The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 101, July 1997 - April, 1998 Page: 499
574 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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No Gold Watch for Jim Crow's Retirement
Jim Crow unionism from Hughes Tool, but it also created the legal
means to desegregate all labor unions.'
Segregated labor organizations had been part of Hughes Tool's histo-
ry. In the 192os, the management established two employee welfare
organizations, which were segregated by race. Whites belonged to the
Employees Welfare Organization and blacks were restricted to the
Hughes Tool Colored Club. The NLRB disbanded both groups in 1940
when it was determined that they.were management-dominated unions,
which became illegal under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935-
In 1941, former members of the defunct welfare groups responded to
the NLRB's decision by organizing the Independent Metal Workers
Union (IMW). The IMW spurned affiliation with either the AFL or CIO,
and instead acted as a single-employer union that represented only
workers at Hughes Tool. It established two locals and segregated them
by race; Local No. 1 was exclusively for whites and Local No. 2 was for
blacks. Except for a brief period between 1943 and 1946, when the
United Steelworkers of America/CIO wrested their bargaining rights
away, the IMW remained the dominant union at the plant.6
To a significant degree, Hughes Tool promoted racial segregation in
order to capitalize on racism's divisive effects within the unions.
Beginning with its segregated welfare organizations and then its rela-
tionships with the IMW and CIO unions, management remained com-
mitted to segregating the workforce. Experience demonstrated that
Hughes Tool's color barrier had helped management undermine union
solidarity along racial lines and also provided the company with a rela-
tively cheap and submissive pool of black workers reserved for the
hottest, dirtiest, and most menial jobs in the plant.'
The company defended its segregationist policy against calls for inte-
gration of the workforce. During World War II, the Fair Employment
Practice Commission (FEPC), a federal agency that investigated discrimi-
nation against minorities employed in defense industries, determined that
Hughes Tool encouraged discriminatory arrangements at its main facility,
at Dickson Gun, and at Aircraft Strut Plants, all of which manufactured
Herbert Hill, Black Labor and the American Legal System: Race, Work, and the Law (Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 22-26, 131-133; Harris, The Harder We Run, 137-143,
156-158.
6 Michael Botson, "Jim Crow Wearing Steel-Toed Shoes and Safety Glasses: Duel Unionism at the
Hughes Tool Company, 1918-1942," The Houston Review, 16, no. 2 (1994), 1o1-116.
7 "Official Report of Proceedings Before The National Labor Relations Board: In The Matter of
Hughes Tool Company and Independent Metal Workers Union, Locals Nos. 1 and 2, and
United Steelworkers of America," AFL-CIO, Docket No. 23-CB-429, 23-RC-1758, 33-36,
256-258, RG 025 (National Archives), cited hereafter as "Proceedings"; Ivory Davis and
Columbus Henry to Michael R. Botson Jr., interview, May 3, 1994, RG 329 (Texas Labor
Archives, University of Texas at Arlington).1998
499
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 101, July 1997 - April, 1998, periodical, 1998; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117155/m1/582/?rotate=270: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.