Barons of labor: The san francisco building trades, 1896-1922

This study revises the interpretation of craft unions during the Progressive era as "pure-and-simple" bodies, interested only in the economic welfare of their own members. It argues--through an examination of the work, politics, and culture of what was probably the strongest local section of the American Federation of Labor--that skilled workers were integral to the shaping of urban society in the early twentieth century. The 20,000 craftsmen and laborers united in the Building Trades Council of San Francisco (BTC) had a privileged and pivotal status in what was the citadel of trade unionism on the Pacific Coast. In the local construction industry, they enforced a near-universal closed shop, the nation's highest blue-collar wages, and trade rules which insured a large degree of control over their work. BTC leaders operated a political machine that participated in city elections, reform campaigns, and the movement to exclude Asian immigrants from the United States. The study alternates analytical sections with a narrative history of San Francisco labor from 1896 to 1922--the years when the BTC contended for local power. It explains why the city's working-class movement was so strong; the structure of the building industry and the behavior of contractors, craftsmen, and union officials; the organizational character of the BTC; and the combination of class-conscious egalitarianism and racial hatred with animated white workers. Included are accounts of conflicts during the reconstruction period that followed the earthquake and fire of 1906, labor's tactical alliance with progressive office-holders after the demise of the independent Union Labor Party, and the multi-faceted crisis of the established unions during and after World War I. It concludes with an examination of the ambiguous position of skilled workers in America during the Progressive era.