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.
Background
Pecan industry in St. Louis
St. Louis has historically been a significant center for the processing of pecans, due in large part to their natural range along the Mississippi River valley and the ease with which they could be transported to and from the city via boat. According to historian Clarence Lang, this industry was the city's "major food-processing enterprise". In the Greater St. Louis area in the early 1930s, there were 16 factories that processed pecans. Seven of those were owned by the R. E. Funsten Company, the single largest employer in the market, which included four in St. Louis, Missouri, and three in East St. Louis, Illinois. The company was started in St. Louis in 1895 by its namesake, a businessman from Virginia. By 1933, Funsten's son, Eugene, was the company's president. At the time, the company was valued at approximately $75,000 (equivalent to $ million in ). The company's main facility and corporate offices were located at the intersection of Delmar Boulevard and 16th Street.
Labor force and working conditions In 1933, the pecan processing industry employed about 3,000 women, with Funsten's main plant employing about 700 women. Industrywide, about 85 to 90 percent of the workforce was made up of black women, with white women constituting much of the remainder. With a total of 1,200 employees, Funsten may have been the single largest employer of black women in St. Louis. About 40 percent of these workers were youths, while a majority were middle-aged and had families that they supported. Only a few men, both African Americans and white Americans, were employed in more specialized positions or as foremen.
At Funsten, the workers operated in racially segregated facilities. For instance, at a plant on Chouteau Avenue, the first floor was where white women worked while the second floor was where black women worked. Additionally, the black and white workers had different times for arriving and departing from the facilities. The black women worked 52 hours per week, from 6:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a 45-minute lunch break. On Saturdays, they worked until noon. White women's schedules, in contrast, typically ran from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an hour-long lunch break. This was part of a larger trend in the region, as St. Louis was host to numerous Jim Crow laws that restricted African American life.
Most of the women worked in "picking", a part of the processing procedure where workers would use a knife to separate the edible nut from its nutshell. The pickers operated in poor working conditions. Dust from the nuts posed a breathing hazard, which was made worse by poor ventilation in the facilities. Additionally, despite being a food-related industry, the plants were not subject to health regulations, and bathrooms were often unsanitary. Sometimes, picking was performed at the workers' houses.
Wages and economic conditions in 1930s St. Louis In the two years preceding 1933, workers at Funsten's facilities experienced multiple wage cuts. In a 1933 interview with the St. Louis Star-Times, one worker who had been a Funsten employee for 18 years, Carrie Smith, stated that, while her average weekly wage in 1918 was $18 ($ in ), she was now making no more than $4 ($ in ). Another employee stated that she had received weekly wages of as low as $0.63 ($ in ). On average, African American workers had a weekly wage of $1.80 ($ in ), while white workers had a wage of $2.75 ($ in ). By contrast, the average weekly wage in 1929 had been about $10 ($ in ). For pickers, their pay was based on a piece rate, with African Americans getting paid $0.03 per pound of nut-halves and $0.02 per pound of nut-pieces ($ and $ in ). For the same poundage, white workers were paid $0.05 and $0.04 ($ and $ in ), respectively.
About half of the Funsten workers at the time were receiving some form of financial assistance. In major cities across the United States, the number of families receiving welfare assistance of some form had risen about 85 to 90 percent compared to 1932 due to the impact of the Great Depression. In St. Louis, the unemployment rate had risen to about 25 percent the previous year. Over the course of the Great Depression, unemployment in St. Louis would peak at about 30 percent, compared to 9 percent prior to the Depression, and roughly 70 percent of black workers were either unemployed or underemployed. As a result, the city was a hotbed for radical labor movements, including campaigns to assist the poor. African Americans were overrepresented in these movements.
Organized labor at Funsten Around 1933, the idea of labor organizing at Funsten originated with a relative of two company employees. This man was a member of the Communist Party USA and invited his relatives to attend party meetings. Within a few meetings, a score of women had met and, working with the Communist Party, began to organize under the Food Workers Industrial Union. This union was an affiliate of the Trade Union Unity League, a Communist Party-led labor organization that advocated for industrial unionism. Their involvement with the nut-pickers marked the union's first involvement in St. Louis. Bill Sentner, a party associate and member of the local John Reed Club, served as a union organizer; Smith was the "heart and soul" of the labor action.
A local union with a presiding executive committee was established and the women employees agreed to present the following demands to Funsten's management: union recognition, equal pay for black and white employees, and a wage scale of $0.10 ($ in ) per pound of nut-halves and $0.04 per pound of nut-pieces. According to historian Myrna Fichtenbaum, the organizing efforts most likely first took hold at a Funsten plant in western St. Louis, on Easton Avenue. While there were union members at other plants, this plant boasted a union membership of about 100 workers, representing about half of the plant's workforce.
On April 24, 1933, a dozen union members at the Easton Avenue plant presented their demands to management, and they were told that their demands would be conveyed up the management chain and that they would get a response soon. However, after three weeks had passed without a response from the company, the executive committee decided to initiate further organizing efforts at other Funsten plants. On May 12, the union held a meeting with 700 employees at Funsten's main facility and enrolled an additional 15 members into their union. The following day, the union held a large meeting and conducted a vote on whether to initiate a strike action, with the consensus being to strike. The union decided that on Monday, May 15, workers at the Easton Avenue plant would ask for a response to their demands and, if the response was unsatisfactory, they would initiate a walkout and inform workers at the main plant to do the same. This strike action would follow a previous wildcat strike that had occurred at Funsten's main plant in 1927, which had ended in failure for the strikers.
Course of the strike
Beginning of the strike On May 15, approximately 900 Funsten employees performed a walkout, initiating the strike. By the second day, the number of striking workers had grown to about 1,400. While only African Americans had been involved in the initial walkout, white workers began to join the strike by the second day. By this time, the strike had expanded to two other Funsten plants, as well as the facilities of two other companies: the Central Pecan Company and the Liberty Nut Company. Following the third day of the strike, the president of Funsten offered the strikers a wage increase of percent, though this offer was rejected by the strikers. Funsten later offered a pay rate of $0.75 ($ in ) per box of pecans, though this offer was also rejected.
In justifying his company's position to the press, Funsten stated that the wage cuts had been a result of the economic downturn, highlighting this in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch where he stated that the company had not made a profit in two years. The St. Louis Argus, an African American newspaper, pushed back against his claims given the current price of pecans, while Fichtenbaum stated that later analysis showed an estimated yearly profit for Funsten of $250,000 at the time.
Strike leadership and organization At each plant, the workers elected their own strike committees and leaders, with most of the leaders being black women. The committees held daily meetings to plan strategies, and public meetings were held every morning to keep the strikers informed of any new developments. Additionally, the strikers organized committees to handle negotiations, as well as relief efforts for the workers. The strikers reached out to the broader community for support, with representatives of the workers participating in meetings at local churches and synagogues. Food donations were collected from individuals and groups in the area, such as the Communist Party and the Unemployed Councils, with the Workers International Relief office in Chicago making a donation to the effort.