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The Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915–1916 were labor actions of refinery workers in
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...
, mostly Polish-Americans who struck
Standard Oil of New Jersey
ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its root ...
and
Tidewater Petroleum
Tidewater Oil Company (rendered as "Tide Water Oil Company" from 1887 to 1936) was a major petroleum refining company during that period. Tidewater was sold many times during its existence. Brands included Tydol, Flying A, and Veedol.
The Veedo ...
plants on
Constable Hook
Constable Hook is a cape located on the north side of the outlet of Kill van Kull into Upper New York Bay in Bayonne, New Jersey.
The cape has long been an important site of marine transfer operations in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Just ...
beginning in mid-July 1915.
The 1915 strike
Initially about 1200 workers walked out, including 900 coopers, when their demands for increased pay and tolerable working conditions were ignored. The company retaliated by calling in the Bayonne police force through the
Mayor of Bayonne, New Jersey,
Pierre P. Garven, who was simultaneously on Standard Oil's payroll as an attorney. A riot on July 20, 1915 involving the strikers, police and "several hundred women" shut down the Standard Oil plant, and caused the shooting death of 19-year-old striker John Sterancsak.
Plant general manager George B. Gifford ordered 250 men from the professional strikebreaker
Pearl Bergoff Pearl Louis Bergoff (April 23, 1875 or 1878-August 11, 1947)U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for Pearl Louis Bergoff, September 12, 1918, accessed via Ancestry.comU.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925 for Pearl L Bergoff, Janu ...
.
The following day a mob attacked the Tidewater refinery in an attempt to set it on fire. After several days of lawlessness, significant arson damage, at least five strikers killed altogether, and at least five more seriously wounded, Sheriff
Eugene Francis Kinkead
Eugene Francis Kinkead (March 27, 1876 – September 6, 1960), was an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey who represented the 9th congressional district from 1909 to 1913, and the 8th district from 1913 to 1915.
Biograph ...
and federal labor mediators restored order after
James Fairman Fielder
James Fairman Fielder (February 26, 1867 – December 2, 1954) was an American politician of the Democratic party, who served as the 35th governor of New Jersey, from 1914 to 1917. He had previously served as acting governor in 1913 but stepped ...
, the
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...
refused to call out the
New Jersey National Guard
The New Jersey Army National Guard consists of more than 6,000 Citizen-Soldiers. The New Jersey Army National Guard is currently engaged in multiple worldwide and homeland missions. Units have deployed to Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, Germ ...
. The General Superintendent of the Tidewater facility and 32 guards were arrested on a charge of inciting to riot. A total of 130 plant guards would be arrested. Saloons were closed. Local officials also arrested the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
agitator
Frank Tannenbaum, who had tried to insert himself as a spokesperson for the strikers, and banned the sale of the socialist newspaper, the ''
New York Call
The ''New York Call'' was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The ''Call'' was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, following the ''Chicago Daily S ...
''.
On the 28th, the workers warily returned on promises of increased pay and the institution of an
eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses.
An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 16 ...
, promises which appear to have been kept by September.
The 1916 strike
Refinery workers struck Standard Oil again on October 3 through 20, 1916 for increased wages. Only thirty-six workers in the paraffin department caused thousands of other workers to join the action. Additional workers may have joined the original group of pressmen because the Standard Oil works closed down on the 10th, or when trolley lines to the adjoining Tidewater and Eagle Oil plants were blocked.
Dangerous riot conditions again took hold of the area around the plants. In a charge against police lines on the 10th, three policemen and eight workmen were shot and wounded. On the 11th, a mob of five hundred besieged police headquarters and looted saloons for liquor. Seven were shot the next day, including a woman fatally wounded as she looked out of her second-story window. Organized police action on the 13th, the tenth straight day of rioting, quelled the mob.
[
The strike ended on October 19 as the strikers returned to work with no concessions given. The estimated total casualties were four dead and 34 wounded, 11 of those seriously wounded.]
Aftermath
The Standard Oil company had long been a target of public criticism, and its conduct during the strike only intensified it. Following the strike John D. Rockefeller Jr. decided to no longer rely on an exclusively critical stance towards labor — "Whenever it shows its head, hit it" — and overhaul company policy. To this end he hired Clarence Hicks, who recommended a sweeping plan of employee benefits, including a pension plan. This approach was only partially successful, however, since labor recognized the intent of tying workers to the company and preventing strike action by including pension provisions that would penalize strike activity.[Quadagno, Jill. The Transformation of Old Age Security: Class and Politics in the American Welfare State. Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1988. page 90]
See also
* Murder of workers in labor disputes in the United States
The following list of worker deaths in United States labor disputes captures known incidents of fatal labor-related violence in U.S. labor history, which began in the colonial era with the earliest worker demands around 1636 for better working co ...
* Exxon Mobil-New Jersey Environmental Pollution Settlement
External links
Bayonne refinery strike
at Flickr Commons
Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting service, image hosting and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and w ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915-1916
1915 labor disputes and strikes
1916 labor disputes and strikes
Bayonne, New Jersey
1915-1916
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1 ...
1915 in New Jersey
1916 in New Jersey
Labor-related riots in the United States
Manufacturing industry labor disputes in the United States
Labor disputes in New Jersey
History of the petroleum industry in the United States
Polish-American culture in New Jersey