Tools and Machinery of the Granite Industry, Part IV

Reasons for early unionization of the granite industry are not hard to find. The granite industry was (and is) highly competitive with tight margins and required large capital investment in tools and machinery, which strongly motivated management to keep the payroll down. Work was highly variable, especially in the building granite industry, where a large contract was often completed before the next contract had yet been signed, leading management to hire and fire large groups of workers at one time. Safety rules were often viewed by management as reducing efficiency and production. Finally, many immigrants from Europe had a strong socialist tradition and tended to view management with suspicion, perceiving worker exploitation (Figure 53). The Granite Cutters International Association (successor to the Granite Cutters National Union) was the earliest and most effective of the granite unions. Unions were also organized for other workers such as quarrymen, sharpeners, lumpers, derrickmen, and boxers. As a counterbalance to the increasing strength of unions, granite manufacturer's associations were organized by company owners in most of the major granite communities. For example, by 1909, there were thirty-one manufacturer association members in Hardwick and Woodbury, Vermont.

The main concerns of the granite unions were regular paydays, hourly rates, and hours worked per week. In the late 1800s, granite workers were paid at irregular and unpredictable intervals, were earning on average only 30 to 35 cents per hour, and were working six ten-hour days per week. The other big union issue was its concerns about airborne granite dust. Workers strike demands included regular paydays, an eight-hour workday, increased hourly wages, and safety conditions on the use of pneumatic tools. Granite workers at this time did not have medical insurance, workman's compensation, or retirement plans, although granite workers could buy voluntary insurance for $1.00 per week with the employer contributing $ 1.50 per week. They also had to endure the ups and downs of the granite business. Added to this were the strikes; for example, there were more than a dozen strikes in Hardwick and Woodbury from 1896 to 1933. The granite worker could expect to have a lot of unpaid "vacation time"!

As an example of a labor agreement, in 1911, a five-year settlement on a new scale of wages was agreed upon in all branches of the granite industry in Hardwick. Lumpers and drillers were to get an increase from $2.08 to $2.25, from $2.23 to $2.35, and from $2.35 to $2.40. Those earning $2.50 or more would have no change. Stonecutters were to get an increase from $3.10 to $3.25 for monumental granite and from $3.20 to $3.30 for building granite. Weekly pay and the Saturday half holiday (that is, the men worked only half a day on Saturday) were included in the agreement. The half holiday would be in force during the summer months or when there was light during the working hours. During the winter months, the men would labor seven and one-half hours in the day in lieu of the half holiday. The bumper was excluded in the new contract. Blacksmiths and sharpeners were to receive the same increase as the cutters and the polishers would also receive an increase in pay.