Episode 11 - Mildred Laitinen
Millie Laitinen
Welcome to Mining City Reflections, where we illuminate the history of Butte, Montana through the stories and observations of 20th century women who lived there. I'm your host Marian Jensen.
In today’s episode, we continue to explore the history of the Women’s Protective Union, a landmark in American labor history, and a powerful influence in the lives of working women in Butte for eight decades. We'll hear from one of the union's long time members, Mildred Laitinen, whose oral history was taken in December 1995 by Whitney Williams, director of the Butte Archives' Labor History project.
Millie worked in restaurants and banquet halls in the Mining City as a member of the Women’s Protective Union and its successor, the Hotel and Restaurant Union, for 50 years. Her story exemplifies the experience of many of the unions members during the heyday of the organization in the mid-20th century boom. Her descriptions of small and ordinary moments build a clear picture now the union strengthened a woman's place in the work force.
“It was kind of a catch-can situation. You couldn’t join the union unless you had a job, but you couldn’t get a job unless you were in the union. You follow me?”
Born in Minnesota to Finnish immigrants in 1922. Millie moved to Butte at age 13 to join her mother, herself a union member and already working in one of the city's largest boarding houses. For many young women entering the work force out of high school in the Depression, a dependable job was vital and most likely found in one of Butte's many food establishments. Millie washed dishes, and then worked as a maid in the Leonard Hotel. Eventually, she made her way into the waitressing world. She went to work at the Moxsom Cafe, where she learned the finer points of waitressing from a legend.
“I always remember, her name was Toots. She was a very thorough waitress. You know what I mean - you did your job, and like she said. Even if you have time on your hands, always keep that rag in your hand because the bosses are always watching. You know what I mean - act busy. She taught you how to serve people in the right way. You didn’t just throw it down on the table. And she was a very good waitress. She’d been there for years and years - you know most of these waitresses didn’t leave. I Mean, they stayed - nowadays they have a big turnover at a lot of these places. The grass is greener on the other side of the street. And she’d been there for years and years. She just told the boss, “I’ve got a young girl that wants to work.” She broke me in.”
Butte's mining economy between the world wars resembled a roller coaster with four miners' strikes between 1914 and 1934. The Women's Protective Union was the only safety net for a widowed mother and daughter.
“If I wanted anything, I had to work for it. She [my mother] worked for small wages and worked in boarding houses all her life. They didn’t pay much. Oh yes, she was in the Women’s Protective Union. I don’t think there was very many people that worked if they weren’t in the union. It just was automatic; you joined the union.”
The Union created a visible presence in the city. An officer called a business agent could be seen striding along the uptown streets to make regular visits to employers and union members alike.
“O Bridget O’Shea was the walking delegate; you’ve heard of her. I mean, the bosses used to just kind of quiver when she came around because - and you wore your buttons! This was another thing. if you didn’t have it on, she’d fine ya. And like I say the walking delegate would walk around and check your buttons and ask if you had any problems, you know what I mean? And nobody was afraid to talk about their problems because they couldn’t get fired. I mean the union was so strong.”
At the start of World War Il, Millie married Toyven Laitinen and spent the war years in California. They returned to Butte and its bustling Finnish community soon after and had two sons. Once her boys were school age, Millie returned to employment outside the home and spent much of her work life as “a banquet girl,” a position peculiar to the city's vibrant banquet circuit. Butte's numerous hotels and fraternal groups like the Elks and Pioneers hosted a regular schedule of banquets for organizations like the Anaconda Mining Company and the Montana Power Company. Celebrating holidays or holding business or political meetings, these gatherings were often fancy affairs. The events boasted precision meal service fashioned after the elegant dining rooms of Chicago and New York, with fine china, crystal and silverware.
“You’d have everything in courses, know what I mean? And you’d have like 1 girl for maybe 6-8 people. 8 people at the most. As you served each course, each girl did exactly the same thing at same time. If you poured water, everybody - all the waitresses poured water. If you picked up, you served the soup, all at the same time. You picked up at the same time. You always waited until you got maybe a nod from whoever was in charge at the dinner as to when you could start picking up the dinner plates or whatever. I mean, they were real fancy. You don’t see that now. I don’t think there’s any place in Butte that you see that now. They had elegant china and elegant silverware. It was nice, working like that.”
Millie enjoyed the camaraderie of the banquet halls for nearly thirty years working uptown, and then switching to the lunch and banquet service at the Butte Country Club.
“I never changed jobs. I think I worked 15 years at the Finlen and the 15 years at the country clubs, so I didn’t change much.”
The demand for banquet service wag high and there was no shortage of opportunity.
“What she would do is try to divide the shifts up amongst the banquet girls. See, there was a steady crew of banquet girls. They did nothing but work banquets. What she would do - you either worked night shift or day shift - each week she’d put up the schedule. So you never worked the same days every week. I mean, your time was not your own in a sense because you could almost figure on working Saturday nights every Saturday night, unless you happened to work the Saturday day shift, the luncheon shift. They used to have a lot of banquets. Maybe' you’d work a luncheon downstairs and it’d have like 30 people, and then you’d have 10 in another room and 15 in another, so you had all these - and they all ate at 12 o’clock. You were busy between 12 and 1, I mean you were really running.”
The Hotel Finlen appointed a head waitress who dictated the pecking order for the workers.
“They’d have a head waitress there that would tell you which tables - you know, you’d have a certain area that you worked, like in the dining hall. She’d tell you which ones you would work and it wasn’t the tables that were bigger tippers; she kept those herself, which, if she’s there for years and years, it’s only fair.”
Millie had grown up in the union, with her mother extolling its benefits. The WPU sought to empower it membership by fostering participation. Attendance at meetings was essential. They were scheduled twice monthly, one during the day; and one at night to accommodate restaurant shift work.
“They always had one that you could make the day shift and the night shift, which was only fair. Now, I don’t think they get enough at the meetings to even have a meeting.”
Solidarity also required a certain degree of discipline and close oversight. Officers kept tabs on meeting attendance and voting.
“You might have an extra one. They used to give you one each month as you paid your dues, you got a new button. Did you know that? You paid your dues and it might have been a green button, well the next month you might have got a gold one or whatever. And of course we always voted. You had to bring your book in and they stamped it that you voted, so you couldn’t vote twice I guess.”
The meetings were well attended, often with hundreds of members and served as a social outlet as well.
“A lot of times you know, if you were at work, you’d mention ‘are you going to the meeting tonight?’ or something and they’d say ‘yeah sure I’ll see you there.’ You’d get a chance to visit and afterwards maybe you’d stop and have a cup of coffee.
While the Women's Protective Union invoked a strike once in its storied history, the membership also honored the strikes in other unions as well. Picketing was part of a member's responsibility.
“Usually they told you that, years ago, they’d have maybe 20 women out there. The more that were picketing out there, the better it looked. You were supposed to take your turn. Of course, if they settled the strike before your turn came up, then you didn’t picket. But it was part of one of your duties of being in the union, which is only fair.”
During her long work history, Millie saw the evolution of the union's leadership, and respected their commitment and dedication. Keep in mind, these were working class women with no access to higher education or mentoring by more experienced male union members.
“Lina Matusch - yeah she was a very great union leader, very strict, which like I said, years ago the union was strict. And you just went along with it; that’s why it was so strong. Like I said, they were in them for years. You just respected. And when they told you that you were doing something wrong, it wasn’t a reprimand, it was just part of their job. Blanche Copenhaver was a leader too, she was in it for years. Most of them that were in it stayed in it for years. it was a job; they got paid. They were very conscientious of their jobs and I think they did a good job. I really do.”
In the mid-1970s, once the Women’s Protective Union merged with a male union, its hard-fought benefits seemed to be taken for granted. At the same time, unions all across the country began to weaken. But Millie remembered and appreciated the early successes.
“You think back of what the union did do for you, so you felt it was worthwhile. I don’t know how it is the last few years, like I said, I was real lax in going to meeting or anything else, so. I don’t know what they really did at the union meetings now. If you had a problem, they were very good about coming out and helping you. I didn’t have too many problems, so maybe that’s one reason that - but they went to bat for you. And like I said, I think the unions and the bosses worked more together.”
Millie and her husband, a mail-carrier, lived into their 80s and enjoyed a well-earned retirement with grandchildren and travel. She came from a generation who worked hard and felt no job was too small. And they took pride in their work no matter what the pay.
“Which makes all the difference. He brought home the bacon and I brought home the bread.”