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Outline The “Labor Problem”
and the Clayton Act The Class War
Continues: Ludlow,Colorado
WWI Great Migration Institutionalizing
Conflict Boston Police Strike Railway Labor Act Welfare Capitalism National Labor
Relations Act (Wagner Act)
More choices…Labor’s Strategy
1. On Reserve1. PBS Early Labor: Dubofsky
& Kessler…get worksheet from me
2. Extra Credit Option…watch a movie answer 1 question…get 4 points
3. Matewan http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/matewan-trailer/570
1. 6 pm Monday LC 326A
2. Need 7 to commit for it to happen
1. Will put on LUO reserve for 2 pts
Injunctions
Injunctions Court orders issued by judges that prohibited any activity that
might cause irreparable harm
Injunctions were regularly used to block union activities
“Typically these writs also prohibited union leaders from encouraging or advising any form of collective action”(Zieger and Gall 2002: 29)
Limit union organizing, boycotts, sympathy strikes and picketing during a strike
Basis for bringing in militia and army
One judge described an injunction as “Gatling gun on paper” note next slide (Who Built America 1992: 125)
The Clayton Act
Unions lobbied hard to end injunctions
In 1914, Congress passed the Clayton Act
Section 6 of the Clayton Act provides that: "The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. Nothing contained in the antitrust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of labor organizations; nor shall such organizations, or the members thereof, be held or construed to be illegal combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade, under the antitrust laws.”
The act was supposed to end the use of injunctions, but courts interpreted it narrowly and state courts continued to use injunctions… nothing changed
Katz and Kochan 2004
One of many Coal Wars…
“Labor Problem” Generates Conflicts in Colorado Where Miners Join Together to Demand Recognition of the Union…A CONTINUING THEME 8 Hour Day Right to use any store, doctor or boarding house
Had been required to use company stores, doctors and housing Demand about mine safety and regulation
Official call to go on strike - September 17, 1913 “All mineworkers are hereby notified that a strike of all
the coal miners and coke oven workers in Colorado will begin on Tuesday, September 23, 1913 … We are striking for improved conditions, better wages, and union recognition. We are sure to win.”
Ludlow and the Freedom of Association What did the
authorities do to Mother Jones?
Again…does this seem like a sensible way to address the “labor problem?”
Ludlow Massacre
New York Times' account of the massacre - April 21, 1914 The Ludlow camp is a mass of charred debris,
and buried beneath it is a story of horror imparalleled [sic] in the history of industrial warfare. In the holes which had been dug for their protection against the rifles' fire the women and children died like trapped rats when the flames swept over them. One pit, uncovered [the day after the massacre] disclosed the bodies of ten children and two women.
President Wilson Appoints Committee on Industrial Relations
John D. Rockefeller defends "open shop" before Congressional committee - April 6, 1914
Rockefeller: "These men have not expressed any dissatisfaction with their conditions. The recostrike has been imposed upon the company from the outsiderds show that the conditions have been admirable … A …
"There is just one thing that can be done to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps, and our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that that interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost."
Chairman: "And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?"
Rockefeller "It is a great principle."
President Wilson Appoints Committee on Industrial Relations
One of three Government reports concluded:
"Where (labor) organization is lacking dangerous discontent is found on every hand; low wages and long hours prevail; exploitation in every direction is practiced; the people become sullen, have no regard for law and government, and are, in reality, a latent volcano, as dangerous to society as are the volcanoes of nature to the landscape surrounding them."
"We hold that efforts to stay the organization of labor or to restrict the right of employees to organize should not be tolerated, but that the opposite policy should prevail, and the organization of the trade unions and of the employers' organizations should be promoted...This country is no longer a field for slavery, and where men and women are compelled, in order that they may live, to work under conditions in determining which they have no voice, they are not far removed from a condition existing under feudalism or slavery.“
Final Report of the Commission on Industrial Relations, 1915
World War erupts…US enters in 1917 Need for soldiers, workers, coal, war
production…
1890, Blacks in America: 90% in South
The Great Migration North: Blacks Move North for Jobs
0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1200000
1400000
1600000
1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
Philly: The Great Migration
Growth in Black Population, Philadelphia
Black Population
% of Philly Pop.
1910
84,000 5.5%
1920
134,000 7.4%
1930
220,000 11.3%
World War I
Mobilization for War Required Production Coal, steel, ships, garments, food, you name it…
Gompers and AFL make a “no strike pledge”…but there is a Massive Strike Wave Metal Trades, Ship-building, coal 6 million workdays lost
You’re an advisor to President Wilson…what do you recommend?
World War I
Develop Institutions to Reduce or Channel Conflict: National War Labor Board
Set up to prevent labor disputes that might weaken the country’s military effort
Self organization and collective bargaining became public policy Employers forbidden from interfering with union
organizing
Substituted settlements based on non binding mediation form of intervention in labor management disputes
whose objective is to help the parties reach a settlement
Changing the Rules
“the right to organize was freely conceded by the government and even insisted upon…The gods were indeed fighting on the side of labor.” -William Z. Foster, meatpacking organizer
Union Membership Grows by 70% between 1914 and 1920 1917 2.9 million 1920 5 million
Machinists grow by six fold, Garment workers double in size
NWLB Dissolved
After the War, the NWLB is eliminated Why? The business community opposes its
continuation
But Labor Problem is not eliminated & Large Scale Conflicts Remerge
1919-10,000 strikes involving 8 million workers Most strikes in any year up that point
General Strike in Seattle a strike by all or most workers in a community or nation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efM5EsZPfbA
Steel, Ship-workers even Police…lets explore Boston
Boston Police Vote to Strike on 9/08/19…1,134 to 2…Why?
Wages Second through 5th year earned $1200 ($14,382 in today’s
dollars) Most anyone could earn was $1400 ($16,779 in today’s
dollars) Had to pay $200 for own uniforms ($2400 in today’s
dollars)
Hours 73 hours a week (day men) 83 hours a week (night men) 98 hours a week (wagon men)
“Such men are deprived of enjoying the comforts of their home and family.
Boston Police Union President
More Importantly…Should Police Be allowed to form unions?
What are some reasons you might answer yes?
What are some reasons you might answer no?
More Importantly…Should Police Be allowed to form unions?
Union Recognition Union position:
Police officers are workers with same values and aspirations as private sector workers
Unions were needed to deal with issues of wages, hours and working conditions
Opponents: Police officers are government workers who are not
employees Not employed, but appointed Nobody profits from their efforts
Unionized police would have divided loyalty Might not be willing to enforce injunctions and break
strikes Strikes by police would be catastrophic
Boston Police Strike: September 9, 1910
Police Strike
Public unrest follows
Governor Coolidge fires all strikers and hires permanent replacement workers
Though unionized garment worker will not sew uniforms for “scabs” …the strike is lost
Under pressure, AFL revokes charter of other Police Unions…things will not change for 40 years…
The Roaring Twenties…
Decade begins with 5 million in unions…by 1931 only 2.1 million are in unions…Why?
No government support…NWLB dissolved
Old Fashioned Management offensive defeats many strikes
Firings, beatings, shootings, firing workers, etc. 921 injunctions issued in 1920…about the same number
issued in the previous 40 years
Yellow dog contracts?
Freedom of Contract?
Yellow Dog Contracts
Employers required a loyalty oath stating that the employee would not join or participate in union activities
Courts could enforce these common law contracts, and the employee could be fired
Formed the basis for legal action against organizers for interfering with a contractual relationship
Welfare Capitalism Emerges in 20s
Personnel practices such as job ladders, pension & insurance benefits introduced by management with the hope that these would lead employees to shun unions (Katz & Kochan, p.468)
Employee Representation Plan (ERP) Labor/management committees established to
discuss welfare programs, develop schemes for improving efficiency, adjudicating minor disputes and grievances. (Folks, p,177)
Union avoidance via Company Unions An organization of employees that is either
dominated or strongly influenced by management. (Herman, p.524)
Some Common Ground…
AFL Business Unionism and Management Driven Welfare Capitalism differ in the degree of power and autonomy that workers get…
But they share in common a desire to address the “labor problem” without open class warfare…
Both seek to build institutions that can reduce conflict generated by employment relationship…
Outline
Channeling Conflict, 1920s Railway Labor Act
Channeling Conflict, 1930s National Labor Relations
Act (Wagner Act) More choices…Labor’s
Strategy AFL and CIO Sit Down and Fight:
Video Clip Social Unionism
CIO PAC
Matewan on reserve Get sheet from me
Dubofsky/Kessler video sheet…Hand in now
Review Question…big part of grade Some are doing an excellent job Some haven’t done any…what
are you waiting for? Some are not doing
thoroughly…do them thoroughly
Channeling Conflict…
Railways as key Largest Employer in US in 1917
250,000 workers Constant labor conflict a problem for national
economy Railroads are the main mode of transportation
During WWI Government Operates RR
1919 the RR Unions Supports Continued Government Control of the Railroads Unions would help manage them In wake of Bolshevik revolution…this a very radical
demand…
The Railway Labor Act
Passed by Congress in 1926 Specifies that the employees have the right to organize
unions without employer interference and to bargain through the representatives of their own choosing
Establish procedures to reduce conflict in the railroads
Compulsory arbitration Procedure used to settle labor disputes in which a
third party makes a binding decision
Unions drop demands for nationalization
An important step towards “rational” labor relations in one of nation’s most important industries
Side Note: AFL and the Family Wage Trying to be attentive to not just “generic
workers,” but too different segments of the working class Blacks, Immigrants, women…
1. In the section Prosperity in Chapter 2, the authors mention something called the family wage. What does this term refer to? In your opinion, was a family wage something unions should have demanded, or was it something that worked against the interests of women?
RLA as step toward “institutionalizing conflict”….Next step facilitated by the collapse of the American economy….
The “Labor Problem” Intensifies
Great Depression
By 1932, ½ of all factories closed down
By, 1933, 15 million people are unemployed Between 25% and 33% of all workers are out of
work
Wages fall by 60%
Approximately 50% of Americans are living below the poverty level
Conditions are Intolerable
“We cannot endure another winter of hardship such as we are passing through.”
Republican Governor of Washington
The “Labor Problem” Intensifies Workers and unemployed organize
hunger marches and demonstrations across the nation
50,000 march in NYC 60,000 march in Detroit
With banners of Lenin… Who was Lenin?
A “New Deal” for workers…
Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected in 1932 Administration full of people with experience
with WWI War Labor Board & state level reform Belief that industrial conflict could managed
1933, National Industrial Recovery Act Many parts all designed to use government to
re-organize the economy
Section 7 A states workers have right to organize and collectively bargain
7A was like Yeast in Bread…
Unions launch organizing campaigns Organizing and strikes pick-up
Employers refuse to abide by 7A & oppose unionization efforts Believe law is unconstitutional
Result: Intense labor conflict 1934 strikes reach historic highs
From Business Unionism to something more “dangerous”?
Teamsters organize truck drivers in Minneapolis
Goal is not class struggle, but Business unionism A union to represent the bread and butter interests
of truck drivers.
Employers refuse to recognize union…the result…A General Strike
Revolution as possible…? General Strikes in 1934:
Minneapolis San Francisco shuts down ports up and
down west coast Note video clip
Revolution in the Air?
“You have seen strikes in Toledo, you have seen Minneapolis, you have seen San Francisco, and you seen some of the southern textile strikes…but…you have not yet seen the gates of hell opened, and that is what is going to happen from now on.”
-Congressmen Conner, testifying before a Senate Committee
Solidifying a New Deal
1935 NIRA Struck Down by Courts Senator Wagner (D-NY) quickly offers new bill…what is it?
What does it do?
Wagner Act or National Labor Relations Act(1935) a federal law that among other things guaranteed
workers to organize unions, join unions and collectively bargain.
Turning point in American History A conscious effort to strengthen unionism by Federal
Government Still the framework we operate under
What Drove Wagner
“There can no more be democratic self government in industry without workers participating therein, than there could be democratic government in politics without workers having the right to vote.”
“That is why the right to collectively bargain is at the bottom of social justice for the workers as well as the sensible conduct of business affairs. The denial or observance of this right means the difference between despotism and democracy.” (Tomlins, p.105)
What do you think? Do you agree with Wagner?
Wagner Act (1935)
Section 1: The denial by some employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead to strikes and other forms of industrial strife and or unrest, which have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce…
Wagner Act (1935)
The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract and employers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate the recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners…
Wagner Act (1935)
It is declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions…by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms of and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.
Wagner Act/National Labor Relations Act, 1935
Most non-agricultural private-sector employees ensured the right to organize
Anyone know/guess which racial or ethnic groups this will leave behind?
Wagner Act/National Labor Relations Act, 1935
Most non-agricultural private-sector employees ensured the right to organize
Bow to Southern Democrats boxes African American Sharecroppers out of deal…
NLRA, 1935
Section 7 Employees have the “right to self organization” and
the right to “bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, or to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining”
Right to strike, picket, etc.
O.K…What happens if these rights are violated? Can employers hire temporary replacement workers? What about permanent replacement workers? Can workers strike company B to support workers at company A?…All things we’ll consider
NLRA, 1935: Section 8
Employers must bargain in good faith Duty to bargain with the intent of reaching an agreement.
O.K…So what can and can not be the subject of bargaining? Still to be determined?
Unfair Labor Practices by Employers are Specified Can’t interfere with right to unionize. Can’t set up company
unions. Can’t discriminate against union members.
O.K…so what happens if an ER does this…?
NLRA, 1935
O.K…what if different workers want different unions to represent them…
Section 9 Union representatives selected by majority
vote of designated bargaining unit Victorious unions wins exclusive
representation rights
O.K…How will bargaining unit be defined? All Hospital workers? Just the nurses? Nurse and orderlies but not cafeteria workers?
NLRB Created…
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Government agency created to enforce provisions of
the Act
5 persons appointed by the President of the U.S. & confirmed by the Senate
Guiding principles Organize elections & recognize majority
representation
Investigate claims of unfair labor practices and impose sanctions or punishments for violations of the NLRA
President Roosevelt as Pro-Union “If I went to work in a
factory, the first thing I’d do would be TO JOIN A UNION” -Franklin Roosevelt
It’s not clear if he ever really said this, but union leaders made poster declaring that he did
Opportunity for AFL
AFL primarily comprised of Craft Unions representing skilled workers
But economy now comprised of large, mass production industries full of immigrants, women and Blacks Ford’s River Rouge plant employed 100,000
in one factory… Most of them were unskilled or semi-skilled
Choices….
Wagner Act as the opportunity of a lifetime?
AFL leaders hold negative views of unskilled and immigrant workers
“The scramble for admittance to the union is on. We do not want to charter the riff-raff or good for nothings, or those for whom we cannot make wages or conditions Daniel Tobin, Head of the AFL Teamsters Union
Tobin referred to the “the rubbish that have lately come into other organizations.”
“My wife can always tell from the smell of my clothes what breed of foreigners I have been hanging out with.” William Collins, AFL organizer
Choices AFL: You are a (skilled white/unskilled
white, Hispanic, Black, woman, Asian) worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited your factory, and told you that your best strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000 into 13 different unions, each of which should bargain with Ford independently. This will give skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the majority, will be lowest priority.
See next slide
AFL Craft Unions Divide workers
in one car factory into 13 separate craft unions.
Try to bargain separately…
Unskilled, women, Blacks, Asians and others are low priority
Ford
Plant A Plant B
Plumbers Union Local 1
PaintersUnion
Local 1
Machinists Union
Local 1
Janitors Union
Local 1
Plumbers Union
Local 2
Painters Union
Local 2
MachinistsUnion
Local 2
JanitorsUnion
Local 2
Choices AFL: You are a (skilled white/unskilled white, Black,
woman, HispanicAsian) worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited your factory, and told you that your best strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000 into 13 different unions, each of which should bargain with Ford independently. This will give skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the majority, will be lowest priority.
Organizer Lewis: You are a (skilled white/unskilled white, Black, woman, Asian) worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the new group tell you that the AFL strategy is flawed. Division into separate unions weakens your power. It is too easy to divide and conquer. Skilled and unskilled, regardless of race, should form one industrial union. This will give workers the power to shut down production, and will force Ford to deal with you. See next slide
Congress of Industrial Unions Organize all workers
along industrial lines (one factory, one local union) Including women,
Blacks, immigrants and others
Demand that Ford negotiate a deal that applies to all of its factories
U A W 1
P lan t A
U A W 2
P lan t B
U A W 3
P la n t C
UAW -Ford
BARGAIN PERTAINSTO
FORD
Ford
Choices
AFL: You are an (unskilled White, Black, woman, Hispanic, Asian) worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited your factory, and told you that your best strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000 into 13 different unions, each of which should bargain with Ford independently. This will give skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the majority, will be lowest priority.
Organizer Lewis: You are an (unskilled White, Black, woman, Hispanic, Asian) worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the new group tell you that the AFL strategy is flawed. Division into separate unions weakens your power. It is too easy to divide and conquer. Skilled and unskilled, regardless of race, should form one industrial union. This will give workers the power to shut down production, and will force Ford to deal with you.
Choices
AFL: You are a skilled White worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited your factory, and told you that your best strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000 into 13 different unions, each of which should bargain with Ford independently. This will give skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the majority, will be lowest priority.
Organizer Lewis: You are a skilled White worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the new group tell you that the AFL strategy is flawed. Division into separate unions weakens your power. It is too easy to divide and conquer. Skilled and unskilled, regardless of race, should form one industrial union. This will give workers the power to shut down production, and will force Ford to deal with you.
CIO Challenge to the AFL
Debate over craft or industrial organizing came to a head at the 1935 AFL convention in Atlantic City.
United Mine Workers President John Lewis lost a crucial vote to organize the auto and rubber industries along industrial lines…
Punches Out President of Carpenters Union Next time you’re in AC…walk as far south as you can on
the boardwalk…there is a memorial to the events
With several other AFL leaders, Lewis formed the more militant Committee of Industrial Organizations which ultimately become the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
The CIO Challenge to the AFL…
CIO Federation of national labor unions created in 1938
with the goal of promoting industrial unionism
Industrial Union (as opposed to craft union) Unions that represent workers across a number of
different skill levels and/or occupations
Sometimes One Industry, One Union (US) Auto Industry = Autoworkers Union…not machinists union,
painters union, electricians union, etc
Sometimes One Sector, One Union (Germany, Sweden) Metalworkers Union…not autoworkers union, steelworkers
union, machinists union
The Rise of the CIO…
Attitudes toward minorities or women?
The Rise of the CIO…
Attitudes toward minorities or women?
Official Position Class…or at least Industry based Solidarity
should trump other concerns
Racial, ethnic & gender differences inconsequential “Black and White Unite and Fight”
The CIO Challenge to the AFL…
CIO Federation of national labor unions created in 1938
with the goal of promoting industrial unionism
Industrial Union (as opposed to craft union) Unions that represent workers across a number of
different skill levels and/or occupations
Sometimes One Industry, One Union (US) Auto Industry = Autoworkers Union…not machinists union,
painters union, electricians union, etc
Sometimes One Sector, One Union (Germany, Sweden) Metalworkers Union…not autoworkers union, steelworkers
union, machinists union
6. The United Autoworkers first great victory occurred in Flint Michigan. What made this strike unique? Why do you think the strike was successful?
Video Clip
The Rise of the CIO
From Poverty Level Wages to Middle Class Wages
The CIO, the United Autoworkers (UAW) and General Motors
Union membership as a percentage of the nonagricultural labor force, 1930-2002
Unions Force Re-slicing of Economic Pie
Estimated that $ 1billion transferred from capitalist class to working class in 1937 alone
This a BIG deal…
Alters American Society
Improves the standard of living of millions…helps create a middle class
But for the CIO…it is not just abuot wages…
AFL…Business unionism using collective bargaining to improve the wages, hours
and working conditions of members who belong to a particular union. Focus on bread-and-butter issues
“pure and simple” agenda of improving wages and working conditions (Zieger 2002: 25)
Limited political activity and no vision of large scale social transformation Early AFL ascribed to something called Voluntarism
opposition to government relief and welfare legislation and stressing the need for workers to depend on their own economic strength (Zieger 2002:62)
Often little inter-union solidarity “craft unions routinely crossed one another’s pickets and
endlessly disputed jurisdictions” (Folks, 145)
8. In what ways did the CIO’s attitude toward political action differ from that of the AFL? Briefly explain one of the reasons that CIO adopted this attitude?
CIO: Beyond Business Unionism …workers and Labor Union members have many
problems affecting their lives in addition to wages, hours and working conditions, and related matters involving the employer. These are the wide range of the citizen in the community. The CIO Council becomes the voice of the Labor movement about housing, public and personal health, child care, education, public and private welfare, city and community planning, recreating, and a large number of things which are the concern of the worker as citizen where he lives. Ted Silvey, CIO Leader, 1948
The CIO: From Voluntarism to Political Action
“It is difficult to conceive of any functioning labor organization which does not take part in politics. For the leaders of of labor, politics was, and is, the other side of of the trade union coin.” CIO pamphlet
CIO more aggressively fights to elect people who are more tolerant of unions and to use government to solve social problems
Goal is to reform capitalism, not abolish it More public housing, health care, civil rights,
jobs, etc.
From Business Unionism to Social Unionism a form of unionism that focuses on using
collective bargaining to improve the wages, hours and working conditions of members who belong to a particular union WHILE also engaging in campaigns that will improve the conditions of the working class a whole.
GOAL IS TO ADVANCE A BROADER SET OF ECONOMC INTERESTS…ABOVE AND BEYOND THOSE DEALT WITH BY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
The CIO and Politics
In 1936 CIO puts $74 million behind FDR (2007 dollars)
1943 CIO Political Action Committee formed
CIO committee created to register voters, educate them, and get them out to vote
In some cities, extremely well organized City broken down into
districts…districts into wards…wards into blocks…each block had community steward in charge of mobilizing union vote
Brokering a “New Deal”
CIO was Key Part of New Deal coalition that passed legislation creating
Old Age Pensions (Social Security)
Unemployment Insurance Why would providing money to unemployed workers be helpful
to the labor movement?
Aid for Dependent Mothers (Welfare)
Fair Labor Standards Act (AFL initially opposes based on commitment to voluntarism, CIO supports) Minimum wages; maximum hours; prohibitions on child labor
Agricultural workers and public employees not covered by the wages and hours standards
8. In what ways did the CIO’s attitude toward political action differ from that of the AFL? Briefly explain one of the reasons that CIO adopted this attitude? Who had it right, the AFL or the CIO?
Risk for the CIO of getting so politically involved in support of the Democratic Party?
Next
Unions and WWII Social Unionism…Just how far? Unions in Post War America