1907 Skowhegan textile strike

Conditions for women textile workers were horrible and they, like their male counterparts, sought "more and better boarding houses, cleaner drinking water, more and safer fire escapes, private and sanitary bathroom facilities, higher wages, equal pay for equal work, and unions to represent women’s interests.

"[3] This particular strike was directly precipitated by a rescinded wage increase in early January 1907 as well as the firing of Mamie Bilodeau, a 17 year old worker who complained of sexual harassment by an overseer named Charles North.

The Kennebec Journal reported that the strike began "when a young woman employed as a sewer was discharged..."[5] After negotiation with the company, a mass meeting of strikers voted to return to work on April 13.

The Kennebec Journal reported "a general feeling of rejoicing in town [now] that the strike, the longest ever known in industrial Skowhegan, is now a thing of the past.

[9] In August 1906, silk workers in New Brighton, New York had gone on strike after the company fired IWW members.