Petaluma’s Past: Recalling when we were dubbed ‘The Taft-Hartley Test Tube’

Skip Sommer takes us back in time to a year of labor diputes, picket lines violence at the twine factory|

In May of 1947, the important Taft-Hartley Labor Law - limiting the power of labor unions - was passed by the U.S. Congress. No one would have guessed that small-town Petaluma would become its first test case. The Great Depression, plus the post-war price controls of the Truman administration and the gaining power of labor unions, had already begun the end of the poultry business here. Ironically, Petaluma would cease being the “Egg Basket of the World” and become a National Taft-Hartley byline at about the same time.

Sunset Line and Twine Co. had purchased the magnificent Carlson-Currier Silk Mill building (now a Hampton Inn) in 1941, after FDR halted the importation of silk from the “Orient,” and our silk mill had gone out of business. Sunset was, by most accounts, a decent place to work with wages equal to other like mills in the East.

But 1947 was a year rocked by labor unrest and labor leaders were urging US workers into massive strikes against mediocre wages and bad conditions.

It was a firestorm awaiting a match, as the AF of L and the CIO became everyday names. However, many were skeptical of this labor movement as, along with the strikes, there were accusations of Communist infiltration into unions and the HousesCommittee on Un-American Activities had commenced a witch hunt.

Ninety-five percent of Sunset employees were female and a hundred of them voted to strike in August of 1947. The workers had been represented by the ILWU for seven years, as that union had previously organized the feed and milling warehouses here. Sunset’s argument against this, was that their company was a different breed from feed mills and they could not be lumped together. Sunset protested that they must compete wage-wise with textile mills on the East Coast, and that their wages were already comparable. It was the beginning of a bitter battle, which evolved into violence in our community.

It became Ira Vail, the union representative, versus mill manager Jasper Woodson.

The two men were total opposites. Vail had no compunctions about using force to get his way. Woodson (in his other job) was the quiet spoken Mayor of Petaluma. The Taft- Hartley law dictated the game rules. The union was demanding a $1-per-day cost-of-living hike. Sunset said “no,” because that was not consistent with their industry, and they countered with a 10-cent per hour raise, plus three additional paid holidays a year.

The union said “no’ to that, and the struggle was afoot.

Now, get this.

The union then countered Sunset with an hourly wage proposal for women of $1.05 and, for men, $1.27 (I’m guessing, that wouldn’t fly today?)

Taft-Hartley was a brand new law and “Labor” had decided to test it, right here in Petaluma.

A picket line was established around the Sunset building, with 300 pickets from all over Northern California. Work was halted at Sunset, and manager Woodson slyly decided it was a good time to take his annual two-week vacation.

On Sept. 10, Sunset reopened, stating that 30 of their loyal workers wished to return to their jobs. Upon leaving work that day, those workers were taunted and harassed by picketers, the union damning them as “scabs.”

By then, the strike had been labeled nationally as “The Taft-Hartley Test Tube,” and it polarized our community. Argus-Courier editor John Olmsted called the strike, “An interference with the rights of the individual citizen, under the laws of our land.”

In October, labor leader Vail brazenly stood in the way of a vehicle trying to enter Sunset. The driver, M. Aguirre, ran right into Vail, knocking him down. Plant manager Pete Smith came running out and a big fight ensued. The following Saturday, Pete Smith was accosted by three men, thrown down and kicked in the face, breaking his nose. Petaluma’s businessmen had then had enough, and requested law enforcement help from the county, to protect our town.

The following morning, over 250 picketerss showed up and were met by 30 lawmen. Strikers jumped on cars and broke windows and one Sunset worker, Alice Bettinelli, suffered a heart attack. The police then moved-in and made arrests on charges of inciting a riot. Our editor Olmsted questioned, “Can we not hope for an end to violence, because men have lost their heads?”

Then the crowd grew even larger, as 200 more Northern California union workers joined the protest here. Sunset decided to stay shut that day and no one tried to breach picket lines. Then, someone spread word that ILWU leader Harry Bridges (a self-proclaimed Socialist) was “controlled by Russia,” and that he fully intended to win the fight in Petaluma with physical violence.

Olmsted warned, “The line must be drawn to end communistic demonstration, or else Petaluma would soon be taking orders from Joe Stalin!”

That night, at City Council, John King suggested that Mayor Woodson recuse himself on this issue and he did. The room erupted and City Attorney John Lounibos called for order, as a union rep was up and shouting, “Taft-Hartley is unconstitutional!”

Battle lines were drawn, as the City voted 5 to 2 (even without Woodson) to make violence on a picket line illegal here. The ILWU blew a gasket over that, but our Argus stated the next day, “If Jasper Woodson were to run for re-election to mayor tomorrow, he would be elected hands-down.”

Then, on Nov. 7, Sunset employee Silvino Sousa, his son Victor, and a third man, Henry Potter, were run off Corona Road and severely beaten, as the union fight spun out of control. Sunset complained, but the NLRB dismissed Sunset’s concerns, saying, “Taft-Hartley did not interfere with freedom of speech.”

(How about freedom of driving a car in Petaluma?)

Sunset appealed that verdict on the basis that the situation in Petaluma would be “a precedent setting case, nationally.”

Eight months later, in April of 1948, a Federal Judge ruled that the NLRB was the determining body under Taft-Hartley. But “Unless the union officials signed the non-Communist oath, it could not, in good faith, bargain.”

The judge continued, “The union acts of violence rendered it guilty. Labor cannot interfere with the right to work, under Taft-Hartley.”

The strike ended on Oct. 25, 1948 and later this Petaluma episode became recognized nationally as, “The most important decision under the Taft-Hartley Law.”

Gradually, workers did return to their jobs at Sunset Line and Twine, but those violent times were never to be forgotten in our community.

(Historian Skip Sommer is an honorary Life Member of Heritage Homes and The Petaluma History Museum. Reach him at skipsommer@hotmail.com)

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