A leader in employee rights Labor history is long and strong in Wisconsin

By Ken Germanson
Wisconsin Labor History Society

Wisconsin was in the vanguard of early union organizing. As early as 1865, Local 125 was formed in Milwaukee as part of the Molders Union, the nation’s first modern trade union.

Wisconsin history In 1634, the French explorer Jean Nicolet reportedly became the first European to visit Wisconsin, landing at Green Bay. The French ceded the area to Great Britain in 1763, and it became part of the United States in 1783. The area was part of various territories until creation of the Wisconsin Territory in 1836. On May 29, 1848, Wisconsin became the 30th state in the Union. Since statehood, the state has been a wheat farming area, a lumbering frontier, and – most recently – the preeminent dairy state. Tourism has grown in importance, and industry has concentrated in the eastern and southeastern part of the state. Politically, the state has in the past enjoyed a reputation for honest, efficient government. It is known as the birthplace of the Republican Party and as the home of Robert M. La Follette, Sr., founder of the progressive movement. From the Wisconsin Blue Book

Shoemakers in Milwaukee founded the Knights of St. Crispin in 1867 which quickly grew to 50,000 members, becoming the biggest union in the nation, until it died in 1873.

During the nationwide campaign for the eight-hour day in 1886, Milwaukee workers mounted perhaps the most all-encompassing effort of any community. Workers shut down most industrial plants during the first five days of May, and several thousand were marching toward the Bay View Rolling Mills (the city’s largest employer) when the state militia fired into the crowd, killing seven.

Coming one day after the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, the two events may have had the cumulative effect of stifling the eight-hour movement for several decades. But it did show, more importantly, the intensity of worker resolve.

Socialists and Progressives

Indeed, out of that tragic event came development of the Socialist movement in Milwaukee and the election of progressive leadership.

A 14-week city-wide strike in Oshkosh in 1898 by more than 2,000 workers in seven woodworking mills drew national attention when three unionists were arrested for “conspiracy.” This was a critical charge. If the arrests had been upheld, it would have opened the way for employers to undercut any effort at unionization as constituting a “conspiracy” against an employer’s property rights.

Famed attorney Clarence Darrow represented the unionists and won their acquittal after a two-day summation that has gone down in history as one of the greatest statements against worker slavery.

In 1887, Milwaukee’s Federated Trades Council was formed. The Wisconsin State Federation of Labor was formed with a convention in 1893 in Milwaukee. Its goals included abolition of child labor, workplace safety and health protections, the eight-hour day, workers’ compensation, an end of “company stores” and a requirement to pay wages in cash, not company scrip.

Workers’ compensation

The state passed the first workers’ compensation law in 1911 and unemployment compensation law in 1932. In 1937, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Act was passed, adding critical state support to the workers’ right to organize.

During the years of the Great Depression, Wisconsin workers joined unions in droves, making Wisconsin one of the most unionized of states on a percentage basis.

Wisconsin employers, however, resisted unionization. Allis-Chalmers used red-baiting tactics to resist the United Auto Workers during an 11-month strike in 1947; J.I. Case in Racine forced the UAW into a 14-month strike just after World War II to halt union security demands; and the Kohler Co. fought off unionization through two multi-year strikes, the second one lasting from 1954 to 1960.

Public employee unionism

A strong union tradition grew in Wisconsin and contributed to the growth in public employee unionism. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers was founded in 1936 in Madison.

Public workers gained true union rights in the late 1950s. In Milwaukee, AFSCME District Council 48 almost annually threatened garbage strikes at budget time, prompting city officials there and elsewhere to seek a state law supporting public sector collective bargaining and banning strikes.

The result was Section 111.70 of the State Statutes, which was given teeth in 1963. The law set up union election procedures, a “prohibited practice” process, and fact-finding, all of which gave public employees greater rights and helped to spur unionism.

Teachers’ unions

Teachers unions struggled for a while to find their place under the new law, needing in some cases to cast off their former leadership by principals and superintendents to become “unions” in fact, if not in name. In the 1960s, following passage of a collective bargaining law for teachers, WEAC evolved into a proactive teachers’ union. It was involved in many teacher strikes during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The 1974 Hortonville teachers’ strike, in which all 84 teachers were fired, led to passage in 1977 of the binding arbitration law for public employees. That law virtually ended public sector job actions.

That labor peace continued until 1993, when the Legislature wrote new rules for teachers. The so-called Qualified Economic Offer law effectively undercut teachers’ collective bargaining rights and spurred a new round of teacher labor unrest.

Teacher job actions

Although no full-blown teacher strikes have resulted, schools have been closed for short periods in Madison and Racine as the result of teachers calling in sick. In school districts throughout the state, teachers have conducted picketing and engaged in job actions such as limiting their work to the letter of the contract.

Meanwhile in the private sector, unions continued to thrive into the 1970s, and many reached peak memberships by the decade’s end.

The 1980s brought a different story as political, social and economic factors contributed to a decline in private sector union influence.

Though now representing a far lower percentage of the work force, the union movement during the 1990s has been looking to greater involvement in other coalitions, particularly those representing minority groups or the environmental movement. It has become more involved than ever in political and legislative activity.

Labor’s history tells us the struggle is a constant one – often in frustration, but always moving forward to build a better life for the workers of future generations.

Posted June 11, 1998