1949 Calvary Cemetery strike

[1][6] Throughout 1948, relations between the workers and their employers deteriorated,[2] and on December 27 of that year, union representatives submitted a proposal to management for changes in working conditions.

[2] The St. Patrick's trustees, taking a hardline stance against the union from the beginning of discussions,[8] countered that Saturday work was necessitated by the numerous weekend funeral services and instead offered the workers a 2.6% cost of living adjustment.

[8] Additionally during negotiations, Spellman, a noted anti-communist, wrote front-page opinion pieces for almost every major newspaper in New York City about how the CIO was "a well-known Communist dominated union".

[5] With both sides at an impasse, approximately 250 Local 293 workers (composed of chauffeurs, gardeners, gravediggers, and mechanics)[9] at Calvary went on strike on January 13, 1949.

[14] In addition, the newspaper published articles that were supportive of the strike and Day wrote several times to Spellman arguing that the strikers were justified in their actions.

[15] In addition, strike action had spread to 47 Local 293 gravediggers at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, which was also owned by the archdiocese.

[16] With important Catholic events such as the city's St. Patrick's Day parade and the Easter season approaching, Spellman took on a more active role in trying to end the strike.

[17] As a result, in the early morning of March 3, Spellman brought 100 students from St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York to act as strikebreakers and bury the 1,020 dead bodies in storage at Calvary.

"[19] The seminarians continued to work as gravediggers for several days,[20] and on March 4, Local 293 members reversed their earlier decision and agreed to disaffiliate with the FTA.

[21] In response to the action, a representative for the ACTU said, "With all reverence and respect for the cardinal, it is more important to recognize the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively in unions of their own choosing, and to pay the living a just wage, than to bury the dead.

[17] Ultimately, the workers received an 8.3% wage increase and a check for $65 from Spellman for "hardships" sustained during the strike, while the seminarians who had worked as gravediggers were given a sightseeing tour of Washington, D.C.[23]