New Bedford Strikers Cast Vote
On this day in 1928, after a bitter six-month strike, the members of New Bedford's Textile Council voted to accept a compromise offer. Faced with overproduction and falling profits, the mill owners had imposed a ten percent pay cut. Both the moderate Textile Council, to which skilled mill workers belonged, and the radical Textile Mill Committee, which included many unskilled immigrant laborers, responded by going out on strike. At first, the strike felt like a holiday. But as the months passed, and strikers faced a hungry winter, pressure increased to settle. In late September, the mill owners proposed a five percent cut. Although only members of the Textile Committee were permitted to cast votes, their acceptance of the deal brought an end to the strike.
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