In 1920, more than 66 businesses formed a La Crosse Employers Association, joining more than 50 members of the Master Builders Association. They jointly signed an Open Shop pledge in which the companies stating they would hire both union and nonunion employees.
The builders signed at a time when the building trades were on strike in sympathy with the Hadcarriers and Common Laborers Union that were unhappy with nonunion men being hired on jobsites.
