George F. Johnson

George Francis Johnson (October 14, 1857 – November 28, 1948) was an American businessman. He was president of shoe manufacturer Endicott Johnson Corporation and the namesake of Johnson City, New York.

Biography

Early life George Francis Johnson was born on October 14, 1857, in Milford, Massachusetts, to Sarah Jane (née Aldrich) and Francis A. Johnson. His father served in the Civil War. His siblings were Oscar E., C. Fred Johnson, Harry L., and Charlotte. Johnson attended public school in Milford. At the age of 13, he left school and worked in a treeing room in a shoe factory in Plymouth. At the age of 21, he became foreman of a treeing room at Emery's shoe factory in Plymouth. In 1882, he moved to Binghamton, New York. He then worked as a foreman of the treeing room and the packing department at Lester Brothers & Company. Johnson saw to it that Endicott-Johnson employees received a range of benefits that were not typically offered by most employers at the time. The company also created parks (containing swimming pools and carousels that anyone could ride for free), medical facilities, restaurants, libraries, and recreational facilities—all designed to provide high quality goods and services to the employees for free or at a low cost.

The Square Deal Towns of Endicott & Johnson City have set the precedent of eager industrial labor habits for Broome County. The humming EJ factories and neighborhoods were the origins of International Business Machines. Endicott and Johnson City were where George F. Johnson revolutionized the pay system and improved relationships between capital and labor.

Here is a quote from George F.: "To know in the morning that your compensation is fixed; to know that you must do the same thing all day long, to know that whether you do a little more or a little less, whether you are more or less interested and more or less efficient, your pay is automatically fixed-creates the most deadly monotony that I can believe possible". Here he describes what was then called the piece worker system, whereas Professor Melvyn Dubovsky calls Johnson's ethic "welfare capitalism".

The community of Lestershire was renamed Johnson City, New York, in 1916 in honor of Johnson, and Endicott-Johnson workers built two arches over the area's main road in the early ’20s, one at the entrance to Johnson City and the other in Endicott, New York, stating that they were the gateways to the "Square Deal Towns". Endicott-Johnson would become the largest manufacturer of footwear in the United States, employing 24,000 workers at its peak.

Working Week During World War I, the Endicott-Johnson shoe factories made every pair of military boots, which equipped U.S. soldiers. On October 16, 1916, George F. Johnson announced the mandate of a 40-hour work week, which became the American Standard. This rule took effect for EJ-factory workers on November 1, 1916. His view of the 40-hour week was based on a wage-system of individual-unit-contributions from his workers, and saw the hourly-wage-system as a form of mental slavery.

Personal life Johnson had two sons and two daughters, George W., Walter L., Mrs. Zada Robertson and Mrs. Lloyd E. Sweet.

Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church in Johnson City, New York: "… George F. Johnson offered to donate the cost of a grand, new building if it could be named for his mother, Sarah Jane. …"

George F. Johnson Elementary School, built in 2000, was named after him. It is part of the Union-Endicott Central School District. It is the second Union-Endicott elementary school to be named after him. The first was located in West Endicott.