The Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915–1916 were labor actions of refinery workers in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Gateway Region on Bergen Neck, a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York ...

, mostly Polish-Americans who struck

Standard Oil of New Jersey Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was formed ...

and

Tidewater Petroleum Tidewater Oil Company (rendered as Tide Water Oil Company from 1887 to 1936) was a major petroleum refining company during the early 20th century. After operating independently from 1887 to 1926, Tidewater was sold to a holding company. Over the ...

plants on Constable Hook 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. 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 and federal labor mediators restored order after James Fairman Fielder, the

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

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 Naval Base, Guantan ...

. 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), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

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 of working time. The modern movement originated i ...

, 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

External links

Bayonne refinery strike
at

Flickr Commons Flickr ( ) is an image and 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 was previously a common way for amateur and professional photogra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915-1916 1915 labor disputes and strikes 1916 labor disputes and strikes 1910s strikes in the United States 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 Standard Oil

The 1915 strike

The 1916 strike

Aftermath

See also

External links

References