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- Title
Comments on the Kennedy Paper.
- Authors
Brown, Mark L.
- Abstract
The author says that he was an active participant in the Berkshire Strike, in England, even though he was not employed there. He was on the picket line daily from the October 1 start of the strike until mid-January. He was there because the Young Peoples' Socialist League put out a daily strike bulletin, and his sympathies were with the strikers. The research is thorough and reflects an accurate picture of the history and events. The conclusions he draws are incisive, and portentous to the labor movement today. The Berkshire Strike demonstrated the inability of a union to organize successfully an industry that was a miniature of today's conglomerates and that was vertically integrated. The craft union concept that all you needed to do to organize and win is to get the workers to unite, stay off the job, and wait, falls when that industry has a prosperous machine shop, foundry, narrow fabric (ribbon) plant, and control of its product distribution. Profits from other portions can sustain the losses from the strikebound unit The Oakbrook Hosiery Mill, when it was struck, was cut of business. Management had to calculate how long its customers would hold before going to other sources. But with Berkshire, the customer had no choice because the Berkshire controlled its distribution pipeline. When fear of loss of customers became paramount, the Oakbrook management had to settle. .
- Subjects
BERKSHIRE (England); ENGLAND; PENNSYLVANIA; READING (Pa.); UNITED States; STRIKES &; lockouts; STRIKES &; lockouts -- Textile industry; LABOR unions; HOSIERY workers; BERKSHIRE Knitting Mills (Company); SOCIAL movements; MACHINERY industry; LABOR movement; PUBLIC demonstrations
- Publication
Labor Studies Journal, 1979, Vol 3, Issue 3, p280
- ISSN
0160-449X
- Publication type
Article