University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO History Faculty Publications Department of History 1996 Workers, Unions, and Historians on the Northern Plains William C. Pratt University of Nebraska at Omaha, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/histfacpub Part of the Other History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Pratt, William C., "Workers, Unions, and Historians on the Northern Plains" (1996). History Faculty Publications. 4. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/histfacpub/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WORKERS, UNIONS, AND HISTORIANS ON THE NORTHERN PLAINS WILLIAM C. PRA TT Labor history has corne of age over the past But labor history on the northern Plains is three decades. Today two national journals, a different matter. The basic state histories by Labor History and Labor's Heritage, focus on Elwyn B. Robinson (North Dakota), Herbert this subject in the United States, and many Schell (South Dakota) and James c. Olson others, including the Journal of American His­ (Nebraska) refer to a few labor topics in pass­ tory, publish articles in the field. In fact, much ing, and none of them mention any unions by of what is called new social history often treats name other than the Knights of Labor or the labor history topics, and many western histo­ Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).2 rians have had an extended interest in labor While these works were conceptualized over a history. Numerous recent examples, includ­ generation ago, more recent interpretive es­ ing the work of Carlos Schwantes, Michael says on northern Plains states reflect a similar Kazin, Vicki Ruiz, and others have been well neglect of the topic.3 received. l Relatively few people have researched la­ bor history in this region, and most historians have not paid it any attention. Yet by the 1990s there is a body of scholarship in print that treats facets of the history of organized labor in the Dakotas and Nebraska. This work William C. Pratt is professor of history at the University includes articles on the use of the militia in of Nebraska at Omaha (68182-0013) and a trustee of late nineteenth century Omaha labor disputes, the Nebraska State Historical Society. He recently published "Change, Continuity, and Context in the IWW in North Dakota and Nebraska, Nebraska History, 1940-1960," Nebraska History Teamster organizing efforts in the Dakotas, 77 (Spring 1996). and packinghouse strikes in Omaha and Sioux Falls.4 In addition, some graduate theses and dissertations have addressed labor topics, and a few popular accounts on labor union history [GPQ 16 (Fall 1996): 229-50] have been produced.s But when compared with 229 230 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1996 FIG. 1. Railroad strikers in McCook, Nebraska in 1922. Photograph by Ellingson Studio, McCook, Nebraska. Courtesy of Linda Hein, McCook, Nebraska. the Southwest or the Pacific Northwest, the Upheavals of 1877 and 1886, the Pullman northern Plains has lagged behind in the study Strike, and the 1922 Shopmen's Strike seem of labor history, and a great deal of work re­ appropriate. It is worth noting, however, that mains to be done.6 Perhaps it is time to make national and regional patterns often have lo­ an assessment of the research that has been cal variations or exceptions. Union Pacific completed and, more important, to suggest railroad workers in Omaha were able to avoid possible areas for new research. My focus is a wage cut in 1877 and thus did not go out on upon labor unions and labor-management re­ strike.9 The 1894 Pullman strike skipped this lations, and this essay examines topics related city as well. to those approaches that could be pursued in North Platte, Nebraska, has been a railroad the future. But I stress at the outset that it is center for more than a century, but to the best not presented as a comprehensive survey of of my knowledge, its railroad labor history has labor history topics that need to be studied never been studied. The following passage from and that other subjects and approaches should the WPA guidebook for Nebraska suggests be explored as welL 7 some possibilities: RAILROAD WORKERS A year-long strike occurred in 1902-1903 when Union Pacific machinists and boiler­ Railroad workers in this region have at­ makers struck in opposition to the piece­ tracted very little attention to date. Shelton work system. Local sympathy was with the Stromquist's A Generation of Boomers is a pos­ strikers, and merchants would not sell to sible model that others could use in the study strike-breakers, barbers would not shave of nineteenth and twentieth century railroad them, landlords refused to rent to them. unionization efforts. 8 Both Nebraska and Gradually, however, they were accepted by North Dakota had transcontinental railroads, the town and the strike was thought lost. and explorations into episodes such as the However, a settlement was finally reached, WORKERS ON THE NORTHERN PLAINS 231 the piecework system was abolished, and The Knights probably assumed more im­ strikers returned ro work with a cent and a portance in Omaha than elsewhere in the re­ half hourly increase in pay.lO gion. While they had quite a few mixed assemblies, one of the most important was This episode sounds very much like some made up exclusively of Union Pacific employ­ nineteenth century strikes treated by Herbert ees. Omaha's first "labor day" celebration, held Gutman, who found community backing for on 4 July 1887, was organized by the Knights. local workers against outside employers. I I I At the time, the Knights were affiliated with suspect that this theme can often be explored the city's central labor body and may have had in labor conflicts on the northern Plains. a larger following than AFL unions. A number So far the only attempt to examine north­ of individuals who later acquired prominence ern Plains railroad strife in depth is a 1994 in the local trade union movement had prior Nebraska History article by Thomas Magnuson involvement in the Knights. 1s that treats the 1922 Shopmen's Strike in two Some of the Knights took part in third party Nebraska communities, Havelock and Platts­ efforts before the Populist revolt of the 1890s, mouth. While Havelock strikers and the com­ but not all of their adherents were willing to munity itself, including local officials, were break with the Republican party. Among militant and uncompromising, their counter­ South Dakota Knights, for example, a number parts in Plattsmouth were more accommodat­ refused to leave the GOP, fearing that the ing. In some respects, these differences bolt would jeopardize the labor movement. 16 mirrored what Stromquist had found in Third party politics has often presented a di­ Creston and Burlington, Iowa, in earlier rail­ lemma for union activists, and that persistent road struggles. 12 dilemma helps account for the ultimate de­ mise of a number of political insurgencies. KNIGHTS OF LABOR More research, particularly on the Nebraska Knights, is warranted. Leon Fink's Working­ Many railroad workers in the late nine­ men's Democracy and Ralph Scharnau's work teenth century had been members of the on Iowa offer good models for what might be Knights of Labor at one time or another. undertaken hereY While I doubt that such While the explorations of the Knights in this efforts will uncover as rich a lore as these au­ region are in the rudimentary stages, a num­ thors discovered in Kansas City, Kansas, or ber of the assemblies were made up of rail­ Dubuque, Iowa, similar explorations will add roaders. Erling N. Sannes, who has studied greatly to our understanding of the Knights on the Knights in the Dakotas, concludes that the northern Plains. they played a major role in reform politics and were the most important labor organization in PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS South Dakota until the union drives of the 1930s.13 Another regional topic that demands more Jonathan Garlock's dissertation on the attention is that of packinghouse workers. Knights of Labor provides us with a baseline South Omaha quickly emerged as the third for this region. While there were 29 assem­ largest packing center in the nation, but work­ blies in the Dakotas, Nebraska had 150. ers in a number of other communities, includ­ Twenty-eight of these were organized in ing Nebraska City, Fremont, Sioux Falls, and Omaha or South Omaha, then a separate town, Fargo, worked in packing by 1920. In more leaving approximately 120 across the rest of recent years, plants in the older packing cen­ the state. A number of them were in railroad ters closed, not being able to compete with towns, including Wymore, McCook, and the new firms of Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) North Platte. 14 and Monfort, which operate modern facilities 232 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1996 FIG. 2. Striking Omaha Packinghouse Workers in 1948. Courtesy of Frances Winters, Omaha, Nebraska. in Dakota City, Grand Island, and now Lex­ been its last packinghouse strike, when Local ington, Nebraska. 60 lost a bitter strike against Cudahy and the Numerous attempts to organize packing­ union was decertified. Today, there are no house workers date to the nineteenth century. unionized packinghouse workers in Omaha.19 In Omaha and other packing centers, a basic But the story of packinghouse workers on pattern emerged. Workers would unionize, the Northern Plains is not simply a variation take part in a national strike, and then have of the Omaha story.