Reconceptualizing Family, Work and Labor Organizing: Working Women in Troy, 1869-1890

Abstract

This study of women collar workers in Troy, New York (1860-1890) examines the impact of the relationship between work and family life on labor organizing. It poses a neglected question: under what conditions did women form successful unions, become aware of shared interests and develop alliances with men, despite obstacles to permanent organization? By analyzing collar women's employment patterns, family and ethnic networks, as well as work-related factors such as level of expertise and status within the occupation and community, the popular view that working women were a homogeneous group characterized by temporary labor force participation, lack of identification with their work, passivity, and isolation from each other and male workers is challenged. Distinctions between women in different collar occupations shed additional light on levels and characteristics of women's labor activism and group consciousness. The relationship between ethnic and family ties and Troy's industrial structure fostered cooperation between women and men unionists and contributed to the high level of labor activism in Troy. An important conclusion is that a factor formerly viewed as suited to understanding women, the family, is also key for understanding an area thought of as men's domain, labor activity, and indeed the labor militancy of an entire community.