Cannon Mills Company

Abstract

J.G. Krause and Wingate discuss the Cannon Mill and Wingate's duties as a National Guardsman during union strikes in 1934 and 1935.

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Deal discusses labor abuses at Fieldcrest-Cannon, and his role as an organizer of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union.

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Rushmeyer discusses her work as an organizer, current conditions in the Fieldcrest Cannon plant, tactics used by Fieldcrest Cannon to keep the union out and other topics. Deal, Rushmeyer, Mary, Peggy, and Cynthia discuss the local perceptions of the union, conditions in the Fieldcrest Cannon plant, the Civil Rights movement, relationships between the mill ownership and the town of Kannapolis, the recent union campaign, and other topics.

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Plyler, Stout, and Leaper discuss working in the textile mill, their reactions to learning about the textile workers' strike of 1934, the education system, and other topics.

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The textile workers in this video were working to unionize Cannon Mills in 1991. The workers read letters written by various participants of the 1934 strike and react to their contents. Thornburgh discusses her involvement with the textile workers' strike of 1934, the letters she wrote to Washington, D.C., and how the strike has impacted her life.

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Wright talks about union organizing in the 1970s, retirement benefits, labor laws, and the tactics which mills used to keep their workforce from organzing.

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Haynes and other women from the Fieldcrest Cannon plant 6 discuss working conditions in the plant, the contested union election, the state of industry in Kannapolis, and other topics. Haynes and another woman named Hazel discuss working in the cotton mills and related health issues, including brown lung.

Abstract

Wright and several other retirees discuss there involvement in the current drive to organize a union at Fieldcrest Cannon. The second half of this video consists of George Stoney and Judith Helfand talking with union organizers. They discuss the issues that they have had with the company as organizers, the lack of knowledge around the textile workers' strike of 1934, and the support they have received during the current union organizing drive.

Abstract

Plyler discusses discovering the history of the textile workers' strike of 1934, the impact that it had on her, ideas of working class history, and how history is constructed. Smith discusses moving to Kannapolis from Anderson, S.C., the textile workers' strike of 1934, riding the rails, the bonus army and why he went into the army.

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Plyler discusses growing up in the textile mill village, the relationship between the mill owner and the mill workers, learning about the textile workers' striker of 1934, how Kannapolis dealt with the pain of the strike, and her work with the Piedmont Peace Project.

Abstract

Plyler discusses the work that the Piedmont Peace Project does, growing up in the mill village, the changes she has seen in Kannapolis in her lifetime, and the impact that learning the labor history of the area has had in her life.

Abstract The first ten minutes of the this video is of a meeting of the members of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union as they prepare to go count votes in a union election. The next 19 minutes are of an interview with L.C. Wright and two unidentified interviewees. They are all retired and discuss how the loss of their pensions got them invovled in the current union drive. Wright discusses his invovlement with an attempt to unionize in the 1970s. All three discuss the paternalism of...

Abstract

Heafner discusses his work with Textile Labor Relations Board during the 1930s. Hinson discusses her involement in the Uprising of '34 documentary, her memories of her parents and grandparents work, and her childhood in a mill village. Rushmeyer discusses working conditions at Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, N.C., during the 1990s, and union organzing.