On this day Labor History the year was 1945.
That was a very important day for workers on the islands of Hawaii.
It marked the passage of the federal Hawaii Employment Relations Act, more popular known as the “Little Wagner Act.”
The Wagner Act had granted the right to unionize to most non-agricultural workers in the United States.
The “little” follow up to the act, extended the right to join a union to Hawaiian agricultural workers.
The International Longshoremen and Warehousemen Union, were instrumental in pushing for the legislation.
Robert Kuminura, who had worked on the island of Koloa, reflected on the significance of the right to join a union.
Saying “. . . it was not a matter of wages and working conditions, but pride. . . . Because when you say you work for the plantation, you were pitied. That it was synonymous with one dollar a day and that you were living in one old plantation shack. So, union, to me, union is pride.”
One year after winning the right to unionize, sugar plantation workers participated in a massive strike.
Some Twenty-six thousand workers embarked upon on 79 day strike against the plantation bosses effectively shutting down 33 of 34 plantations on the island.
The strike was seen as a turning point for labor relations in Hawaii.
Workers across ethnic lines joined together in solidarity against the paternalistic plantation system.
During the strike the workers received broad community support.
As Kuminura stated, it was a matter of pride for the workers.
In 1943, before the “Little Wagner Act” there were 13 labor contracts in Hawaii.
By 1947 that number had multiplied to 166 labor contracts.
Union representation was now a reality for Hawaiian workers, and there was nothing “little” about that.
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Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show