Theresa Malkiel on the women hat trimmers of Newark, New Jersey who went from ignored and unorganized by the labor movement to that city’s union stalwarts.

‘Girl Hat Makers Teach Men Lesson’ by Theresa S. Malkiel from The New York Call. Vol. 4 No. 16. January 16, 1911.

Went on Strike With Those Who Often Turned Them Down.

For the Women’s Trade Union League.

On January 15, 1909, the United Hat Makers of New York and Newark went out on strike. There were several thousand men involved in the struggle, which was made doubly hard because alongside of these several thousand men were almost as many women trimmers. These did not belong to the United Hat Makers’ Union of America, were not in any way connected with it, and, as was the case in New York, thought little and cared less for a trade union organization,

The men left their work benches very skeptical as to the action about to be taken by their female co-workers. In their heart of hearts they knew that they had not always played fair to the women, were not anxious in the past to have them in their midst as full-fledged members of the organization, and feared that the women would now pay them tit for tat.

Women Show More Spirit.

The strike was declared on Saturday and on Monday noon a thousand hat trimmers in New York and two thousand in Newark left their baskets full of work, shut their ears to all arguments presented to them by their bosses and followed their co-workers into the street. Not in the hope of personal improvement, not with any view for gain, but out of sympathy to the striking men, just because their woman sentiment would not permit them to work in shops where the men had gone down on strike.

And yet, as wonderful as this, act of human feeling was, it was by far not the most heroic accomplishment. It is easy to become aroused on the spur of the moment, throw up the tools and go on strike; but the hardest part comes later, when days and weeks pass by, when the last cent has been spent, when the rent is due, the shoes torn, the clothes shabby and food scarce. This is the time when men and women, fighting in an industrial struggle, prove the metal of which they are made. This is the test of any trade union man and woman.

The several thousand hat makers involved in that strike stood their ground to the very last. But there came a time when the men commenced to hesitate as to their future course of procedure, when the bosses commenced to boast of getting men back as scabs. The outcome of the strike turned on the action of the women. Without a falter of a single woman they refused work until the demands of the men were granted and until their union was recognized. All the women fought a brave battle, but the Newark trimmers, who stood out for over a year, surely deserve the admiration of every right minded honest man and woman. For twelve long months week in and week out, these girls kept paying strike benefits to their outstanding members. How they got the money to do it only woman’s ingenuity can describe. They were not affiliated with any national trade union, except the Women’s Trade Union League, who stood faithfully by them, received no special benefit from the hatters’ organization, except an individual or two, but fought and financed their end of the battle with the cleverness and strategy of born generals.

Ten Per Cent of Wages Paid.

Steadily, for fifty consecutive weeks, those of the girls lucky enough to work in settled shops paid faithfully 10 cents from each dollar earned by their hard daily labor. For fifty consecutive weeks these women and girls spent every minute of their free time in collecting money and raising money for those still out. And not until every girl involved in the strike was safely established at work did this strenuous activity cease.

Today, almost two years after that memorable strike began, the Newark girls have a union a thousand strong. How much they have benefited and learned during their bitter struggle was revealed lately, after the terrible disaster of the Newark factory fire.

The meeting of the hat trimmers held on Saturday following the terrible catastrophe should be one of the inheritances of posterity. It was a true example of real human nature, which so seldom discloses itself nowadays. Pathetic and mournful as it was. It made one’s heart beat glad to see that sincere expression of sisterly love for a fellow worker, irrespective of race, religion or nationality; the expression of class solidarity, of intelligent concern for human welfare.

The women and girls present at that meeting in memory of their dead sisters, and with a sense of responsibility to the living, they pledged themselves not to rest until the city of Newark would be safeguarded from a reoccurrence of a similar catastrophe.

More Than Protests Made.

They resolved that all of the fire traps of factories should be either brought up to the standard required by the fire department or condemned. This was to be accomplished not through petition or complaints to the city authorities, but through a committee of two appointed from the ranks of the hat trimmers, the committee to be paid by the union and to give its full time to visiting all factories presenting their demand for immediate action.

Miss Hamber and Miss Alice Scott, the committee appointed, have since visited the given factories, presented their demands for necessary improvements, made careful notes of all irregularities–such as dark stairways, on which the committee insisted a light should always be kept burning: of single fire escapes where the committee insisted that another one be erected; of nailed down windows, which the committee demanded should be opened at once; of obstructions which they insisted should be removed from all exits. When not able to find the owners of the building the committee communicate their findings to him by mail and demanded improvements by a certain date. Wherever they met with resentment, they immediately notified the labor commissioner as to conditions prevailing in the given places and insisted upon immediate action on his part.

This, in addition to $100 contributed to the relief of the maimed and relatives of those who were sacrificed in the fire, is the tribute paid by the Newark hat trimmers to their sisters. This is the natural evolution of girls who only two short years ago went down unprepared on strike out of sheer sympathy to their fellow workers. The Women’s Trade Union League extends its gratitude to these brave women for their excellent service done to the women at large.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-new-york-call/1911/110116-newyorkcall-v04n16.pdf