From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Union Labor Party (California)
Union Labor Party (California)
The Union Labor Party was a San Francisco, California stead, the unions sought an independent political organi-
working class political party of the first decade of the zation to elect their own people to positions of power so
20th century. The organization, which endorsed the doc- that the violence of the state would not be turned against
trine of nativism, rose to prominence in both the labor them in a future replay of the strike of 1901.
movement and urban politics in the years after 1901, The Union Labor Party was the result of this change
electing its nominee as Mayor of San Francisco in 1909. of perspective.
Formation of the ULP
Organizational history ON September 5, 1901, approximately 300 delegates rep-
resenting 68 of San Francisco’s unions gathered together
Preliminary overview in a convention to establish the Union Labor Party of the
City and County of San Francisco (ULP).[3] The conven-
During the first decade of the 20th Century, employers tion approved a platform including a call for the revision
across America made effective use of judicial injunctions of the city charter to curb future intervention by the city
to prohibit trade unions from engaging in strikes to win administration in labor disputes, a demand for municipal
recognition for themselves and wage-and-hour gains for ownership of all public utilities, erection of more schools
their members. This so-called "open shop drive" put or- and the initiation of the merit system in the promotion of
ganized labor, concentrated in an array of local and in- teachers, and the abolition of the poll tax.[3] The platform
ternational craft unions joined under the umbrella of the also contained a frankly nativist demand for the restric-
American Federation of Labor on the defensive. tion of Asian immigration and the creation of segregated
In San Francisco, one of the most heavily unionized schools for Asian children.[3]
cities in the country, matters came to a head in the sum- The new political party nominated Eugene E. Sch-
mer of 1901 when a local employers’ association, the mitz, president of the Musicians’ Union, as its candidate
Draymen’s Association, locked out the city’s unionized for Mayor. The ULP put up a slate of its candidates for all
teamsters on July 21.[1] The lockout spread to the entire other elected positions. The organization was ultimate-
waterfront, which saw the city’s transportation essen- ly endorsed by every San Francisco union with the ex-
tially shut down.[1] ception of the local Building Trades Council and was bit-
Strikebreakers were imported by the employers, who terly opposed by every newspaper with the exception of
were met by force, leading to calls by the employers for the San Francisco Examiner, owned by William Randolph
police assistance. When police were deployed by the Hearst.[4]
Chief of Police, the city’s 14 maritime unions joined to- The election of November 1901 proved a great tri-
gether in the City Front Federation voted to initiate a umph for the ULP, with its mayoral candidate winning
mass sympathy strike in support of the locked out team- election by a plurality of over 20,000 votes.[4] Three of its
sters, rather than see the teamsters’ union crushed.[2] members were elected to the San Francisco Board of Su-
Some 16,000 longshoremen, clerks, packers, and ware- pervisors and the group fell just 50 votes short of electing
house workers joined the work stoppage, thereby in- 3 more.[4]
creasing the volatility of the situation.[2] Immediately after the election, the teamsters’ strike
San Francisco’s Democratic mayor, James D. Phelan, was finally settled in favor of the trade unions. Strike-
who had been elected thanks in large measure to the sup- breakers were discharged and the striking unionized
port of organized labor, sided with the employers in the workers were reinstated. The Teamsters Union was rec-
battle and gave the Chief of Police authorization to smash ognized, the union wage scale initiated, and the 48-hour
the strike.[2] Extreme violence followed, in which pick- week established.[5] While the union demand for a closed
eting workers were clubbed and even shot, resulting in shop was not immediately granted, the year 1901 never-
5 deaths and 336 reported cases of assault.[2] Hundreds theless marked a major victory for organized labor and
more strikers were arrested.[2] marked a high water mark for the trade unions of San
The perceived "treachery" of Mayor Phelan caused Francisco and their Union Labor Party.
San Francisco’s organized labor movement to rethink its
previous strategy of attempting to elect and influence its
"friends" in the Democratic and Republican parties. In-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Union Labor Party (California)
The ULP in power houses, and houses of prostitution.[10] The fall of Mayor
Eugene Schmitz in the midst of the San Francisco Street-
With City Hall in the hands of the Union Labor Party, San
car Strike of 1907 undermined the strike effort, which
Francisco’s trade unions launched a series of successful
ended in utter failure after months of violence between
strikes in 1902. The city’s streetcar employees launched a
the Carmen’s Union and out-of-town mercenary strike-
strike to reverse a 1901 wage cut and to win union recog-
breakers.
nition, an action which snarled San Francisco’s Internal
While little different than the corruption in other
transportation. The United Railway Company, employ-
major American cities, such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland,
er of the streetcar workers, attempted to import strike-
Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, and New York,[11] the
breakers, but this time the ULP Mayor of San Francisco
San Francisco city graft scandal drew deafening wails of
prohibited the company’s request for a police guard and
criticism from the local and national press, which sought
ordered that no special permits be granted for security
to emphasize an inevitable connection between labor
guards to carry firearms.[6] Eight days later, the company
unions and official dishonesty.[12]
signed a contract with its employees which granted all of
The ULP’s 1909 platform advocated public ownership
the union’s demands.[7]
of utilities, a new civic auditorium, extensive public
Despite some misgivings on the party of Samuel Gom-
works, and a U.S. citizen-only hiring policy. The ULP
pers and other national officials of the American Feder-
nominated and elected the conservative P.H. McCarthy
ation of Labor, the ULP continued its electoral success in
of the San Francisco Building Trades Council in the 1909
1903, when Eugene Schmitz was renominated for Mayor
mayoral election. While McCarthy’s administration was
of San Francisco and won re-election by more than 26,000
largely scandal-free, it suffered from a number of politi-
votes.[8]
cal failures.
Anti-union forces may have been defeated in the
Businessmen chose James Rolph, Jr., known as "Sun-
elections, but by no means was there an end to their
ny Jim", to run against him in 1911. Rolph won that elec-
own organizing. In 1904 there came to San Francisco a
tion and the ULP faded from the scene.
new organization known as the Citizen’s Alliance, headed
by Herbert George, one of the city’s leaders of the open
shop movement. George initially launched the Citizens’ Footnotes
Alliance in Denver, Colorado with great success before
[1] ^ Philip S. Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the
importing the organization to the less hospitable soil of
United States, Volume 3: The Policies and Practices of the
the city by the bay. By the end of 1904, George’s orga-
American Federation of Labor, 1900-1905. New York:
nization claimed a membership of 16,000, including em-
International Publishers, 1964; pg. 287.
ployers pledged to restore "the Americanism of the Open
[2] ^ Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
Shop in San Francisco."[8]
States, Volume 3, pg. 288.
In the election of 1905, the Citizens’ Alliance sought
[3] ^ Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
to fragment the union opposition by launching a puppet
States, Volume 3, pg. 290.
organization called the United Labor League.[9] The Citi-
[4] ^ Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
zens’ Alliance counted on a split of the labor movement,
States, Volume 3, pg. 291.
centered around the conservative Building Trades Coun-
[5] Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
cil headed by P.H. McCarthy, against which would be pit-
States, Volume 3, pg. 292.
ted a fusion candidate combining the forces of the
[6] Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
Republicans and the Democrats under the slogan of "Law
States, Volume 3, pp. 292-293.
and Order."[9]
[7] Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
Contrary to the best-laid plans of the open shop ad-
States, Volume 3, pg. 293.
vocates, McCarthy and the previously resistant Building
[8] ^ Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
Trades Council united behind Schmitz and the Union La-
States, Volume 3, pg. 294.
bor Party in the election of 1905, helping him to win a
[9] ^ Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
third term of office.[8]
States, Volume 3, pg. 295.
[10] Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
The ULP in retreat States, Volume 3, pg. 335.
The year 1907 marked the watershed for the Union Labor [11] See: Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities. New
Party. In that year, a series of revelations took place de- York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1904.
tailing graft and corruption in municipal administration, [12] Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United
culminating in an investigation showing that the Union States, Volume 3, pg. 336.
Labor Party and the city’s Mayor were in the control of
political boss Abe Ruef, who received financial kickbacks
in the guise of legal fees from public utilities, gambling
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Union Labor Party (California)
Further reading
• Michael Kazin,Barons of Labor. Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1987.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Union_Labor_Party_(California)&oldid=439907067"
Categories:
• Political parties established in 1901
• Defunct political parties in the United States
• History of San Francisco, California
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