Who Needs a Union?

Common images of union workers focus on blue collar workers such as miners or teamsters, but workers can organize unions in any occupation, including in the service industry and in white collar positions. 

Created by artist Giacomo Patri, published in 1940, White Collar is a graphic, textless novel, featuring Patri’s linocut illustrations to chronicle the struggles of a white collar worker during the Great Depression.  The main character does not consider himself a union man but finds that even his white collar cannot keep him safe from the pain of job loss, poverty, debt and a family tragedy. The use of art and imagery to convey complex labor issues is part of the tradition of labor organizing.

Questions

  • What beliefs does the main character have that negatively impact his view of unions?
  • Describe in your own words the narrative of the book.  Does the book make a compelling argument for joining a union?  Why or why not?

Black and white image created using linocut of a person walking blindly with their face covered by a white collar.

Cover of White Collar:  A Novel in Linocuts (1940) by Giacomo Patri. Full-text available here:  White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts Links to an external site.

Patri, Giacomo. White collar: A Novel in Linocuts Links to an external site.. Graphic novel.  Giacomo Patri Collection, 1940, LARC_0006, Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.