The Evolution of American Labor

1. The Evolution of American Labor Chapter Two

2. Major Milestones • Craft unions • National unions • American Federation of Labor (AFL) • Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) • Labor legislation • Merger of AFL and CIO

3. Other Influences • Immigration • Economic panics • The American labor movement has been predominantly results-oriented rather than ideologically-oriented

4. Union Philosophies • Labor creates wealth and its due returns • Inequality in wealth • Goals of workers and employers differ • Trade unions are necessary to protect workers

5. Union Corporatist Agenda • Joint governance between union, employers, government. • Laws and regulations requiring minimum standards • Consultation/bargaining with management • Corporatist agenda strong in Europe, declining in U.S.

6. Types of Union Goals • Uplift: concerned with social issues • Revolutionary: overthrowing capitalism • Business: immediate employees’ interests • Predatory: enhance union at workers’ expense

7. Early Unions • Legal decision, rural makeup, competing immigrant workforce hindered early labor movement • Philadelphia Cordwainers - Philadelphia 1794 • Conspiracy doctrine – union punishment if means or ends determined unlawful by courts • Softened in 1842 by Commonwealth v. Hunt

8. Pre–Civil War Unions • Employers did not recognize legitimacy of unions • Courts punished unions • Immigrant competition • Collective efforts continued among skilled/unskilled artisans

9. Pre–Civil War Unions • Organized workers contributed to campaigns • Unions started using strikes to gain wage increases • Membership swells followed by poor economic conditions

10. National Unions • National trade unions in 1850s • Pre-Civil War: trade-related • Post-Civil War: spanned industries • Major public policy focus - immigration

11. National Unions • National Labor Union – 1866 • Political and reformist goals rather than economic or immediate • Eight-hour workday, cooperatives, banking reforms, immigration limitations, Department of Labor • The Knights of Labor – 1869 • City-by-city basis across crafts • Arbitration instead of strikes

12. National Unions • American Federation of Labor (AFL) – 1886 • 150,000 frustrated craft unionists from 25 labor groups • Samuel Gompers’ leadership shapes business orientation of unions • Accepted economic system and worked within it • AFL structure preserved member unions, created subsidiaries • Leaders focused on unique issues facing trade industry • Oversight of local activities

13. Labor Unrest • Big struggles in late 1800s, early 1900s • Financial panic led to depressions • Owners refused to recognize or negotiate with unions • Government sided with businesses • Strikes at coal mines, railroads, plants led to jailings/deaths • Homestead and Pullman strikes thwarted, challenging effectiveness of unions

14. Polarization • Owners hired detectives, workers threatened managers, police sided with owners, companies controlled housing • New revolutionary unions gather steam • Western Federation of Miners • Industrial Workers of the World

15. Industrial Workers of the World • Preamble to the IWW Constitution lays out divisive vision • Classes have nothing in common • Conservative “A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work” scrapped • New “Abolition of the wage system” • Radical rhetoric, not radical demands • Wanted to abolish wage systems, not achieve better wages • Violence usually stemmed from management actions • Organization collapse because of WWI stance

16. Political Intervention • Couer d’Alene mine wars in 1890s • State and federal troops quelled insurgencies • Strikers terminated, replaced by strikebreakers • Former Idaho governor assassinated, Haywood accused and acquitted

17. Boycotts • Local employee strikes • National campaigns urging members and public to boycott • Danbury Hatters • Bucks Stove boycotts • Federal courts interpreted union activities as restraints on commerce, and punishable using Sherman Antitrust Act

18. Early Legislation • Congress passed Erdman Act in 1898 • Prohibited discrimination of railroads workers for union membership • Determined unconstitutional in 1908 • Clayton Act of 1914 • “Industrial Magna Carta” according to Samuel Gompers • Supreme Court removed act’s power in support of employers

19. Trade Union Success & Apathy • WWI • End of IWW, rise of AFL • National War Labor Board established in 1918 to reduce strikes • Labor rights to organize & bargain recognized • Earnings, AFL membership up significantly • Post WWI • Prosperity, immigration decline • “American Plan” – open shop and yellow-dog contracts

20. Transition – 1920s • Agricultural to industrial society – reduced skill requirements • Immigration quotas reduced influx of impoverished potential employees • Depression approaching

21. Industrial Unions • Pre-1930s, industrial union organizing unsuccessful • Depression and new union-friendly legislation changed that • Contentious AFL internal struggle regarding industrial unions • Committee for Industrial Organization, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, United Automobile Workers

22. 1930s Public Policy Shifts • Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932 restricted court action against unions, but employer conduct guidance still did not exist • National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 allowed employees to bargain through own representatives • Ruled unconstitutional • Wagner Act of 1935 resecured organizing rights and specified employer illegal activities • National Labor Relations Board and exclusive representation between union and workers

23. Corporate Defiance • Employed strategies to oppose organizing • Developed company unions • Mohawk Valley formula used to link unions to communists • Enormous budgets for spying, strikebreaking, arsenals • Supreme Court reaffirmed Wagner Act in 1937 • Industrial organizing flourished over corporate objections

24. 1930s Labor Revival • Great Depression heightened sense of need for employee support • Federations competed for members, raided each other • Supported campaigns and secured union-friendly reps

25. 1940s Political Influences • Questions of capitalism’s ability to avoid depressions • Radical political agendas – government regulation proposed • Crisis between labor and management based on war stands • Public intolerant of labor demands

26. WWII • President Roosevelt establishes National War Labor Board • NWLB attempted to maintain cost-of-living wage increases • Labor objected, wanting collective bargaining ability

27. WWII • No-strike pledge violated, led to War Labor Disputes Act by Congress over Roosevelt’s veto • Allowed for seizing of plants involved in labor disputes • Made strikes & lockouts unlawful • Thirty days’ notice of dispute to NWLB • Required NLRB to monitor strike votes

28. WWII • Innovative bargaining • Fringe benefits in place of wage increases • Holidays, vacations, sick leaves, shift differentials approved by NWLB • Advocacy of equal employment opportunities for minorities & women

29. Post-War Conditions • Labor sought pay hikes • Highest number of strikes in U.S. history in 1945-46 • Coal, rail, auto, steel • Conservative Congress balanced employer & union power • Taft-Hartley Act expanded employee rights, introduced “right-to-work” laws, required union to bargain in good faith • Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to aid contractual disputes

30. Productivity Structure Shift • Employer “drive system” gave power to supervisors • Fear implemented by foremen to meet production quotas • Higher wages funded by productivity increases resulting from more skilled workers • New capital-labor agreements for next 40 years

31. Union Reflection/Unification • Labor realized it needed stronger public efforts requiring united front • Joint Unity Committee studied merger possibility • Merger formed the AFL-CIO in 1955 • Late 1950s – mid-’60s saw union decline and corruption

32. Corruption • In 1957, labor officials invoked Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination • Teamsters president converted union funds for own use • “Sweetheart” contracts with substandard benefits and guaranteed labor peace uncovered • Management contributed to corruption by providing payoffs for sweetheart contracts preventing other unions from organizing while the employers paid substandard rates.

33. Corruption • AFL-CIO investigated internally and considered charges • Teamsters refused mandated changes, expelled from the AFL-CIO in 1957 • Congressional investigations led to legislation to reduce likelihood of corrupt practices and to amend the Taft-Hartley Act

34. Landrum-Griffin Act • Established rights of individual union members to freedom of speech, equal voting rights, control of dues increases, copies of labor agreements under which they worked • Unions required to file periodic reports of official and financial activities and holdings of union officers and employees • Employers required to report financial transactions with unions

35. Landrum-Griffin Act • Internal union political activities involving election of officers and placing of subordinate bodies under trusteeship regulated • Recently convicted felons barred from holding office • Extortionate picketing prohibited

36. Public Sector Union Growth • President Kennedy issues several Federal Executive Orders that helped unions bargain collectively with government and established labor practices • Civil Service Reform Act of 1976 established Federal Labor Relations Authority, equivalent of NLRB

37. Labor Crisis • Membership continues to shrink • 1970s brought oil shortages, price increases, war, inflation, unemployment • Reagan presidency brings higher business expenses and need to keep costs down • Higher interest rates brought recession

38. Labor Crisis • Companies make severe cuts to save money • Major shareholders demand better returns, replace executives • Many companies fold under competitive pressure • Striking air traffic controllers ordered back to work, then replaced • Labor on defensive, facing shift from industrial to service industry

39. New Union Leadership • Lane Kirkland retired as AFL-CIO president in 1994 • Replaced by John Sweeney • First insurgent candidate in 70 years • Promised to reenergize organizing activities • Union membership continues to decline • Globalization, nonunion competition leads to additional pressure • A new coalition, Change to Win, formed