In the Great
Depression conditions in the southern textile mill
towns became
desperate
- pay was cut and workers were expected
to tend
more machines--called
a stretch-out or speed-up
- in the New Deal the federal government
stepped
in to help
people, and the textile workers thought that would mean
that President
Roosevelt would help them, but instead he allowed
programs that helped
the factory owners more than the workers
The
New Deal,
by Conrad A. Albrizio, 1934
- many local mills went on strike in the
General
Textile
Strike of 1934, and in Honea
Path shooting broke out and seven strikers were
killed and 30 wounded
- union organizers went from mill to mill
trying
to persuade
the workers to strike--they were called flying squadrons
Spartanburg
flying squadron leaving Apalache mill
- the unions were unsuccessful--the
situation
for workers
remained very difficult until WWII broke out and there
began to be a
shortage
of workers
After the war the mills became less of the
center of
the
community
- the mill town houses were sold to
workers
- cars meant people had more freedom
- automation meant fewer workers were
needed
- textile mills had trouble competing
with mills
in other
countries where workers were paid less, many
closed
- textile employment in South Carolina
has
dropped from 106,400
in 1987 to 60,200
in 2001
