Samuel Gompers visited Maine to encourage lobstermen’s union

Lobstermen are sometimes portrayed as rugged individualists, too independent to take group action even for their own good. A century ago, however, Vinalhaven men put that stereotype to the test when they started the nation’s first union for lobstermen. The effort attracted the attention of the country’s leading labor leader, Samuel Gompers, who paid a visit to the island as well as other Maine communities including Bangor just before Labor Day 1905.

A surge of unionism was sweeping the country at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905, there were 212 locals with around 14,000 members in 50 Maine communities registered with the American Federation of Labor, which was enjoying explosive growth under Gompers’ leadership. Influenced by local granite cutters who had formed unions decades ago, Vinalhaven lobstermen organized in February as their catch declined, expenses increased and wholesale buyers tried to form a trust to reduce price competition.

“It is an anti-lobster trust move on the part of the fishermen, who are very hostile to the proposed attempt to corner lobsters,” one anonymous Vinalhaven fisherman told the Bangor Daily News on April 7. “We catch the lobsters and they belong to us. We are tired of being told how much they are worth.”

Gompers decided to take a working vacation in Maine that August with his daughter Sadie Julia, to give the fledgling movement some encouragement as well as other labor efforts in the Pine Tree State. His first stop was in Bangor where he was joined by Stuart Reid, an A.F. of L. organizer who had been sailing up and down the coast on the union’s gasoline-powered yacht, the Federationist, organizing lobstermen, quarry workers and other groups.

The hugely popular Gompers arrived in Bangor on the big steamer City of Rockland. As the boat passed one dock, a group of longshoremen formed “a human sign,” according to the Bangor Daily Commercial on Aug. 25, each man holding up a letter of the greeting “Welcome Gompers.” After taking a tour of the city with local labor leaders, Gompers attended a banquet in his honor at the Windsor Hotel, where he was staying. After dinner he gave a speech at the A.O.H. (Ancient Order of Hibernians) Hall, where the 600 seats were filled.

In an era when socialists and anarchists were vying with trade unionists for the minds of American workers, Gompers offered a moderate voice. That did not stop him, however, from speaking out forcefully. “Legislatures have proven themselves incapable of dealing with accumulated wealth. It has remained for trade unionists alone to bring corporations to a realization that they are a power worthy of their attention …,” he said that night. “Are the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers or any other ‘fellers’ by other names interested in preserving the freedom and principles of our country? … It is the wealth producers who are forced to fight for their liberties, and who always will be forced to fight for their liberties that are interested in the freedom, the principles and the Constitution of our country.”

After Gompers was done, Reid spoke briefly and then sang a labor song to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” accompanying himself on the accordion. The audience joined in for the chorus.

On Friday, Gompers left for Vinalhaven where he spoke that evening. He was scheduled to speak in Rockland the next day. On his arrival at the island, crowds greeted him and a band played patriotic music.

Fishermen and granite cutters gathered around his carriage, grasping his hands, murmuring “God bless you” and “God speed your work.” After a lobster and clam dinner, a torchlight parade lit up the night sky as hundreds of workers trooped to Memorial Hall to hear Gompers’ address.

Activity increased through 1906, and in the next year Gompers issued a charter creating the Lobster Fishermen’s International Protective Association. By that fall, the lobstermen reported 1,055 members in 22 locals. Negotiations were held with buyers resulting in a compromise price of 18 cents per lobster. The movement had also helped reduce poaching and illegal traffic in short lobsters, according to observers.

But by 1908 the union was in serious trouble, probably because of a depression. In the next year, only four locals remained in existence and none of them was on Vinalhaven, according to Charles A. Scontras, the movement’s historian.

Back to 1905 in Bangor: Labor Day was fast approaching. The Queen City had sponsored a big celebration with “monster parades” the past few years, but not this year. Instead, hundreds of area workers accompanied by the Bangor Band and the Eastern Military Band of South Brewer boarded special trains for Lewiston where festivities were scheduled. Another big celebration and parade were scheduled in Rockland.

All those marching men, whether lobstermen, papermakers, bricklayers, railroad workers, painters or barbers, stood a little bit taller and straighter, having heard Samuel Gompers tell them how important their role was in making America a fit place to live. Those were emotional times in the labor movement in its battle with employers for better working conditions.

Besides the usual old Bangor newspapers, Charles A. Scontras’ “Time-Line of Selected Highlights of Maine Labor History: 1636-2003” and his essay “Maine Lobstermen and the Labor Movement: The Lobster Fishermen’s International Protective Association, 1907” in “Maine Historical Society Quarterly” were consulted for this column.

Wayne E. Reilly can be reached at wreilly@bangordailynews.net.