Brotherhood of Timber Workers East Texas Labor Union History. (original) (raw)

Those engaged in a common activity often refer to themselves as �brothers� or �sisters,� but the Brotherhood of Timber Workers refers to something rare in East Texas � a labor union.

Actually, the Brotherhood was organized in Louisiana, but it also attempted to enroll timber workers in East Texas and one of its fiercest foes, John Henry Kirby, operated in both states and lived in East Texas.

The Brotherhood�s membership came from the sawmills of both regions, plus poor farmers who did extra work in the mills to supplement their incomes. As the first cuttings began to thin the virgin forests, work became scarce and paydays sporadic, yet rents and other prices in company towns remained steady or increased.

Hoping to insure employment and improve working conditions through collective bargaining, Arther Lee Emerson and Jay Smith organized the Brotherhood of Timber Workers in 1910. Mill owners had organized the Southern Lumber Operators Association in 1906, mostly to combat any attempt at collective bargaining.

Delegates from BTW locals met in Alexandria, Louisiana, agreed to accept black members if only to prevent them being used as �scabs,� and announced their intention to work only under union contracts. The Operator�s Association called the BTW a socialist organization, insisted on their workers signing �yellow-dog� contracts renouncing unions on pain of dismissal, and vowed closure of any mills �infected� by unionism.

C.B. Sweet, of the Long-Bell mills, decided against honoring the Operator�s Association and signed a contract with the BTW, but John Henry Kirby and other operators were true to their word. They closed mills, or fired employees who joined the union and replaced them with non-union laborers, and hired security personnel � really strong-arm agents to knock heads while protecting the mills.

In 1912, Emerson led the BTW into the International Workers of the World, which seemed to confirm the Operator�s accusation that the union was socialistic, perhaps communistic.

This produced more rallies and confrontations between union members and security guards, and one in Graybow, Louisiana, resulted in the death of eight people and the wounding of forty more. Emerson and other union officials were arrested and tried. Though they were acquitted, their defense cost the BTW most of its funds and the union ceased to exist.