FoundSF

Historical Essay

by Judy Yung

Excerpted from Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco published by UC Press, 1995.

In 1938, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union organized a strike among San Francisco's predominantly Asian sweat shop workers.

Photo: provenance unknown

In 1933 alone, the ILGWU, which had been on the wane since the 1920s, increased its nationwide membership 400 percent (from 40,000 to 200,000 strong) after mounting a massive organizing drive in sixty cities. Operating on the principle of racial equality, it welcomed large numbers of black and Mexican American women into its rank and file. But organizing Chinese workers proved more difficult—until frustrated workers at the National Dollar Stores factory decided enough was enough.

With [Jennie] Matyas’s assistance, eighty workers at the National Dollar Stores signed certification cards favoring a union shop, and in November 1937 Local 341 of the Chinese Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (LGWU) was chartered under the ILGWU. In response, the factory fired four of the active union members and demoted Willie Go, the chief organizer. (Later, however, under pressure from the ILGWU, which threatened to call a strike during the Christmas season with support from the Retail Department Store Employees’ Union, which had jurisdiction over employees at Shoong’s retail stores, National Dollar Stores reinstated the men.)

National Dollar Stores then insisted that a vote be taken to prove that the workers wanted the ILGWU as their collective bargaining agent. The bilingual-ballot election, supervised by the regional National Labor Relations Board on January 24, 1938, endorsed the ILGWU, and an agreement was reached the next day between factory and union representatives. Wage increases, to be agreed upon at a later date, would be paid retroactively to January 24, 1938, and the factory would become a closed shop (all employees had to join the union), with all hiring to be done through the union. Two weeks later, National Dollar Stores announced that it had sold the Chinatown factory to Golden Gate Manufacturing through it was keeping the retailing sector. The garment workers saw this move as a subterfuge to freeze them out and break up the union. Now having to negotiate with the new owners, G.N. Wong and Hoo Joe Sun—the foreman and manager of the National Dollar Stores, respectively—the ILGWU demanded that National Dollar Stores buy all its manufactured goods from Golden Gate and that Golden Gate guarantee work for a minimum of eleven months of the year and ensure this minimum wit a $10,000 bond. These demands were in addition to recognition of a union shop and $20 wages for a thirty-five-hour work-week. National Dollar Stores and Golden Gate Company refused to comply with any of these demands, and on February 26, 1938, at 8 a.m., the Chinese LGWU officially called a strike and began picketing the factory and three National Dollar retail stores in San Francisco.

According to the Chinese LGWU’s official releases and flyers directed at the public, the unscrupulous practices of the National Dollar Stores were the catalyst that caused 108 workers to go on strike:

We are on strike for increased wages to support our livelihood . . . We have tried repeatedly to negotiate in good faith with our employer, but he has consistently used the oppressive tactics of the capitalist to delay us. He forced us to have an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board which resulted in recognition of our union. His legal representatives signed an agreement with ours, but he continued to use all kinds of unscrupulous tactics to try and break up our collective effort, even to the point of changing the ownership of the factory. His goal is to break our rice bowl strategy. We have no choice but to strike for fair treatment.

The ILGWU not only took care of legal matters, conducted the negotiations, provided relief monies, and sponsored English classes for the workers, but it also sought the sanction of the San Franciso Labor Council and the cooperation the Retail Department Store Employees’ Union. Only when the white retail clerks refused to cross the picket line at the three local National Dollar Stores, thus closing down the stores for two weeks, did John Shoong feel compelled to deal with the situation.

Strikers share a light moment.

Photo: Provenance unknown

Jennie Matyas had to convince white employers that Chinese workers were just as good as white workers. “They didn’t want any Chinese because of the reputation that the Chinese will work for nothing and cut the wages down,” Sue recalled. “Finally she got Edna [Lee] in, and she proved her worth. And after that, the door was open and employers began asking for Chinese workers . . . And that was how the Chinese workers got out of Chinatown to work elsewhere.” she concluded emphatically: “The strike was the best thing that ever happened. It changed our lives.”