Shoemakers' Strike
United States 1860
Synopsis
The New England Shoemakers' Strike was the largest pre-Civil War labor event in the United States. Between February and April 1860, over 20,000 workers (including both men and women) from all over New England struck both for higher wages and the concession that workers would have an active voice in salary and labor decisions. Though it had some success with the wage issue, the strike gained nothing in terms of the latter demand. Several factors influenced this outcome, including the factory owners' ability to send work to out-of-town laborers (thus bypassing the need for the local, striking labor), and the fact that winter was fast approaching and the strikers needed their lost wages to buy provisions. The strike's historical importance lies not so much in concessions gained or not gained, but rather in the fact of its sheer existence, in which successful worker organization led to the first regional strike in the United States.
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