(H)our History Lesson: Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. Workforce and Labor relations in Pascagoula, Mississippi, World War II Heritage City

A full-page newspaper ad by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation encouraging the purchase and long-term benefit of war bonds.

Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; November 24, 1944, Section 2, p.7

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Pascagoula, Mississippi designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains readings and photos to contribute to learners’ understandings about the development of the home front city connected to the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation. The lesson contains readings to learn about the growth in the labor force and its impacts in the area. These impacts include both benefits and challenges, including labor challenges that led to a strike. An extension reading provides more information on the strike.

For more World War II lessons, visit Teaching with Historic Places.

Objectives:

1. Explain the impact of the war on the growth of Pascagoula and its labor force.

2. Describe the contributions of, and challenges faced by, the workforce at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula.

3. Compare local, historical perspectives to synthesize and connect to larger wartime perspectives and themes.

Materials for Students:

1. Photos (can be displayed digitally)

2. Readings 1, 2, 3 (and optional extension reading)

3. Recommended: Map of Pascagoula, Mississippi

Getting Started: Essential Question

How was Pascagoula, Mississippi impacted by shipbuilding and labor relations on the home front?

“Everybody’s Hat’s In the Ring at Ingalls!” A sign in the crowd reads “My Hats in the ring with Rick’s.” The inset photo is Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, a flying ace from the first World War who visited the Hat-in-Ring rally. The rally was to pledge effort for increased ship production in 1943.

The Pascagoula Chronicle-Star, January 8, 1943; p.1.

By the numbers:

• Population: Pascagoula was first classified as “urban” for surpassing a population of 5,000 in the 1940 census. In 1930, the population was 4,339, and in 1940, 5,900. In the 1950 US census, the population had increased by 83% to 10,797.

• Business statistics for Pascagoula in February 1943: Bank debits increased 134.2%; postal receipts by 70.5%, money orders 141%, and telephones in service up 39%. (Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; Feb. 9, 1943, p.2)

• From 1943-44 to 1944-45, there was an increase in enrollment of approximately 1,000 students in the local school district. (Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; Feb. 9, 1945, p.1)

Quotation to consider:

“The Federal Public Housing Authority made public here last week a program that called for the construction of a total of 1,340 new homes and a 400-unit dormitory in Pascagoula to take care of an influx of almost 3,000 new defense workers between now and December.”

-Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; May 15, 1942, p.1

Read to Connect

Reading 1: "Editor Writes of Pascagoula"

A Noted Editor Writes of Pascagoula 

February 4. 1944, Pascagoula Chronicle-Star and Moss Point Advertiser, p.2  

Editor’s Note: The following editorial appeared in the Saturday, January 29th issue of the New Orleans Daily States, and was written by Major James E. Crown, it’s editor. Major Crown visited Pascagoula last week and was guest speaker at a meeting of the Rotary Club. In addition to being editor of the Daily States, Major Crown is widely known and considered one of the outstanding newspaper men of the country. 

Pascagoula, Gulf Coast city, has growing pains. Some call it a boom town, and in many respects it resembles one. Streets are crowded, schools are overtaxed; merchants in some instances are unable to supply the demand for necessities and luxuries. Thousands have to be satisfied with cramped quarters, and building can’t keep up with the demand for homes and business places.  

Pascagoula is beautifully located, and the climate of the Gulf Coast makes it a healthy and pleasing place in which to live and do business. The situation in the town at present is due almost entirely to the war. Everything is bustle and confusion. The citizens of the town, as well as the thousands who have flocked there, are rapidly adjusting themselves to conditions. The great Ingalls Shipbuilding Company, which has done so much toward supplying the government with vessels of several types so necessary to the conduct of the war, is now, we believe, employing from 10,000 to 15,000 workers. Many of these have families. So it can be seen why Pascagoula typifies an American boom town. 

Don’t think, however, that this progressive city is satisfied with the situation.  Already it has started postwar planning providing for a city of substantial size and accommodations. It doesn’t intend to be a ‘ghost’ city. It intends to be a city of homes and schools and churches: a city of wide streets and playgrounds and parks; a city where industry can prosper in a happy, prosperous community where people love to live and labor. Its businessmen have already established an Association of Commerce, which will act as a clearing house for all of the civic enterprises fostered by organizations such as the Rotary and other clubs. 

Right now, the Ingalls shipbuilding plant, rushed as it is with orders for ships so necessary for the conduct of this war, is making plans for permanency. This great concern has no idea of any let-up in production. It may not employ 15,000 men, but it will employ probably half this number. Industry begets industry, and other plants and factories will take advantage of the opportunities afforded by Pascagoula and locate there. When the war is over, men and women workers who remain will need permanent and attractive homes; they will need to surround themselves with all the necessary comforts, and the city will become a permanent and happy home for perhaps 25,000 or 30,000 people. 

We have made these predictions on the expanded judgements of men like Robert I. Ingalls, head of great steel plants and ship building plants in several other cities besides Pascagoula; W.R. Guest, executive vice-president of the Ingalls plant at Pascagoula, W. B. Herring, banker of Pascagoula, and many other businessmen and citizens of that city. 

We do not think that we break any confidences when we quote Mr. Ingalls as saying: ‘The Ingalls shipbuilding plant was here before the war; it will be here in the days to come after this war is over; we already have plans for carrying on our enterprises to a surprising degree of magnitude. We will continue to build ships, and many of them at Pascagoula. The world will need our vessels more than it did before the war. I believe other industries will come here. I have visioned this city as a city of fine streets, and beautiful homes. We are preparing here for finer schools, and we must have more of them and more churches, because the church, the school and the home are the essentials of a prosperous and happy community. . . .” 

 . . . Pascagoula has already become a city of schools, and Mr. Thomas R. Wells, their superintendent, has plans for greater expansion of the school system. Right now, several of the schools have to operate on a two-shift system in order to accommodate all of the children of the community. The new school buildings are commodious and substantial. Others will soon be erected. 

Pascagoula has a magnificent newspaper and newspaper plant. Easton King is the good editor and publisher of the Chronicle-Star and Moss Point Advertiser, and his wife, Mrs. Irene King, is his able assistant. Pascagoula will soon have all the conveniences possessed by any modern community. We could write columns about this Gulf Coast city, about its people, about its hopes for the future, but space will not permit. . . . 

Reading 2:  "Labor's Representatives Keep Their Shoulders to Wheel for Tiptop Output"

Background: The article was written after Ingalls received the honor of the maritime ‘M’ Award, an award for excellence in shipbuilding. This article was written in April 1943 and shared the positive relationships among leadership and union members. However, in February 1945, Ingalls workers voted to strike. Continue to reading 3 to learn about the shift in labor relations and opinions on this action. 

Labor’s Representatives Keep Their Shoulders to Wheel for Tiptop Output 

Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; April 2, 1943, p.8 

Of the thousands of workmen who hop in their overalls every day to clock their time card at the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation, there are 12 names which stand out as the organized labor in the yard. It is these men who have kept their shoulders to the wheel to keep production to the point where it merited the ‘M’ award form the Maritime Commission. . . 

Men from this group are the voice of the men and women who are turning out ships which are playing such a proud part in the winning of the war. They are members of the Labor-Management committee at the yard and they form the well-oiled skids for ideas to be passed between the ‘boss’ and the man in the yard.  

It is the consensus of opinion of these men that the shipbuilders will do everything in their power to keep up the rate of production which won for them the blue and white pennant and the right to wear a production merit badge. And at the ceremonies which marked presentation of these awards the voices of labor and management lended in pledges to double the output of the yard in 1943. 

Mr. Shifalo declared that the achievement which merited national recognition is a direct result of real cooperation between the men at the desk and the men at the welding torch, a thing that is difficult to achieve.  

‘To me, more than men, money or materials, it has been this fine spirit between labor and management that has made it possible for us to win this great honor,’ he said. . . .  

‘We were grateful for the award,’ Mr. Stone said, ‘and to prove it organized labor has three aims for this year. First, increased production; second, buying more bonds; third, reducing absenteeism to an absolute minimum.’ 

Mr. Stone is proud of the record of the Carpenters union which has purchased about $10,000 worth of war bonds and is buying more every month. In addition, 96 percent of the membership of the union is investing ten percent or more of their earnings in bonds.  

‘Why there is one man who buys a $100 bond every two weeks,’ Mr. Stone said. 

And there they are. Too many to speak for individually, the thousands of workers who are laboring daily from a giant background, a sharp, not unmusical chorus of chipping, welding and hammering against which the drama of the answer to the need of Uncle Sam’s boys in uniform for ships and still more ships is unfolding. 

Reading 3: "Asks Strike Vote At Ingalls"

Teacher tip – define and describe the following with students:  

• Labor movement: when a workforce (labor) campaigns or advocates to improve the rights and working conditions  

• Closed shop: membership in union is condition of employment 

• Smith-Connally Bill, also known as the War Labor Disputes Act: It was passed on June 23, 1943, over President Roosevelt’s veto. It aimed to address labor disputes that could potentially disrupt war production. It authorized the federal government to take control of private industries if strikes or labor issues were seen as jeopardizing the war effort, providing a means to ensure uninterrupted production of essential goods and services for the war. 

The newspaper excerpts have been broken into three parts, with inserted, non-original subheadings of “Introduction,” “Ingalls Corporation stance,” and “Metal Trades Council stance” to support students in readability. 

Asks Strike Vote at Ingalls: Metal Trades Council Files with NWLB to Take Strike Vote at Ingalls Shipyard under Smith-Connally Bill 

Company President Denies Causes and Claims ‘Union Shop’ only Issue Involved; Vote Due 30 Days after filing of Intention 

Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; January 12, 1945, p.1 & 6 

Introduction 

Notice of intention to take a strike vote at the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation plant here has been filed with the National War Labor Board (NWLB) by the Pascagoula Metal Trades Council, representing A. F. of L. Craft Unions at the yard. 

The notice of intention was filed with the NWLB on January 2nd under provisions of the Smith-Connally bill and, unless arbitrated, a strike vote will take place 30 days after filing.  . . . Monro B. Lanier, president of the Ingalls Corporation, in a statement issued Wednesday said that the issues involved in the Council’s application ‘have no basis of fact and are denied in toto.’ . . .  

Ingalls Corporation stance 

Mr. Lanier’s statement in answer, follows:  

. . . ‘I reiterate the statement made at the time of the last strike vote that interference with war work in the yard would be in violation of the solemn pledge of the A.F. of L. to the government and also of our labor contract and the Gulf Zone Standards that there shall be no strikes or work stoppages during the National Emergency. 

It appears unthinkable that the men and women of this plant would take this unjustifiable action, much of which appears to be instigated by radical and ill-advised local labor leaders, contrary to the announced policy of their International officers. 

We are engaged in the building of vitally essential ships for the War Program and interruption of the work in this yard at this time would cause irreparable damage to the production of ships and also imperil the lives of men and women on the fighting fronts in Europe and the Philippines. It would be particularly unfortunate at this time when, perhaps, we are facing the greatest need in the war to date for transports and supply ships to support our armed forces. 

Even the application for the strike vote and the publicity given it will undeniably result in creating unrest which will mitigate against the war effort and it is sincerely hoped that the proper government authorities and the Union officials will take steps to withdraw the petition for an unwarranted strike vote.’ 

Metal Trades Council stance (addressing Lanier’s statement above) 

The statement by E.L. Mancil, president of the Metal Trades Council, in answer to Mr. Lanier, follows: 

 . . . Mr. Lanier asks that the petition be withdrawn on the grounds that it is unpatriotic action taken by the labor unions. The unions ask Mr. Lanier if it is more unpatriotic to take a strike vote during these times than it is for the Company to discharge mechanics making $1.20 per hour, who are trained to build the ships so badly needed at this time, and hire trainees at a rate of 75 cents for the sole purpose of cutting wages. Since the Company started this practice about two weeks ago the Metal Trades Council has tried repeatedly to get the Company to meet them on this issue but has been denied a meeting to date.  

Mr. Lanier states that on Nov. 29, 1943, a petition for a strike vote was withdrawn. This shows the unions are doing all they can to prevent a stoppage of work during the present emergency . . . Further, Mr. R. I. Ingalls Sr once made the statement that before he would sign a union shop agreement he would blow his plant up. Thus the unions in 1943 withdrew their petition for a strike vote in an effort to contribute everything they could to the war effort, while company officials in such statements as those quoted here indicate that the Company is not interested in the war effort or the welfare of its employees, but only in the welfare of Ingalls, itself. 

With reference to the condition of the canteens in the yard, Mr. Lanier made the statement to a group from the Metal Trades Council that he was not interested in feeding people, but solely in building ships. The Metal Trades Council endeavored to the utmost of its ability to place the canteen outside the yard inside the plant so that facilities for feeding could be and would be adequate. Since their installation in the yard the men have found that very unsanitary conditions exist and these canteens do not begin to serve the employees. 

In reply to Mr. Lanier’s statement that there is no basis for a strike vote, the unions wish to call attention to some of the conditions that exist. It is a matter of record that the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation agreed to pay $1.25 per hour for welding galvanized materials, which is very bad for the health of those engaged in this work. This agreement was to have become effective August 1, 1942, and to date the Company has failed to pay for this work at the rate of $1.25 and has paid only $1.20 per hour.  

. . . . It is also a matter of agreement that employees in the special apprentice classification are to receive 4 ½ cents per hour increase for each 500 hours worked, and the Company fails to re-rate apprentices at the proper time, necessitating in many instances the union grievances committee handling these matters when they should be working to build ships. . . . 

Mr. Lanier states that this action is taken by radical and ill-advised labor leaders. If it is radical to ask that men be given clean food, that they be paid according to agreement, that they receive raises as scheduled, and that working conditions be upheld for the men overseas to come back to when the war is over, then we as local labor leaders are glad to be called radical.’ 

This congratulatory ad was one of several from local businesses congratulating the workers at the Ingalls Shipyard for their accomplishment.

Pascagoula Chronicle-Star; April 2, 1943, p.8

Student Activities:

Questions for Reading 1

1. Why does the Reading 1 author label Pascagoula as an American boom town? How did the war contribute to this growth? (Use statistics from the reading and “By the numbers” to support your answer.)
2. What challenges is Pascagoula currently facing as described in the passage? What is the main reason for these challenges?
3. Why would citizens of Pascagoula be concerned with becoming a ‘ghost’ city after the war?
4. What evidence does the author provide as to why Pascagoula would continue to thrive?

Questions for Reading 2

1. What were the three aims given by Mr. Stone?

2. How do these aims contribute to the overall war effort?

3. Describe the workers’ contributions to the war, in work and war bond efforts.

Questions for Reading 3

1. What factors led to the strike vote at the Metal Trades Council?
2. Compare and contrast Mr. Lanier’s (Ingalls) and E.L. Mancil's (Metal Trades Council) perspectives on the strike vote. How do their statements reflect their respective views on patriotism, worker treatment, and the war effort?
3. Tip: Create a T-chart and list the details shared by both sides in the text.

Lesson Closing:

Using details from across the readings and lesson, what positive contributions and obstacles emerged from the large labor presence at Ingalls Shipyard Corporation?

Extension

Additional Reading: The Strike

On Wednesday, February 7, the union voted to strike: 3,774 For, 1,428 Against, in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board under provisions of the Smith-Connally Bill (The Chronicle-Star; Feb. 9, 1945, p.1).  Mediation did not result in a reversal. In the New York Times, on February 25, 1945 (p.32) there was the following headline: STRIKE OF 10,000 CRIPPLES SHIPYARD; WLB Calls Mississippi Union's Action 'Direct Interference With the War.’  

The strike lasted five days. WLB officials ordered striking workers to return to work, and “the action of draft boards in reclassifying of many striking workers to 1-A status.” 1-A status meant the person was qualified and available for the draft. 

The Ingalls company reported that approximately 200,000 hours of work had been lost, and Mr. Lanier was quoted saying, ‘The strike was useless, served absolutely no purpose and was continued in the face of repeated and emphatic warnings.” A hearing by the Shipbuilding Commission of the War Labor Board was set for March 13 to inquire on grievances. (The Chronicle-Star; March 2, 1945, p.1). 

Questions 

1. As quoted in the New York Times headline, why did the WLB (War Labor Board) consider the strike at the Mississippi Union's shipyard a 'Direct Interference With the War'? 

1. How do you think this headline could have impacted public opinion? 

2. What would you anticipate the union leaders’ response to Mr. Lanier would be? 

3. Considering the events leading up to the strike, the order to return to work, and the reclassification of striking workers to 1-A status, describe the impact of the strike on both the immediate situation at the shipyard and the broader wartime context. 

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This lesson was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, an educator and consultant with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education, funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.