QUESTION: Prior to the 1937 Lumberjack Strike in Gogebic County, what were lumberjacks typically paid?

a. $0.27-$0.33/hour

b. $0.50-$0.55/hour

c. $0.87-$0.93/hour

d. $1.25-$1.35/hour

ANSWER: A. For a lumberjack earning 30 cents an hour, if he worked 10 hours a day, six days a week for 52 weeks, he would have earned $936, minus about $291.20 for board, resulting in a net of $644.80 [approximately $13,295 today]! The previous year, the vice president of the Kimberly Clark Corp, William Bonifas was paid a yearly salary of $45,000 [approximately $927,525]. The strikers demanded a forty-hour work week, 55 cents an hour, running water (or showers), white sheets on their bunks, and meals for transient lumberjacks. After 3 months, many employers eventually agreed to moderate wage increases and shorter hours.