Labor
Strife in the Southern Stove Industry Shootout at South Pittsburg
Those
who follow the history of labor disputes and labor relations
in
Tennessee may be interested in "Labor Strife in the Southern
Stove Industry: Shootout
at South Pittsburg," published in the Winter 2004 issue
of the Tennessee
Historical Quarterly. The article, co-authored by Barbara
S. Haskew and Robert B. Jones, documents the lockout of the
Molders, Stove Mounters and Metal Polishers by the H. Wetter
Stove Company in 1927.
The resulting labor
dispute contributed to a bloody shootout on the streets of
South Pittsburg, Tennessee on Christmas Day in 1927. The Wetter
Stove Company was the largest unionized stove company in the
Southeast at that time. The lockout resulting from the Company's
plan to become an "open shop" divided the small
community, including law officers, into opposing factions
that culminated in the shootout and the death of 6 men.
Drs.
Haskew and Jones are professors at Middle Tennessee State
University; Dr. Haskew is the interim director of the TNCLMR.
The Center and the University are providing support to the
further research of the authors into labor relations throughout
the southern stove industry during the 1920s and early 30s.
The authors hope that their continuing research will more
completely document labor relations in a variety of industries
in the South during this period. |
