Arthur James Cook Quotes
Not a penny off the pay. Not a minute on the day.
Arthur James Cook, 1885-1931, British Labor Leader, Miners' Strike Slogan, 1925
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Ford was a virulent hater of labor unions. He even hired goons to beat up union members.
This quotation was reprinted and widely distributed by the CIO in its 1936 organizing drive of the Ford Motor Company
Mitchell had warned that the strike was coming (see {607760}). The strike lasted 29 days and ended when the miners received a 10% wage increase. President Theodore Roosevelt mediated the dispute.
The strike went on. See Mitchell’s later statement: {607757}.
He had squads of thugs that he would “rent” out to other gangsters for their enforcement activities and to unions to protect themselves from goons and intimidate non union workers. However, he would not let his men work as goons and strike busters or for companies—despite huge pay offers—to keep their workers in line, a common practice at the time.
This is a fascinating historical quotation about labor disputes and strikes. The conservatives at the beginning of the 20th century were horrified at the idea of a strike of any kind. Their idea of a labor dispute with picketing would allow one or two protesters with signs stating their case to stand outside the factory. Or one person visiting a worker and suggesting that the worker not work during the strike. However, when the degree of passion was expressed by many people picketing they were opposed. At the time, the working class and the unions had no other resources other than the bodies of their workers. They could not advertise, publish newspapers, hire lobbyists to explain their point of view to Parliament. The conservatives then were then very undemocratic and believed that the monarchy with a responsible aristocracy of the upper class should run the nation for all. They WERE actually intimidated by a large number of people doing anything that was not endorsed by or approved by the ruling class. Women in large protest marches for the right to vote were intimidating also. The threat was, as they saw it, “Do as we demand or we will bring down the world as you know it.” In a sense that is what happened. There is no conservative in England who would today deny a union the right to picket with many people.
This was praise indeed as Wellman was generally very conservative.
Arthur James Cook, was a British trade union leader who was General Secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain from 1924 until 1931, a period that included the 1926 General Strike.
