This page was created by Rachel Boyle.
Stockyards, 1948
Defending the Picket Line
Located in a modest brick building located just south of Chicago's notorious--and noxious--stockyards, the district headquarters of the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) served as the hub of a nationwide strike in 1948. After acknowledging unions during the New Deal [link], the federal government worked closely with national labor and business interests to achieve production goals during World War II. Consequently, unions like the UPWA emerged from the war more institutionalized and bureaucratic. Yet unlike many labor organizations in 1948, the leadership of the United Packinghouse Workers of America still included members of the rank and file who worked on the packinghouse floor, rather than relying on full-time union representatives to drive negotiations. The UPWA's approach proved significant in mobilizing a diverse work force and securing better gains for its members. When other packinghouse unions accepted a nine-cent raise from major meat producers in the spring of 1948, the UPWA instead went on strike to hold out for a 29-cent raise.The packinghouse workers who went on strike in postwar Chicago did not look the same as protestors fifty years earlier. In the early twentieth century, federal legislation restricted immigration from eastern Europe, in part due to fear [link to Haymarket] of labor [link to Pullman] unrest [link to Republic Steel]. The shrinking workforce coincided with increased demand for labor to satiate wartime production during WWI and WWII. As a result, organized labor commanded more bargaining power. At the same time, jobs attracted thousands of African Americans from South to northern cities like Chicago. Hiring black strikebreakers presented a way for companies to neutralize strikes and exploit racial antagonism. Indeed, most labor unions excluded and discriminated against African Americans, failing to represent the needs of the city's increasingly black workforce. The UPWA's reliance on its rank and file, however, meant that the organization reflected the needs of its black and white workers.
Workers across Chicago and the Midwest walked picket lines despite constant police presence and, on occasion, police violence. Although widely supported among the rank and file, the strike was ultimately crippled by other unions who conceded to the nine-cent raise and allowed companies to maintain workflow. Additionally, the federal government recently passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which restricted union power. The UPWA nevertheless quickly rebuilt and developed stronger negotiating power because they proved less quick to compromise than other unions. Into the 1950s, black leadership and involvement in UPWA also helped the organization grow as an advocate for civil rights.
