On this day in labor history, the year was 1900.
That was the day the newly formed Building Contractors Council locked out 40,000 building tradesmen in Chicago.
The Contractors Council was founded in opposition to the power of the Building Trades Council.
Solidarity among the trades galvanized their ability to determine wages and working conditions throughout the city.
Hard-won gains included use of sympathy strikes, restriction of laborsaving machinery and apprentices, and work pace and production limits.
In 1899, citywide building trades contracts expired.
Backed by financiers, manufacturers and engineers, the new council demanded the unions abandon these gains and cut all ties with the Building Trades Council.
The contractors cited the more than 20 walkouts at the Montgomery Ward construction site as but one example.
The bosses’ were driven to destroy what historian Andrew Wender Cohen refers to as ‘craft governance’ in the city.
Incredulous, the crafts refused to recognize the contractors council or its demands.
The contractors locked them out.
They brought in 6000 scabs to continue construction work throughout the city.
Pitched battles continued daily in the streets between locked out tradesmen and scabs.
Many contractors brought in cots and food to non-union workers, keeping them on job sites until completion.
Labor-friendly Mayor Carter Harrison II offered to mediate, but refused police protection of scabs.
The contractors built up their own private force.
Then they injected an added racial dimension to the conflict.
Among the non-union workers, some were black tradesmen, briefly hired as construction workers and job site guards.
The lockout ended in a 1901 defeat for the Building Trades, whose ranks were decimated by 90%.
The building trades bounced back and were soon a formidable force in Chicago.
May 3 - Voice of the Labor Movement
May 2 - Birth of a Labor Pioneer
May 1 - MayDay: International Workers Day
April 30 - Regulating Obstruction and Intimidation
April 29 - The Mine Wars Get Ugly
April 28 - Merging for Strength
April 27 - The Fight for A Life
April 26 - In the Streets for Jobs
April 25 - The Fight for Equality
April 24 - Standing Together, Demanding Justice
April 23 - The Canadian Labour Congress is Founded
April 22 - It’s Earth Day!
April 21 - The Anaconda Road Massacre
April 20 - The Bravest of Conductors
April 19 - Terrorists Bomb Oklahoma City
April 18 - Labor’s First Lawyer
April 17 - Corporate Criminals Know No Borders
April 16 - Another Day in the Class War
April 15 - The American Federation of Teachers is Founded
April 14 - Agricultural Workers Risk Everything to Organize
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