Mordecai Brown

Mordecai Brown was Chester Martin's foreman when Martin was working in construction in southern California. When two of his men fought on a worksite, Brown docked their pay--as well as the pay of the coworkers who watched them fight. The latter was seen as unfair by Martin, a Socialist who had been involved in strikes in the Toledo steel mills in 1918. In response to Brown's move, Martin organized a series of strikes that forced the building magnates of Southern California into labor talks with Martin's union.