Arizona Labor Dispatch, Vol. 2, Issue 105

As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, the AZ AFL-CIO would like to recognize Hattie Canty (1933-2012). One of the greatest strike leaders in U.S. history. Hattie successfully bridges the civil rights movement to labor history, to the women’s rights movement, and to modern-day politics and culture.

Below is a piece titled, “Black Women Built That: Labor and Workers’ Rights” published on February 28, 2018 by the National Women’s Law Center.

“Born in rural Alabama in 1933, Hattie Canty was one of the greatest strike leaders in U.S. history. She found work as a cook in California before settling in Las Vegas with her husband, who supported the family and ten children. Except for a short stint working as a maid at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas in 1972, Canty largely stayed home to raise the family’s ten children. In 1975, her husband fell ill and succumbed to lung cancer. Facing the prospect of caring for eight of her children who were still living at home, 41-year-old Canty took another maid job at a hotel – this time the Maxim – a hotel unionized with Las Vegas Culinary Workers Union Local 226. Because of the union, the job afforded Canty health benefits, a pension, and wages far above the minimum wage. Over the next dozen years, Canty rose through the ranks, being promoted from maid to attendant. She spent every one of her off-days walking a picket line when there was a picket line to walk.

In May 1990, the membership of the union elected Canty president – the first woman president of the local – and a position she held for ten years.

Under her leadership, the Local engaged in what became one of the longest strikes in US History, which lasted 6 years, 4 months and ten days between 1991 and 1998. In 1991, 550 hospitality workers at the Vegas Frontier Hotel walked off their jobs to protest unfair wages and treatment. Over the next six years, the union maintained a strike line 24 hours a day, seven days a week and no striker ever crossed the picket line. The strike ended in victory when the Frontier was bought by another businessman, who promised to restore the workers to their jobs, honor the union contract, and provide back pay for the workers.

During an oral history in 2007, Canty had this to say about striking: “… when there’s a strike like that, you’re not just striking for the benefits from that hotel. But you are learning to take up for yourself. You are learning to defend your rights. You are not letting people just run over you or you’re taking anything they give you.”

Hattie Canty was a dynamic leader who also worked to better integrate the union and address racial tensions. She was not only a fearless advocate, going to jail at least six times to defend the union, but a strategic institution builder. For example, she established a culinary training academy that helped train workers to gain promotions in the industry. Canty rose through the ranks, as a largely uneducated hotel worker, to become a union president and strike leader, strengthening the foundation of what remains one of the strongest union locals in the country today.

These are just two of thousands of Black women throughout our nation’s history who have fought for the rights of working people as community leaders for the benefit of all of us. We owe Lucy Parsons, Hattie Canty, and so many more a debt of gratitude for the rights we often take for granted today.”

In solidarity,

Fred Yamashita
Secretary-Treasurer
Executive Director
Arizona AFL-CIO