Looking for information on macaroni workers union

Submitted by syndicalist on June 5, 2016

Looking for information on IWW Local No. 502 - Macaroni Workers' Industrial Union Jersey City, NJ (1916)

The Pigeon

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by The Pigeon on June 5, 2016

They are working on teaming up with the Cheese Union to form a general strike, ha ha ha ha!

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

The Pigeon

They are working on teaming up with the Cheese Union to form a general strike, ha ha ha ha!

I was waiting for someone to make a joke. Or to think I was goofing.

My best guess is it was a one or two shop local union in Jersey City, NJ.
JC was not noted as a city with a huge Italian population, but many of the
surrounding Hudson County cities did. IWW activities did occur amongst dye house, textile and perhaps embroidery workers in the county. *

Perhaps the Local had its admin offices in JC, hard to know. There were at least a couple if not more macoroni factories in other northern NJ counties such as Bergen (Garfield) and Passaic, even when I was a kid.

* https://books.google.com/books?id=zzQaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA239&dq=industrial+workers+of+the+world+organizing+in+hudson+county,+nj&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3q-fhmJLNAhUOV1IKHSk6BkMQ6AEIQDAF#v=onepage&q=industrial%20workers%20of%20the%20world%20organizing%20in%20hudson%20county%2C%20nj&f=false

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

Oh wow, I've passed this factory a million times and never knew....

"The C.F. Mueller Company was founded in 1867 and built one of the biggest and most-advanced pasta factories in the United States on Baldwin Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey. At one time, Mueller’s Macaroni became the largest selling brand of pasta in America. It is owned by the American Italian Pasta Company, acquired by Ralcorp in 2010, which in turn was acquired by ConAgra Foods in 2013."

And, of course, it's part of the uptown gentrification .... http://jerseydigs.com/baldwin-place-joins-in-the-rebirth-of-journal-square/

Interesting, I came across a 1913 letter from a JC barber indicating IWW barbershop activities in that city - https://books.google.com/books?id=fXgtAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA312&lpg=PA312&dq=industrial+workers+of+the+world+organizing+in+hudson+county,+nj&source=bl&ots=aKVFLDzyWh&sig=pp0weDG4ll_Kpe_mBYF-BWvx1A0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8l5T2l5LNAhVGR1IKHRuRAmQQ6AEIMDAD#v=onepage&q&f=true

Chilli Sauce

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on June 6, 2016

syndicalist

The Pigeon

They are working on teaming up with the Cheese Union to form a general strike, ha ha ha ha!

I was waiting for someone to make a joke. Or to think I was goofing.

Yankee Doodle what the president of their local, no?

Anyway, this is actually all quite interesting to me as well as it happened not to farfalle away from where I'm living at the moment. I know, such a fusilli joke ;-)

What do you think, Syndicalist, penne for your thoughts?

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

Chilli Sauce

syndicalist

The Pigeon

They are working on teaming up with the Cheese Union to form a general strike, ha ha ha ha!

I was waiting for someone to make a joke. Or to think I was goofing.

Yankee Doodle what the president of their local, no?

Anyway, this is actually all quite interesting to me as well as it happened not to farfalle away from where I'm living at the moment. I know, such a fusilli joke ;-)

What do you think, Syndicalist, penne for your thoughts?

Harhar

Serge Forward

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Serge Forward on June 6, 2016

1916? That's a hundred years ago... it's all in the past(a).

petey

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by petey on June 6, 2016

...
(damn phone can't embed youtube clip from Big Night)

Chilli Sauce

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on June 6, 2016

What do you call a fake noodle?
.
.
.
.
.
.
An impasta!

Battlescarred

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Battlescarred on June 6, 2016

ONE Bigoli Union

fnbrilll

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by fnbrilll on June 6, 2016

I believe they merged with the Kraft Dinner Union of Canada.

Serge Forward

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Serge Forward on June 6, 2016

fnbrilll

I believe they merged with the Kraft Dinner Union of Canada.

Which must have made this...
The Pigeon

They are working on teaming up with the Cheese Union to form a general strike, ha ha ha ha!

A distinct possibility!!!

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

Really.

Juan Conatz

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 6, 2016

I'll keep an eye out. Where did you originally find out about this? And was it really a "macaroni industrial union" as opposed to something more broad?

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

Juan Conatz

I'll keep an eye out. Where did you originally find out about this? And was it really a "macaroni industrial union" as opposed to something more broad?

Much to everyones surprise, I have been dead serious about this.

The source is: http://depts.washington.edu/iww/locals.shtml

The cite is: "Jersey Jersey City Local No. 502 - Macaroni Workers' Industrial Union (Macaroni) active 1916 1916 Convention Proceedings"

As I noted in an earlier entry, Muheller was prolly the factory they were targetting. It was a significant factory at one time. It was actually German-American owned, as noodles are often used in german food and parts of Hudson County were heavily German-American. Of course, NJ has a heavy Italian-American population, so I can see how they would alter things to sell their products.

Picture of the factory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.F._Mueller_Company#/media/File:Mueller%27s_Macaroni_Factory.jpg

Not as jokie-pookie is: "New Jersey Athenia Local No. 266 - Shop Workers' Industrial Union (Retail) active 1916 1916 Convention Proceedings" The Athenia section of Clifton, NJ was around the corner and up the block from where I lived. The Manhattan Rubber Company (Passaic) dominated the area. But Van Houten Ave has lots of small mom and pop stores, bars and so forth. Heavily Czech, Polish, Ukie.

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

Somethings never change: http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2015/06/vintage_photos_of_muellers_in_jersey_city_5.html

The Pigeon

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by The Pigeon on June 6, 2016

I think it's bloody FANTASTIC!!! I would rather work as a lasagna prole, personally. Essentially the noodle market is very strong no matter what food trends appear and disappear, because pasta is a backbone of the human diet. However, because pasta is so neatly divided into categories, it necessarily leads to automation. Hasn't this already happened?

Juan Conatz

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 6, 2016

Ok, well, I checked the Proceedings of the 10th Convention and the only information it gives about this IU is that it was chartered July 11, 1916. Around the same period another Macaroni IU was chartered, No. 301 in Long Island. They went on strike on 10/14/1916 according to the 10/28/1916 issue of Solidarity, which I don't have access to unfortunately.

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

What page of the 10th Proceedings? I just started to look at the on line edition

EDIT----PS: Those interested --- https://books.google.com/books?id=Hw5bAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=proceeding+10+convention+of+the+iww&source=bl&ots=9VImimoMeB&sig=Yjkh7uSBq6wuBNizqdesJICfGK8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMmozHxZTNAhUh2IMKHfctBuQQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=proceeding%2010%20convention%20of%20the%20iww&f=false

Juan Conatz

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 6, 2016

Page 34 for Long Island, page 36 for Jersey City. But, again, it's only the name of the IUs and the date it was chartered. No further information. The information about the Long Island IU going on strike I found on that UW IWW list of strikes.

syndicalist

7 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 6, 2016

I'm guessing here, though I think it might have been Long Island City, NY The company the Ronzoni. Ronzoni had plants in a few factories in LIC up until the late 1980s or so.