1933 Funsten Nut strike
| 1933 Funsten Nut strike | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | May 15–24, 1933 (9 days) | ||
| Location | Greater St. Louis, United States | ||
| Caused by | Poor working conditions and low pay | ||
| Goals |
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| Methods | |||
| Result | Strike ended after agreement from management to raise wages; the company later broke the union through downsizing, mechanization, and relocations | ||
| Parties | |||
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Workers for the R. E. Funsten Company, a pecan-processing corporation based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, held a labor strike from May 15 to May 24, 1933. The workers, consisting largely of black women employed at facilities in both St. Louis and nearby East St. Louis, Illinois, were organized by the Food Workers Industrial Union and were demanding union recognition, an increase in pay, and equal pay for both African American and white American workers. The strike ended in success for the strikers, but within a few years, the union had been crushed by the company.
St. Louis had historically been a center for pecan-processing, and in the 1930s, the industry employed about 3,000 people, overwhelmingly black women. Most worked in nut-picking, the process of removing the edible nut from the shells. At Funsten, the largest employer, the black workers earned less and worked longer than their white counterparts. In early 1933, following several wage decreases, workers began to associate with the local Communist Party USA chapter which organized the workers under the Trade Union Unity League, which was affiliated to the party. That April, workers presented demands to management and after several weeks without an answer, declared a strike on May 15.
The initial walkout involved about 900 workers, and by the second day, about 200 white workers had joined. The strike spread to other Funsten facilities as well as plants owned by other companies and involved an estimated 1,400 workers. The strikers rejected several compromise offers made by Funsten and received support from groups such as the Communist Party and the Unemployed Councils. Within several days, St. Louis Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann began to offer arbitration, and on May 24, the union ratified an agreement that saw wage increases near what they had requested.
In the aftermath of the strike, eleven local union branches were formed and enlisted about 1,400 workers, while the Communist Party recruited about a hundred new members. While the union was initially successful in preventing any downsizing, the company responded by firing certain workers, mechanizing parts of the processing system, and relocating work to other areas. By 1935, the union league had been dissolved. However, historians have highlighted the strike's positive impact on labor organizing in the area, including other industries. Additionally, several historians have said that the strike foreshadowed other civil rights movements and protests in favor of expanded African American rights.