History of Meizhou Gongyi Tongmeng Zonghui (Unionist Guild of America).

Shuyao

This history was published in the Mar., Apr. 1924 issues (nos. 1 and 2) of Kung Sing (Voice of Labor), the news organ of the Unionist Guild. Many of the guild's leaders were influenced by anarcho-syndicalism, and the guild can be considered as one of the first Chinese labor organizations influenced by Western political ideology. The guild existed until the late 1920s.--HML

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San Francisco's Meizhou Gongyi Tongmeng Zonghui (Unionist Guild of America) was founded in May 1919. At that time there were a zealous group of idealists who saw the workers' poor working conditions. (1) In spite of difficulties and dangers, they made an effort to organize the workers to defend their rights. They borrowed the Tawing She (Discussing the world society) clubroom to discuss the matter. A total of 29 people attended. During the meeting it was decided to donate funds to print an announcement, requesting the opinion of workers at the baiyi (Cantonese baak-yee; "white garment") (2) factories and shops. Following is part of the announcement:

 To Mr. --:

 In order to support the "white garments" industry and improve
 the working people's lives, we are planning the formation of an
 organization to plan together how to decrease working hours and
 improve health conditions, and to increase wages and maintain
 livelihoods. Also in this present age, all occupations are reducing
 working hours and increasing wages, in order to improve
 the welfare of the working class. Since you sit are an important
 personage in the "white garments" industrial circles, we presume
 that you will express approval of this move. We specially send
 you this letter, and hope that you will send a letter of
 endorsement, so that we can establish a date for convening a meeting
 of all in the "white garment" business. We also request that you
 discuss this with members of the xijia [Cantonese sai-gaa; "west
 house," i.e., workers, employees] (3) at your place of business. We
 beg you to give us a reply within two days after receipt of this
 letter. This is an important issue, please do not disregard it by
 laying it aside.

 Qiao-Mei Baiyi Gongye Tongmenghui [The Baak-Yee Industry
 Covenanters in America]

Seventy letters were sent out, but more than one hundred letters replied voicing support, exceeding the letters sent out by a third. The sponsors thus saw that everybody was supportive. On May 18, they borrowed the [facilities of the] Yeong Wo Association (4) to hold an inaugural meeting, after which they immediately discussed establishing set bylaws, and elected officers. After deciding on the name Gongyi Tongmeng (Unionist Guild) for the group, the assemblage decided on presenting nine demands to the factory and shop owners for agreement. Following is the letter with the nine demands:

 To whom it may concern:

 Our organization had met on the 18th of this month to discuss
 improving conditions in the "white garment" industry, and have
 decided on nine conditions that we request your firm to accept and
 to implement by the 26th of this month. We also request you to
 answer us officially by letter before the 22nd of this month.
 Should we not receive a reply after the deadline and you use
 pretexts to shift responsibilities to others, then our organization
 will announce to fellow workers our decision to go on strike. We
 hope that you will read this letter.

To: Mr.--of--Company

From: The Unionist Guild,

Our demands are as follows:

(1) The work day is to be limited to nine hours.

(2) From this day on, wages are to increase and not decrease.

(3) Time and a half is to be paid for work over nine hours. Additional remuneration for other work such as helping to make sales in the shop, or working at night will be suitably negotiated by each individual.

(4)Double time is to be paid for Sunday work.

(5) Paid time off is to be given for American holidays. If the worker must work then he should be paid in accordance with item (4).

(6) Besides personal insurance purchased for an individual, employers are to pay medical expenses for injuries incurred during performance of work on the factory's premises.

(7) The term of apprenticeship shall be set at two months, during which time the apprentice is to be allowed weekly expense money of $1.00. After completing the apprenticeship, the wages are to be determined based on the skills exhibited by the worker.

(8) In case of a fire when a worker lives on the premises of his employer, the employer shall recompense him $50.00 to pay for losses incurred even if the individual had purchased insurance.

(9) If our organization discovers that a worker was not complying, or feigning compliance with the above regulations, and after investigation determined it to be deliberate, our organization can send a letter to discharge that worker, and cannot use pretexts to shift the responsibility onto others.

After the companies received the letter, they saw the rising power of the workers and thought that they could not counter it. They were somewhat apprehensive and immediately began discussions with the workers. Several meetings were held at Yeong Wo Association. The result was that a total of 32 factories accepted eight of the demands by the deadline. The ninth demand was deleted after mutual discussions. There was a three-day strike to force acceptance by workers at the plant of a factory owner who was late in accepting the demands. He also had to make good the loss of ten or more dollars incurred by each worker due to participation in the strike.

After the workers' accomplished their objectives they rode the momentum and went ahead to demand that the employers repeal the $1 weekly fee charged each worker for use of a machine at the factory. Repeal of this requirement increased each worker's annual income by more than $50. For a total of 300 male and female workers, the annual total was more than $15,000. Also, previously workers had to pay for the thread they use to sew garments for the employer. This amounted to at least $3 per month. The workers also successfully demanded repeal of this requirement, which increased each worker's annual income by more than $30, and the total for 300 workers amounted to more than $10,000.

During this period, the power of the Guild was increased day by day. Therefore it decided to add an Agricultural and Miscellaneous department. In September, Chinese agricultural workers in Suisun heard the news and organized a Suisun branch of the Unionist Guild. The result was that they succeeded in their objective of reducing working hours and increasing wages.

After the founding of the Suisun branch, officers of Gongyi Tongmeng (Unionist Guild) changed its name to Meizhou Gongyi Tongmeng Zonghui (Unionist Guild of America) and also conducted an opening ceremony.

But even as the "white garments" workers organized, the employers also immediately established a Xizhuang Shanghui (Western clothing merchants' association) to counter it. Issues concerning workers had to be solved by discussion between the two organizations.

On September 28 a Guild member in an Oakland factory was treated harshly by the factory's financial officer named Liu (Cantonese Lau). The workers went on strike and demanded that the factory owner discharge Lau as well as continue to hire the striking workers and remunerate the workers for the loss of income incurred during the strike. The Guild convened several general meetings to discuss this issue and thought that the Guild [would] win in the end. But people's minds were not in unison. Some workers did not wait until the issue was settled before returning to work. As a result, the workers lost. The Guild officers felt that since some members violated the agreement in the strike resolution, the Guild should expel them in accordance with the strike resolution. At the time there were many opinions with regards to this decision. There were those who resigned voluntarily, and there were those who resigned and then reconsidered and asked to rejoin the Guild. The weakness of their resolve is really pitiful!

In March 1920, due to the inflation that led to increases in the cost of living, workers in Oakland "white garment" shops felt they need[ed] a wage increase on each piece of work. They made a list of demands that they distributed to each factory owner, asking for an answer within six days. The workers in San Francisco also presented a similar list; using the dollar as the basis, they demanded wages to be increased by 15 percent and asked for an answer within four days or the workers [would] be called to go on strike. The earliest plants to agree were the factories of Chung Hing, On Tai, Choy Sam and Lee Wui. But at the Hung On factory, due to the fact that the workers were not steadfast in their resolve, the owner won in the end.

Before the demands were made, Miss Cen Huijian (Cantonese Sum Wai Gim; Alice Sum) (5) introduced a co-worker at one shop to join the Guild. Unexpectedly she was laid off by a Mr. Lee. Afterward there was a meeting to discuss how to deal with this issue. The result was that Mr. Lee voluntarily repaid the $15 in wages she was not able to earn, and agree[d] to let her resume her job. Miss Sum immediately donated the funds to the Guild for its operating budget.

On April 4 a meeting was convened to initiate a People's Factory for sewing "white garments." The group elected Li Baichou (Cantonese Lee Baak Chau) to be acting manager to raise funds for the project. The rationale for this plant is to escape from the oppression of the factory owners, and to establish a factory in which everyone freely cooperates.

At the beginning, there were many who supported the idea, and about $10,000 was pledged. At that time a factory site had already been leased in Oakland, and sewing machines purchased. But later due to changes in the contemporary situation, business conditions became slacker day by day. Many who pledged funds could not deliver and had to announce withdrawal from their pledges at meetings. In January 1922, the Guild leadership, seeing the widespread discouragement, convened a special convention first to strengthen bonds of friendship and also to expand Guild activities and to revise the bylaws, now that the bylaws had been revised and the officers for 1924 elected. The elected officers, in order to increase education of the workers, called a meeting to pass a resolution to start a monthly publication that began in March. The appearance of this monthly surely will be a bright star for the Chinese workers. (6)

[Comments by the writer Shuyao that follow this history were not translated.]

NOTES

(1.) The Unionist Guild was founded by Chinese influenced by the anarcho-syndicalist philosophy.

(2.) "White garments" refer to the fact that the products of the garment factories were white in color, that is, shirts, underwear, blouses, and so on. A related term is huayi (Cantonese faa-yee; "floral garment"), which refers to women's dresses and blouses, which were fabricated from fabric printed with various patterns. The baak-yee factories eventually evolved into factories fabricating women's blouses and dresses. See Mun Lee, "Huabu cheyi gongye fazhan guocheng" [The stages in the development of the garment industry in Chinatown], in Historical Records of the San Francisco Chinese Garment Contractors Association, 1951-1987 (San Francisco: San Francisco Chinese Garment Contractors Association, 1997?), 24-25.

(3.) In Chinese guilds the corresponding term for employers is dongjia ("east house").

(4.) The Yeong Wo Association was a native place association formed by immigrants from Xiangshan (renamed Zhongshan after 1925), Dongguan, Zengcheng, and Boluo. Most of the "white garment" shops and factories were opened by immigrants from Xiangshan. That was why they could meet at the Yeong Wo Association.

(5.) Alice Sum was one of the earliest females in the Chinese American labor movement. She continued to be active through the 1930s.

(6.) Shuyao published this essay in the first two issues of Kung Sing, the official organ of the Unionist Guild.

TRANSLATION AND ANNOTATIONS BY HIM MARK LAI