see how it might translate to America. This British group had been founded in 1873 by Emma Ann Patterson, a suffrage worker who was also interested in issues of labor. She had been, in her turn, inspired by stories of American womens unions, specifically the New York Parasol and Umbrella Makers Union and the Womens Typographical Union. Walling studied the group as it had evolved by 1902-03 into an effective organization that brought together middle-class and wealthy women with working-class women to fight for improved working conditions by supporting union organizing. Walling returned to America and, with Mary Kenney OSullivan, laid the groundwork for a similar American organization. In 1903, OSullivan announced the formation of the Womens National Trade Union League, at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor. In November, the founding meeting in Boston included the citys settlement house workers and AFL representatives. A slightly larger meeting, November 19, 1903, included labor delegates, all but one of whom were men, representatives from the Womens Educational and Industrial Union, who were mostly women, and settlement house workers, mostly women. Mary Morton Kehew was elected the first president, Jane Addams the first vice-president, and Mary Kenney OSullivan the first secretary. Other members of the first executive board included Mary Freitas, a Lowell, Massachusetts, textile mill worker; Ellen Lindstrom, a Chicago union organizer; Mary McDowell, a Chicago settlement house worker and experienced union organizer; Leonora OReilly, a New York settlement house worker who was also a garment union organizer; and Lillian Wald, settlement house worker and organizer of several womens unions in New York City. Local branches were quickly established in Boston, Chicago, and New York, with support from settlement houses in those cities. From the beginning, membership was defined as including women trade unionists, who were to be the majority according to the organizations by-laws, and earnest sympathizers and workers for the cause of trade unionism, who came to be referred to as allies. The intention was that the balance of power and decision-making would always rest with the trade unionists. The organization helped women start unions in many industries and many cities, and also provided relief, publicity, and general assistance for womens unions on strike. In 1904 and 1905, the organization supported strikes in Chicago, Troy, and Fall River. From 1906-1922, the presidency was held by Margaret Dreier Robins, a well-educated reform activist, married in 1905 to Raymond Robins, head of the Northwestern University Settlement in Chicago. In 1907, the organization changed its name to the National Womens Trade Union League (WTUL). WTUL Comes of Age In 1909-1910, the WTUL took a leading role in supporting the Shirtwaist Strike, raising money for relief funds and bail, reviving an ILGWU local, organizing mass meetings and marches, and providing pickets and publicity. Helen Marot, executive secretary of the New York WTUL branch, was the chief leader and organizer of this strike for the WTUL. William English Walling, Mary Dreier, Helen Marot, Mary E. McDowell, Leonora OReilly, and Lillian D. Wald were among the founders in 1909 of the NAACP, and this new organization helped support the Shirtwaist Strike by thwarting an effort of the managers to bring in black strikebreakers. The WTUL continued to expand support of organizing campaigns, investigating working conditions, and aiding women strikers in Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. From 1909 on, the League also worked for the 8-hour day and for minimum wages for women through legislation. The latter of those battles was won in 14 states between 1913 and 1923; the victory was seen by the AFL as a threat to collective bargaining. In 1912, after the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, the WTUL was active in the investigation and in promoting legislative changes to prevent future tragedies such as this one. That same year, in the Lawrence Strike by the IWW, the WTUL provided relief to strikers (soup kitchens, financial help) until the United Textile Workers pushed them out of the relief efforts, denying assistance to any strikers who refused to return to work. The WTUL/AFL relationship, always a bit uncomfortable, was further strained by this event, but the WTUL chose to continue to ally itself with the AFL. In the Chicago garment strike, the WTUL had helped to support the women strikers, working with the Chicago Federation of Labor. But the United Garment Workers suddenly called off the strike without consulting these allies, leading to the founding of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers by Sidney Hillman, and a continuing close relationship between the ACW and the League. In 1915, the Chicago Leagues started a school to train women as labor leaders and organizers. In that decade, too, the league began to work actively for woman suffrage, working with the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The League, seeing woman suffrage as a route to gain protective labor legislation benefiting women workers, founded the Wage-Earners League for Woman Suffrage, and WTUL activist, IGLWU organizer and former Triangle Shirtwaist worker Pauline Newman was especially involved in these efforts, as was Rose Schneiderman. It was during these pro-suffrage efforts in 1912, that the phrase Bread and Roses came into use to symbolize the dual goals of reform efforts: basic economic rights and security, but also dignity and hope for a good life. WTUL World War I - 1950 During World War I, the employment of women in the U.S. increased to nearly ten million. The WTUL worked with the Women in Industry Division of the Department of Labor to improve working conditions for women, in order to promote more female employment. After the war, returning vets displaced women in many of the jobs theyd filled. AFL unions often moved to exclude women from the workplace and from unions, another strain in the AFL/WTUL alliance. In the 1920s, the League began summer schools to train organizers and women workers at Bryn Mawr College, Barnard College, and Vineyard Shore. Fannia Cohn, involved in the WTUL since she took a labor education class with the organization in 1914, became Director of the ILGWU Educational Department, beginning decades of service to working womens needs and decades of struggling within the union for understanding and support of womens needs. Rose Schneiderman became president of the WTUL in 1926, and served in that role until 1950. During the Depression, the AFL emphasized employment for men. Twenty-four states enacted legislation to prevent married women from working in public service, and in 1932, the federal government required one spouse to resign if both worked for the government. Private industry was no better: for instance, in 1931, New England Telephone and Telegraph and Northern Pacific laid off all women workers. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president, the new first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, a long-time WTUL member and fund-raiser, used her friendship and connections with the WTUL leaders to bring many of them into active support of New Deal Programs. Rose Schneiderman became a friend and frequent associate of the Roosevelts, and helped advise on major legislation like Social Security and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The WTUL continued its uneasy association mainly with the AFL, ignored the new industrial unions in the CIO, and focused more on legislation and investigation in its later years. The organization dissolved in 1950. Text  Ã‚ © Jone Johnson Lewis WTUL - Research Resources Sources consulted for this series include: Bernikow, Louise. The American Womens Almanac: An Inspiring and Irreverent Womens History. 1997. ( compare prices) Cullen-Dupont, Kathryn. The Encyclopedia of Womens History in America. 1996. 1996. (compare prices) Eisner, Benita, editor. The Lowell Offering: Writings by New England Mill Women (1840-1845). 1997. ( compare prices ) Flexner, Eleanor. Century of Struggle: the Womens Rights Movement in the United States. 1959, 1976. ( compare prices) Foner, Philip S. Women and the American Labor Movement: From Colonial Times to the Eve of World War I. 1979. ( compare prices) Orleck, Annelise. Common Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working-Class Politics in the United States, 1900-1965. 1995. ( compare prices) Schneider, Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider. The ABC-CLIO Companion to Women in the Workplace. 1993. ( compare prices)

The White Sox Of The World - 1628 Words

Money seems to run the world. People need money to buy food, buy shelter, and support families. There are many ways to make money in order to survive, which most commonly involve working a full time job, but also include illegal means and gambling. Gambling seems to be an easy way to make money, but also a high risk†¦ but not if the game is fixed. Despite the lack of prevalent hard evidence proving they fixed the game, the eight White Sox players involved in the 1919 World Series bribery scandal were rightfully banned. The eight White Sox players attended meetings about the bribery and accepted and agreed to the bribe. When the White Sox first basemen, C. Arnold â€Å"Chick† Gandil, met with a gambler, the idea of throwing the 1919 World Series†¦show more content†¦Soon after, Cicotte decided to testify and confessed his involvement in the bribery of the 1919 World Series. Shortly following his testimony and confession, the other seven players involved began to c ome forward confessing. The players coasted through their trial in 1921 after all paper records of the player confessions vanished and they were acquitted of all charges. Only a day after their acquittal, recently appointed MLB commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all eight players from professional baseball for life. The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds was expected to be a blowout in favor of the White Sox. After the Reds emerged victorious, a bribery scandal spread leading to the banning of all eight White Sox players involved. In today’s world a scandal of this sort seems completely unlikely regarding the amount of money professional baseball players earn now. But in 1919 the highest paid baseball player was Ty Cobb earning only $20,000 (Haupert). In addition, the White Sox were owned by Charles A. Comiskey, a nineteenth-century ballplayer known for paying his players as little as possible(Milner). Many professional baseb all players of that time only played part time as they had other jobs. They could not support their families with the salary they earned playing baseball. This is what led to players accepting the bribe and agreeing to

Intercultural Competence Free Essays

10th May 2011, London: Following several incidents involving the police and members of the public of different cultures, religions and beliefs the country has decided to educate the police force and publish a handbook that is designed to give officers a better understanding of the needs and expectations of the people in the area. This handbook will relate to everyone from asylum seekers and ethnic minorities to travelers, homosexuals and people with disabilities. The councils Head Officer in Diversity issues said, â€Å"It is crucial that the police in Britain understand and are aware of the different cultures involved in the community that they serve in order to improve the service and trust for the people we are protecting†. We will write a custom essay sample on Intercultural Competence or any similar topic only for you Order Now One incident that caused a lot of media attention to the way that the British police force handles multicultural and diverse members of the public occurred last year in Essex County when a Muslim woman was arrested and the police officer proceeded to search her for concealed weapons. For Muslim women this is very disrespectful to be searched by a man, who later requested that she remove her headscarf so that he could see her properly. It is incidents like this that are completely cruel to someone with different beliefs than the police officer. After the media had heard about the way this individual was mistreated the police officer involved said, â€Å"I had no idea that I was disrespecting her religion or her beliefs and I would have never acted in that manner if I was aware of the vast differences†. This is why the need for a handbook and more cultural education for the police is necessary to run a more effective police service. Another incident that backs up this handbook was the documentary filmed by the BBC called ‘The Secret Policeman’ (2003) which investigated the police force in Manchester and the large amount of racism displayed during the show, typically referring to Muslim and Middle-Eastern members of the public as ‘Pakis’. The documentary shows another side of the police that Britain was not aware of, and a particular Junior Officer said a shocking statement, â€Å"A dog born in a barn is still a dog. A Paki born in England is still a F****** Paki†. The documentary caused an uproar and the police were forced to take action as the public was no longer comfortable being monitored by such people. The journalist responsible for covering the story; Mark Daly personally went undercover in the Manchester police force and recorded racist behavior with hidden cameras. Five years later (2008), Daly went back to the police and collected surveys from multicultural members of the force to see if the racism issue had improved, what he discovered yet again was severely disappointing, â€Å"this person in particular says he is treated as a slave purely because he is Black†. Other issues came up such as never being promoted based on race, being treated worse than in the 60’s, and that more than 72% of all police officers in Britain had experienced racism at work. The Secret Policeman’ had hours of disgraceful police behavior recorded and really caused the public to be aware of who they are being served by, leading to a huge loss of trust and respect for the entire police force in Britain. This alone was a potentially dangerous situation for the crime rate in the UK. Not only were the police in the UK acting in a racist manner towards members of the public but also towards other police officers. According to the documentary, each police department in the UK has a required percentage of ethnic minorities that should be involved in the force, however this percentage was not met by any of the police departments. Another survey shows that 50% of Ethnic Minorities that join the police force last less than 6 months, compared to 85% of white officers. The racism occurring amongst the police force members was shown to be very severe and involved extreme racist references to the Ku Klux Klan. This type of discrimination towards anyone is truly unacceptable and only proves how much the police truly require some further training in respecting, understanding and dealing with cultural differences. The entire country could benefit from a handbook on intercultural sensitivity, as it would create a much better environment for every community in Britain. The BBC documentary ‘The Secret Policeman’ (2003) explores racism in the police force, however there is still a large amount of racism amongst the general public. This was proven from another documentary also conducted by the BBC ‘Racism in Multicultural Britain’ (2009) where a Middle-Eastern couple went undercover in a housing estate in Bristol. They were targeted by the youth of the estate and were constantly discriminated against for being Muslim and an ethnic minority in the community. They were not only verbally abused but also physically from having rocks and punches thrown at them for no good reason but being different. As the United Kingdom continues to attract immigrants due to the better opportunities for education and employment the police force needs to adapt. This handbook hopefully symbolizes the acknowledgement for this change and will lead to the entire country becoming more interculturally competent. As more and more people in and outside Britain become aware of the racist issues in the country there will be more action taken to help communities accept and respect other ethnic groups. In the future, discrimination should be eradicated and no longer accepted in British culture. References: ‘The Secret Police man’ (2003, October 24). Racism In U K Police Force. YouTube . Retrieved May 14, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_GWy82olhwfeature=related ‘Racism in Multicultural Britain’. (2009, October 21). Racism in Multicultural Britain. YouTube. Retrieved May 14, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8e6lS7T9yI How to cite Intercultural Competence, Papers

World Com free essay sample

WorldCom focused on shareholder value through stock appreciation (not profits or dividends) and the shareholders were highly valued. WorldCom employees performance evaluations werealmost entirely based on right results. (jobsite . com) They created an environment and had the departments and individuals competing with each other. Employees and divisions were constantly under pressure to deliver the required results, at times at each others expense. Since a persons job was at risk if he didnt deliver, there was often the temptation to lie and deceive in order to meet the requirements and stay employed. Since all of this flowed down from, and then bubbled back up to the very top of the company to the executives who had set expectations with investors, the same temptations and the same behaviors existed at all levels within the company. Each department within the company had firm financial goals to meet. Whenever possible, individuals had specific financial goals. We will write a custom essay sample on World Com or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This behavior created a culture of selfishness, greed, and results at all costs. In the end, it bred lies and deception. This culture resulted in the massive accounting fraud that has been uncovered. Sarno) At the very top of the company you had some executives where pride came into play. These guys were used to winning, they were used to being praised on Wall Street, and didnt want the company to fail on their watch. With some of the midlevel managers, youll read that they became complicit because of pressure from superiors, and they were afraid of losing their jobs and having no way to support their families. (Wnd. com) I think a misguided loyalty was also another reason that people became complicit with this fraud. (Interview) Conclusion The Mission statement of WorldCom should be defined as creating value to their shareholders because this is what they seemed to do very well and at all cost. The WorldCom disaster is not only about greed but the corporate culture that fostered dependent workers low self esteem, who could not exercise free will and who performed for external rewards. Corporate fraud is the results of how a corporation is managed and how the employees value the work they do and their jobs. Ethics training wouldnt work in this corporation because of the environment. The employees were focusing on monetary values and ethics went out the window. It took a lot of strength for Cynthia Cooper to stand up against such a large corporation and blow the whistle on fraudulent accounting practices. She should be admired and respected for doing the ethical and right thing. People should not view her as a snitch she should be viewed as a person that values honesty and integrity over their own personal wealth. She could have stayed at the company and continued to get a salary and never said a thing and the company still would have suffered financially and went bankrupt.