Irish Immigrants: The Backbone of the American Labor Movement provides a compelling examination of the pivotal role Irish immigrants played in shaping 19th-century America.
Through a combination of personal stories, historical analysis, and cultural perspective, author Tom Costello reveals how the Irish community helped drive the country’s industrial growth, infrastructure development and labour reforms.
Costello is the son of Irish immigrants from Galway and Fermanagh and a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters union (UBC) for over 45 years. Tom’s own union was founded by Irish American Peter J. McGuire who was the father of America’s ‘Labor Day’.
From the gruelling construction of railroads and canals to the founding of unions that fought for better working conditions, this book honours the strength, perseverance and lasting legacy of Irish immigrants in America's labour history.
The book also focuses on a number of aspects which aren’t that well highlighted in the history of Irish immigrants in the American labour movement, including the pivotal work Irish women carried out. The poverty endured by Irish immigrants meant that both men and women had to work and for women this meant working long, hard hours in factories, laundries or as seamstresses whilst also bringing up families.
Tom argues this created a strong resilience amongst Irish immigrant women who became the backbone of their communities and he also highlights how Irish women were at the forefront of several campaigns to improve housing, childcare, education and healthcare.
Tom states that Irish immigrants, forced to work the hardest, dirtiest and meanest jobs built up a strong and close-knit bond with each other that resulted in an unbreakable cultural bond between the men and these men used the labour movement as a way to advance themselves from the very bottom upwards, which led to numerous Irish-led labour unions in the fight for child labour laws, achieving wage equality, improving wages, political mobilisation and the continuing cultural significance Irish labour has had on America’s labour movement today.
Happy Labor Day! The "father" of Labor Day & founder of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Peter J. McGuire was one of the most remarkable figures in history of American labor movement. McGuire died on Feb. 18, 1906, in Camden, N.J., where he is buried. pic.twitter.com/K6ypGxI2AP
— Jim McGreevey (@jim_mcgreevey) September 2, 2024
The book also contains numerous personalities who shaped the Irish-American labour movement including the likes of John Mitchell, who became President of the United Mine Workers of America at 28 and worked tirelessly to improve mining conditions. Also included are well-known figures such as Mary Harris ‘Mother’ Jones and James Connolly who lived in the US from 1903-1910.
Tom also includes numerous modern examples of Irish-Americans who continue to define and led the American labour movement today and includes numerous stories of Irish-Americans such as Terence Wise, a McDonalds employee leading the fight for $15 an hour and Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Immigrants from Ireland & elsewhere helped to build the New York skyline. How it must have felt for laborers, many born in small rural villages, to stare down at the bustle of Manhattan from miles above. https://t.co/GZB10SXaj5
— Embassy of Ireland, USA (@IrelandEmbUSA) October 6, 2020
Speaking about his book, Tom said: “Myself and my brother were raised between New York and Ireland by Irish immigrant parents from Fermanagh and Galway and both my parents were also two proud union members. I was compelled to write on the important impact the Irish played in the labour movement and to document everything Irish labour did and its lasting impact on American labour and society.”
You can order 'Irish Immigrants' from Amazon.com for $6.99.
