DYCHE, JOHN ALEXANDER

DYCHE, JOHN ALEXANDER (1867–1939), U.S. labor leader. Dyche was born in Kovno, Lithuania. He went to New York City in 1900 after 14 years in England, where he was active in trade unionism. Dyche soon became involved in the newly founded International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and from 1904 was its secretary-treasurer. Dyche defended the principles of "pure and simple" trade unionism, including the sanctity of contracts, the use of the strike only as a last resort and only under the strict control of a national union, and the basic interest of the worker in self-advancement rather than solidarity and socialism. He strongly supported the Protocol of 1910, arguing that this collective bargaining agreement in the cloak and suit trade, with its unusual provision for arbitration, would aid the large clothing concerns at the expense of the small contractors, and allow the union and the employers to move toward a single wage schedule in the industry. He stressed that employers were prepared to raise wages if their competitors did likewise. However, the Protocol produced bitter disputes within the union, and Dyche refused to seek another term in office in 1924. He subsequently left the labor movement and became the owner of a small business in the garment industry. He wrote Bolshevism in American Labor Unions (1926).

bibliography:

L. Lorwin, Women's Garment Workers (1924); L.P. Gartner, Jewish Immigrant in England, 1870 – 1914 (1960), 66.

[Irwin Yellowitz]