Monday, January 6, 1919

Bright. Cold. To College. Down street in afternoon. Bowled at Y. Studied in evening. Uncle John to dinner. Ex President Roosevelt died at 4 A.M. G.E. returns from strike. Thank God for friends.

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This was a red-letter day for a couple of reasons!

The New York Times covered the story of the President's death, stating that he died of a pulmonary embolism, brought on in part by an infection he acquired years before in Brazil. The strike at G.E. was one of many over the years at the plant, but this particular one started in December 1918 and was in solidarity with Erie workers. Here is an excerpt from an article in the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, recently published to inform members of the history of bargaining with General Electric:

EARLY UNION STRUGGLES
Prior to World War I, some GE workers
within plants such as Lynn, MA, Schenectady,
NY, and Erie, PA had been organized into various AFL craft
unions—machinists, electricians, carpenters, molders,
patternmakers, etc. In Schenectady, for example, there existed
some 36 craft unions, each completely separate from
the others, trying to negotiate for their particular craft across
a facility of over 20,000 workers. 

With the end of the war came a working class upsurge in
many industries, including steel, meat packing, and electrical
manufacturing. There were strikes at a number of key GE
plants. In December 1918 workers in Erie began a strike that
lasted nearly a month. Thousands of GE workers in
Schenectady, Ft. Wayne, IN, and Pittsfield, MA struck in solidarity
with Erie. This was partly in response to GE’s attempt
to set up company unions to displace the existing craft unions.
One of the Erie strikers’ demands was “Recognition of all
unions through their regular elected committees in discussing
and settling of all grievances.” In other words, they wanted
real unions chosen by the workers, not phony ones controlled
by GE.