Needle Trades General Strike of 1932

THE SOUTH RIVER GARMENT INDUSTRY RESTARTS

    Less than a decade and a half after the closing of the Herrmann, Aukam & Company plant, South River's garment industry had grown to eighteen firms, though none dominated the town as had the large handkerchief company.  (Although many more embroidery firms existed in the town, garment manufacturing employed more people.)   Many of the garment firms were small contractors characterized in one contemporary account as "gypsy" shops that specialized in "cheap dresses and wash suits" and avoided the urban, unionized areas.  Only 6 months after the 1932 strike, the borough council proposed a law to create a permit system for garment factories, since two different firms had recently opened, operated for "about two weeks" and left town "at night" with the completed garments without paying their employees.

    Almost 2,000 people earned their living in the eighteen plants in 1932, or at least tried to.  The 1929 stock market crash and ensuing depression had driven down wages and working conditions.  In January, 1932, the Home News reported:

"The needle industries, for which South River is noted, have been a Godsend to the people of this Borough during the present period of depression. It has given employment, especially to women, as the men are out of work."

    The winter of 1931-2 was the depth of the depression, though in the garment industry, in non-union towns like South River, work was being transferred from higher paying union shops in NYC.  New York locals of the ILGWU shut down several sections of the industry in the summer of 1932, including a general strike that lasted from July 27 to August 14.

    The strike in New York might explain why, in the summer of 1932, a group called The Associated Manufacturers of South River was formed with the intent of re-opening a number of South River garment factories, offering work to 1,200 "girls & women", according to the Associated Press blurb that appeared in a number of local newspapers.  (It is assumed that "plant" is supposed to be plural and the story is based on a notice from the same South River garment manufacturers' group). 

That was the case in the Raritan-Plainfield area, where, upon announcing the possibility of new factories later that year, it was stated that:

"Labor difficulties in the city are seen as the main

reason for the removal of the factories, while

the abundance of feminine labor available here is

the local attraction."

      --- The Courier-News, Plainfield, New Jersey - Tue, Sep 6, 1932

    The Associated Manufacturers of South River group was headed by president Samuel Cohen (C. & E. Dress Co., co-owned with Herman Eicher), with officers treasurer William Hindes (South River Waist & Dress Co.), secretary S. L. Kamel and S Campbell (Samuel Dress Company).

    The group had offices in the Capitol Theater Building on Main Street, with the stated purpose of having the local manufacturers avoid "competing with each other in the New York City markets".

    Contemporary accounts are unclear as to how long the South River shops had been closed. "The majority of the plants of the needle industry have either been closed or on reduced schedules during recent weeks" noted The New Brunswick Home News, but some of the workers had a "...considerable time of idleness".

    Labor conflict was not unusual even in the "Open Shop" town of South River.  In February of the previous depression year of 1931 52 operators at Vanity Dress Co. (Milton Street)  had walked out over a 2¢/dress disagreement.   One factory that had been operating in the late spring of 1932 was the Middlesex Dress Co., at 32 Main Street, where on Monday, May 23, 40 "girl operators" walked out after a second wage cut.  Co-owner Alex Mondschein refused to comment about the strike when questioned by a local Home News reporter.   

    Many of the area brickyards were either permanently or temporarily shut down, Michelin had left Milltown and DuPont employed many less men than it had during WWI, leaving little employment for most South River men.