e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online

The Labor Movement in Glassmaking

Glass Making Section 15 of 20

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In the early 1900s, the West Virginia glass industry attracted skilled workers, including many recent European immigrants. By the 1930s, most glass jobs had been unionized. Glassworkers played an important role in our state's labor movement and politics. Leaders such as Rene Zabeau and Joseph Powell helped shape unions statewide. Many glass towns supported Socialist and Progressive candidates in the early 1900s, and later backed the Democratic Party.

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