The Great Barber Strike of 1913

[TickTock]

I came across this great article about a May, 1913 strike by barbers in New York City:

http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2...ntury-ago-barbers-riot.html?utm_source=feedly

20,000 barbers walked off the job. What did they want? To get their hours REDUCED to 12 per day, with one day off a week.

 

[TickTock]

Make sure you follow some of the links in the article, which go to vintage newspaper. Seriously, the art of writing has gone into such a decline: can you imagine a newspaper writing anything as atmospheric as this:

"Like the plague that walketh at noonday, a barbers' strike has fallen upon the Borough of Brooklyn. From Bushwick to Bay Ridge haggard men go about with the telltale blemish encroaching upon their visages like a noxious fungus. Half-shaved men slink about the alleys, avoiding the light of day."

oh, and later in the same article "large orders were anticipated by dealers in safety razors". and "the barbers receive $7 a week on average" (It was around then that Henry Ford started paying $5/day to auto workers, for a comparison, though even then it was acknowledged that Ford's wage was very high. But of course, those people turned around and bought Model T's didn't they?)

 

[oc_in_fw]

When I hear people gripe about unions I ask them if they enjoy their five day work week and vacations very year. People got their heads busted fighting for these things.

 

[gegarrenton]

When I hear people gripe about unions I ask them if they enjoy their five day work week and vacations very year. People got their heads busted fighting for these things.

Who has a five day work week!?

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

How many of you were around to remember it firsthand?

Hiyooooooooooo!

 

[sgreenstreet]

Note that newspaper cartoon in the lower right hand corner. It shows a man with a cut up face holding one of them new-fangled "safety razors". The caption reads "Learning to be independent of barbers".

 

[Dalejr]

Note that newspaper cartoon in the lower right hand corner. It shows a man with a cut up face holding one of them new-fangled "safety razors". The caption reads "Learning to be independent of barbers".

I like the picture of the fella getting his hair cut with a reel mower..

 

[oc_in_fw]

Who has a five day work week!?

Me, and the 300 people who work at my center alone.

 

[malocchio]

great post !