Celebrating Labor History in Troy

by Don Rittner

When you think about the industrial history of Troy, in reality, it’s a history of working people. Behind any prosperous city is a working class and it took huge numbers of workers to make Troy such a prosperous city in the 19th century. Men, women, and children worked as many as 15 hours a day, six days a week, in the shirt and cuff factories, iron and steel foundries, and hundreds of other industries that called Troy home.

To honor those workers of the 19th century (and our current ones), the Troy Area Labor Council (TALC) and the New York Labor History Association (NYLHA) are celebrating labor history in Troy on Friday evening, April 30 and all day Saturday, May 1.

Not only will you enjoy live entertainment, but you will learn about an important piece of Troy’s history from well known labor historians. Moreover, you can enjoy walking or bus tours that will show you first hand some of our important labor related historic sites.

The gala starts on Friday, April, 30th at 7:00 PM at Troy's RiverSpark Visitor Center. There will be a multi-media slide show and talk by Tom Carroll, Executive Director of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday events will begin in Troy City Hall at 8:30 a.m. with a free breakfast followed by welcoming remarks from Mayor Mark Pattison, Congressman Mike McNulty, AFL-CIO Secretary/Treasurer Paul Cole and New York Labor History Association member Paul Mishler.

Labor Historians Dan Walkowitz and Carole Turbin will speak on labor history in 19th century Troy and Cohoes. Historians Rachel Bliven and Kathy Sheehan will speak on Kate Mullaney and the collar city in the 20th century. There also will be readings of original poetry by local poets.

At 1PM, move to the music all afternoon at the Bandshell in River Front Park, brought to you by Ernie Williams, Mothership, and a host of other performers. Street side vendors, brochures, favors and souvenirs will also be available.

You can take a self guided walking tour of Troy, or enjoy a bus tour, donated by Troy’s Black & White Cab, to significant historic sites in Troy and Cohoes with a stop at the Cohoes Visitors Center. Rachel Bliven will narrate the bus tour as you explore past industrial sites, workers housing, and other labor sites. You can pickup self guided maps at the Visitor Center.

If you think Labor didn’t play an important role in Troy’s development, consider that in 1905 there were 60 active unions in Troy.

Many people are familiar with the celebration of Kate Mullany last year by the first Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mullany created the Troy Collar Laundry Union in 1864 and championed workers rights in Troy.

Trojans had influence on the national labor scene also. Simon Mann, president of the iron molders union #2 in Troy became the first vice president of the National Iron Molders Union. In 1860, the Troy Local of the International Iron Molders Union was the largest in the country with 400 members. Trojan James Hooley was vice president of the union in 1888. Kate Mullany was appointed Assistant Secretary of the National Labor Union in 1868.

It’s ironic that for the last 100 years workers around the world celebrate May Day, or International Worker’s Day, on May 1, except in the United States where it began!

The birth of May Day occurred during the 19th century struggle to have an 8 hour work day. This was at a time when working 15 hours a day, six days a week was the norm rather than the rule. And working conditions were brutal and dangerous for men, women and even children.

Today we take the 8 hour day for granted, but getting the work day to 8 hours was not easy and many workers died or were seriously injured in the attempt. Earlier efforts to get the work day to 10 hours were successful in England in 1847. French workers reduced their work day to 12 hours after the February Revolution of 1848.

In the United States, a ten hour day movement began as early as 1791 when Philadelphia carpenters struck. In 1835, workers in that city organized a general strike, led by Irish coal heavers. Their slogan was "From 6 to 6, ten hours work and two hours for meals."

Finally, in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. A national strike was urged on that day to demand an eight-hour work day. Over 350,000 workers across the country responded. In particular, the city of Chicago was brought to a standstill as railroads, stockyards, and other businesses closed. Two days later, local police randomly shot into crowds of fleeing strikers, killing four and wounding many more.

The following day when police tried to disperse a peaceful rally in Haymarket Square, someone tossed a bomb, killing and wounding nearly 70 officers. The police responded by firing randomly into the crowd, killing and wounding another 200 citizens.

Eight local labor leaders were arrested, seven of whom had not even been present in Haymarket at the time (the other was on the speaker’s podium). This "Chicago Eight" were tried solely on the basis of their political beliefs, with no evidence of involvement in the bombing, were convicted, and seven were sentenced to die. Three were executed. One died by suicide.

Six years later, Illinois Governor John Atgeld freed the remaining three

and posthumously pardoned the five deceased men, publicizing that much of the evidence was made up and that the trial was a joke. However, by then, May 1st had become associated with this massacre and later the socialist movement of that period which adopted it.

To avoid those associations, politicians and some labor folks in the U.S. decided to move the traditional day of recognizing labor to September and that is why we now celebrate it in the Fall. In 1894, Congress recognized an official Labor Day as the first Monday of each September.

So, keep in mind the next time you complain about your grueling 35-hour week, it would be 90 hours if it wasn’t for your working brothers and sisters of the 19th century.

©1999 Don Rittner. Got History? Send Don email at drittner@aol.com, or use snail mail to PO Box 50216, Albany, NY 12205. Don is author of Images of America-Troy (Arcadia Press) and owns The Learning Factory in Albany.