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CHAPTER 2 — THE FOUNDING OF A NATIONAL UNION In August 1881, thirty-six carpenters from eleven cities met in a Chicago warehouse to form a national union. Four days of heated discussion produced a constitution, a structure, and a new organization with two thousand members -- the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. (Renamed United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1888.) The Chicago convention was the brainchild of Peter J. McGuire, a 29 year old carpenter who was to become one of the great labor leaders of the 19th century. A product of the tenements of New York City's lower East Side, McGuire decided to devote his life to the cause of labor at an early age. As a working carpenter, a striker at a piano shop, an organizer of the unemployed, a spokesman for the socialist Workingmens' Party, or a deputy commissioner for the Missouri State Bureau of Labor Statistics, he had already won a deserved reputation as a charismatic speaker and a tireless organizer by the time he issued the call for a national carpenters union. McGuire recognized that the turmoil in the construction industry made conditions ripe for the organization of carpenters. If the carpenter's trade was under attack, there was only one appropriate response -- protect and defend the trade through the collective action of its members. The delegates who gathered in Chicago acknowledged his leadership as a crucial element of the union's potential for success. While the convention was unable to resolve debates over all the issues that were raised, there was no disagreement over who would fill the one full-time position. McGuire was unanimously elected to the post of General Secretary. The union grew gradually, from a membership of 2,042 in 1881 to 5,789 in 1885. Some cities were well organized while others remained entirely non-union. McGuire spent eighteen hours a day speaking, writing and organizing to keep the union alive. The national office followed him -- to St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia -- as he moved around, responding to crisis after crisis. He rarely collected his $20 weekly salary and, if he did, it usually went to union expenses. In early 1882, McGuire and the union were penniless. The March issue of the Carpenter, the official monthly, was printed thanks to a friend's $30 loan. McGuire did not mind personal poverty, but he dreaded the collapse of the organization. He wrote to Gabriel Edmonston, the first General President, for advice and support. "We must never think of giving up the Carpenter! I would rather give up anything but that. I would sell my sewing machine and mortgage everything I have before that paper goes down. It is our life -- our hope -- the only power to hold the unions true to each other. I will work at my trade, give up my salary, and kill myself at night to keep things going, if necessary, to keep up our paper." McGuire's sacrifices eased as the fortunes of the UBCJA rose with escalating militance of the American workforce in the 1880's. At the 1884 convention of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (the predecessor to the American Federation of Labor), Edmonston called for a general strike for the 8- hour work day on May 1, 1886. His proposal initiated what proved to be one of the key political events of 1886, an extraordinary year that historians refer to as "the great uprising of labor". During the spring, McGuire temporarily suspended the regular business of the UBCJA as he criss-crossed the country speaking to countless audiences about the shorter-hours movement. His efforts paid handsome dividends. More than 340,000 workers demonstrated for the reduced working day on May 1. In almost every city, carpenters led striking marchers. As a result, union carpenters won higher wages and/or decreased hours in 53 cities in 1886. Unorganized carpenters flocked to the activist organization, as the Brotherhood's membership swelled to 21,423 by the end of the summer. The militance of American worker in 1886 stunned the business world and surprised cautious labor leaders. The hundreds of rallies, walkouts, and strikes demonstrated the appeal of the eight-hour day and prompted the American Federation of Labor to plan a follow-up series of action for May 1, 1890, under the banner of the single most effective labor organization. The AFL selected the Carpenters Union because, in the words of President Samuel Gompers, it was the "best disciplined, prepared and determined" force in the labor movement. The UBCJA lived up to its reputation. As part of a massive national and international effort in 1890, over 23,000 American carpenters in 36 cities won the 8-hour day and 32,000 more gained a 9-hour workday. At the end of the campaign, McGuire was able to describe the 55,000-member UBCJA as "the largest and the most powerful organization, numerically, of any special trade in the whole civilized world." A carpenter's average wage at the time of the union's birth was $2 a day. Twenty years later it had doubled, and it was as high as $5 in the larger cities. By 1903, union membership had climbed to 167,200. Four years later, eight hours was the standard length of the carpenter's workday across the country, at a time when ten and twelve-hour days were still common in many other industries. The Brotherhood introduced a system of death and disability benefits. McGuire recognized that bread-and-butter gains and benefits were the glue that held the union together and kept the membership loyal during the inevitable slumps in the industry. But he also insisted that the union had a broader purpose. "We should not lose sight of our character as a trade union and sink ourselves into a mere benevolent society or insurance company. We must elevate the craft, protect its interests, advance wages, reduce the hours of labor, spread correct economic doctrines and cultivate a spirit of fraternity among the working people regardless of creed, color, nationality or politics." Through the pages of the Carpenter, McGuire promoted democratic participation based on an informed membership. Articles in the monthly included technical features on building, news of the trade, prospects for employment, as well as far reaching and thoughtful analyses of political issues facing the labor movement and the nation. McGuire opened his columns to the finest writers on the political scene to enrich the journal's reformist orientation. McGuire did not fear disagreement or open debate on internal union issues. He devoted space for rank-and-file members to speak their minds on union policy matters. He recognized that the membership was the heart of the union and argued against those who called for a more "efficient" centralized organization. "Do we," he once wrote, "love more to be ruled by delegates and officers than rule ourselves?" McGuire believed that unions should actively educate their members. In an era when working people had limited access to educational or cultural institutions, McGuire called on the locals to set up libraries, train members in the art of public speaking, and consider issues of politics and economics to "prepare (workers) for the changes to come." McGuire sought a society free of the bitter conflicts between social classes -- a "co-operative commonwealth" -- in the words of the day. To that end, he played a leading role in the Knights of Labor and, later, the American Federation of Labor. "We are not a narrow, selfish trade organization, entirely for ourselves," he suggested. "We have been and always will be ready to do our share in the general labor movement, whether it be to help the poorest or the highest-paid worker." His belief in the principles of organizing and labor solidarity was constant, even when faced with other unions that wanted to organize potential UBCJA members. His priority was more and better organization of all workers in whatever union served their interests best. "What difference does it make to the workingman whether he is a Knight of Labor, a trade unionist or a member of the Brotherhood of United Labor, the interests of all are the same." Success rarely comes without cost. The years of McGuire's grinding schedule took their toll. By the turn of the century, his body was wracked with disease. McGuire resigned at the 1902 convention in Atlanta. Looking considerably older than his 50 years, the now frail leader told the delegates he could not and would not continue. "A man wears out like a piece of machinery," he concluded. The man who founded the Brotherhood and presided over its meteoric growth died four years later at his home in Camden, New Jersey. Next Chapter Back to Table of Contents