Primary Source Set

Textile Workers & Labor Movements

The textile industry was a major part of North Carolina’s economy in the 20th century. Beginning in the 1920s, low pay, long hours, and dangerous working conditions led textile workers to organize into labor unions, which helped them negotiate for changes. This set uses photographs, newspaper clippings, and propaganda materials to build the story of one of North Carolina’s most famous labor movements—the Loray Mill strike of 1929—and the resurgence of unions in popular culture 50 years later.

Time Period

1920s-1930s and 1970s

Grade Level

8 – 12

A blue poster with black text describing North Carolina labor laws.

Transcript

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Raleigh, N.C. LABOR LAWS EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES, issued by the Director of Social Services in each County, must be secured by minors under 18 years of age and kept on file by employers working such minors. (Domestic and farm work exempted.) The minor must surrender the employment certificate to the employer upon the first day of work, and upon termination of employment the employer must immediately return the certificate to the minor. (G.S. 110-9.) PROHIBITED WORK FOR MINORS: Minors under 18 years of age may not work in, about, or in connection with any establishment where alcoholic liquors (includes wine and beer) are manufactured, distributed, or sold (except in establishments holding "off premises" license only). EXCEPTION: Minors 16 or older may work in Grade A restaurants holding State ABC Board permits, but may not serve or dispense alcoholic beverages while so employed. (G.S. 110-7.) Minors under 18 may not work in any occupation designated hazardous by law. (G.S. 110-6 and 110-7.) Girls under 18 years of age at any form of messenger service or street trade. Minors under 16 years of age at any manufacturing or mechanical establishment. Minors under 14 years of age working in, about or in connection with any gainful occupation with the exception that boys 12 years of age or over may sell and deliver newspapers and magazines for not more than 10 hours per week. HOURS OF WORK FOR MINORS WHEN PERMITTED: Minors 16 and 17 years of age, 9 hours per day, 48 hours per week, 6 days per week, may work between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 midnight. (See exemption for male messengers.) (G.S. 110-2.) Minors 14 and 15 years of age, 8 hours per day (combined hours of work and hours in school shall not exceed 8 in any one day), 40 hours per week, 6 days per week, between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. and only 5 hours continuously without an interval of 30 minutes for lunch period. On days when school is not in session this age minor may work until 9:00 p.m. (G.S. 110-2.) PENALTY FOR VIOLATION of any of the above sections or any of the child labor regulations is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $50, or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both. EMPLOYMENT OF ADULTS MAXIMUM WORKING HOURS. HOURS OF WORK FOR ADULTS:·10 hours per day, 56 hours per week, 12 days in any period of 14 consecutive days. (G.S. 95-17.) EXCEPTIONS: None of the above restrictions apply to: Employees whose employment is covered by, or in compliance with, the Fair Labor Standards Act (Federal Wage & Hour Law). Establishments employing less than four employees. Employment in agriculture, domestic services, cotton gins, bona fide office, foremanship, clerical, or supervisory jobs, executive positions, learned professions, commercial travelers, commercial fishing, seasonal hotels and club houses, charitable institutions, hospitals, common carriers, public utilities, and public employees. (G.S. 95-17.) Spread of Hours: Where the day is divided into 2 or more work periods for the same employee, all such periods shall be within 12 consecutive hours, except in public eating places such periods shall be within 14 hours. (G.S. 95-17) PENALTY FOR VIOLATION: Fine, not less than $10 nor more than $50 or imprisonment for not more than 30 days. (G.S. 95-24.) OVERTIME PAY. OVERTIME: Any covered employee working more than 50 hours in any one week must be paid time and a half his regular rate of pay for such excess hours. (G.S. 95-17.1.) PENALTY FOR VIOLATION: Fine, not less than $10 nor more than $50, or imprisonment for not more than 30 days. (G.S. 95-24.) TIME RECORDS. Every employer shall keep a timebook and/or record which shall state the name and occupation of each employee employed, and which shall indicate the number of hours worked by him or her on each day of the week, and the amount of wages paid each pay period to each such employee. PENALTY FOR VIOLATION, a fine of not less than $5, nor more than $25, or imprisonment for not more than 30 days. (G.S. 95-20 and G.S. 110-5.) MINIMUM WAGES. N.C. MINIMUM WAGE: Every employer must pay to each of his employees wages at a rate not less than one dollar and eighty cents ($1.80) per hour, effective September 2, 1973. (G.S. 95-87.) EXCEPTIONS: The $1.80 minimum wage does not cover: Establishments with less than 4 employees; Federal, State and local government; employees under 16 years of age; employees 65 years of age or over; farm laborers or employees; seafood or fishing industry employees paid on a part-time or piece-rate basis; domestic service in private homes or in charitable institutions primarily supported by public funds; volunteer workers in educational, charitable, religious, or non-profit organizations; any person under 21 employed by his or her father or mother; inmates of penal, corrective, or mental institutions; traveling salesmen; outside salesmen on commission; taxicab drivers and operators; boys' and girls' summer camp employees; newsboys; shoe shine boys; caddies on golf courses; baby sitters; ushers, doormen, concession attendants and cashiers in theaters; (G.S. 95-86.) part-time employees working less than 16 hours per week in establishments having three or less full-time employees. (G.S. 95-87.) PENALTY FORVIOLATION: Fine, not less than $10 nor more than $50 or imprisonment for not more than 30 days. After notification of violation by Commissioner of Labor, each pay period in which violation continues constitutes a separate offense. (G.S. 95-94.) M. C. Creel COMMISSIONER OF LABOR DSI-14-25M 8-73

North Carolina Labor Laws [1973]

This poster describes some of the labor laws in North Carolina from 1973. These laws were ostensibly passed to protect workers from the long hours and dangerous working conditions of previous decades, though some workers argued that the conditions outlined here were still unfair. For instance, under the “Employment of Adults” section, the maximum hours someone can work is 10 per day and 12 out of every 14 days (meaning you would get every other weekend off, for example). These rules also don’t apply to people working in agriculture, domestic services, hospitals, or several other industries, including government (“public employees”). Additionally, the financial penalty for employers who broke these rules was a fine between $10-$50, or about $67-$337 today. The minimum wage in 1973 was $1.80 per hour, which is about $12 in today’s money. 

Contributed to DigitalNC by Alamance Community College

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Raleigh, N.C. (Wake County, Halifax County)

Textile Workers & Labor Movements

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Background

In the 1920s and ‘30s, North Carolina was one of the largest producers of textiles in the country. This was partially due to the state’s natural resources, like cotton, and the demand for uniforms during World War I (1914-1918). Textile companies were also interested in the workers of North Carolina, who they could pay very low wages. As a result, many North Carolinians worked in textile mills that spun cotton into fabric for making clothes, blankets, towels, and other apparel products. Most of these workers faced long hours and dangerous working conditions among the machinery and fabric dyes in addition to low pay. However, the textile industry was so large that in many towns, mills were one of the few options for work. The challenge to find better jobs was made even harder after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed.

One of the ways that textile workers were able to petition for higher pay, fewer hours, and better working conditions was by joining a labor union and going on strike. A labor union is an organization of workers who use their combined power to negotiate for better pay and working conditions. If the workers are unable to come to an agreement with their boss, they may use a strike as a tool to add pressure. A strike is a protest where all of the workers stop doing their jobs, forcing a business to temporarily shut down.

One of the most famous strikes in North Carolina was at the Loray Mill in Gastonia in the summer of 1929. The Loray Mill was then one of the largest cotton mills in the South, employing about 5,000 people. The strike began with help from Northern union organizers Fred Beal and Ellen Dawson, who advocated for the National Textile Workers Union in Gastonia (NTWU). The NTWU’s association with the Communist Party led many townspeople to feel distrustful of the union, and members of the National Guard were called in by the Governor to mitigate violence. However, on June 7, 1929, local police visited the strikers’ tent camp, and Police Chief Aderholt was shot and killed. Several strikers were arrested on murder charges, including Beal. This led to surges of violence between strikers and anti-Communists, including the kidnapping of several workers and the assassination of Ella May Wiggins, a mill worker who wrote and performed ballads about working conditions. After Wiggins’ death, the strike ended without bargaining, leaving many of the area wary of labor unions.

Textile worker unions struggled to get a foothold in North Carolina after the Loray Mill strike. In 1934, when union membership rose under the federal protections of the F. D. Roosevelt administration, some 300,000-500,000 textile workers all along the East Coast went on strike. Though many from North Carolina participated, they did not receive increased pay or improved working conditions when the strike ended (though some improvements were made in the North, where unions were more powerful). As with the Loray Mill strike, this led many people to give up hope in labor unions. Finally, in 1947, North Carolina passed a right-to-work law, which greatly limits unions’ power.

Then, in the 1970s and ‘80s, unions reappeared in the public consciousness through the story of Crystal Lee Sutton, which was popularized in the fictional film Norma Rae (1979). Sutton was a textile worker in the J.P. Stevens mill in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. Frustrated by the pay and working conditions, Sutton helped build a coalition of Black and white textile workers who wanted to unionize. Though she was fired in 1978 for her efforts, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) began to represent workers at the plant, and the union was able to secure a new contract and back pay for workers in 1980. Though Sutton said that Norma Rae does not represent her true life story, she did credit it for “teach[ing] people about unions.”

Discussion Questions

  1. Look at the photos of the outside and inside of the Loray Mill. How would you describe it? Have you ever seen a workplace like this before?

  2. What are some of the reasons that mill workers might want to unionize? Why might some workers not want to unionize? What risks did workers face in joining unions?

  3. Both the Loray Mill strike of 1929 and the J.P. Stevens strike in the 1970s were led by women (Ellen Dawson and Ella May Wiggins in 1929, and Crystal Lee Sutton in 1973). Why were women able to successfully take on leadership roles in these movements in decades when they had fewer civil liberties than men?

  4. Take a look at the two examples of pro-union propaganda, “The Danger of Being Scared Stiff” and “That message from Your Boss.” What do you think about these materials? Are they convincing? Why or why not?

  5. Compare “Public Sentiment Controls Court Action in Gaston and Mecklenburg,” from 1929 and  “Will Town Live Happily Ever After?” from 1980. Both articles talk about townspeople’s opposition to labor unions after the two strikes. What are some of the reasons that people distrusted unions? Why might the public side with the mills?

  6. Both Ella May Wiggins and Crystal Lee Sutton worked with Black mill workers and community members as they organized. How might the decision to join a union have been different for Black workers? What other risks or benefits would they face during these time periods?

  7. What about Crystal Lee Sutton’s story makes it a compelling choice for a movie? Since many people were distrustful of unions, why do you think Norma Rae (1979) was so popular?

This primary source set was compiled by Sophie Hollis.

Updated April 2024