Labor
Unions – Pre Civil War
Ineffective, Why?
1. small, local, and inexperienced
2. lacked financial resources
3. difficulty organizing women and children
4. could not deal with immigrants effectively
5. “safety valve” they could always go west if abused
6. government and Courts did not favor labor
7. public opinion against labor
Commonwealth v. Hunt 1842 – Unions are Legal!
Favorable Conditions for Unionization after the Civil War
1. large corps destroy personal contact between worker and owner
2. largeness conducive to organizing
3. courts a bit more sympathetic
4. more experienced and determined labor leaders
5. frontier gone!
Knights of Labor – 1869
1. All workers, skilled and unskilled
2. no racism or nativism
3. Leaders: Terrence Powderly, Uriah Stevens
4. Goals:
a. 8-hour day
b. abolition of child labor
c. cooperatives
5. By 1886, Knights of Labor disappear, Why?
a. Lost several strikes
b. Unskilled workers easy to replace
c. Failed cooperatives
d. Haymarket Affair – 1886 – workers protest brutality. Bomb goes off killing 7, wounding 60
– Effect: public opinion against labor
American Federation of Labor – 1881
1. Samuel Gompers
2. “Bread and Butter” unionism. Wages and hours
3. Mostly Skilled Workers – Why? More difficult to replace
4. Organized craft unions. Example – Steel, auto, etc.
5. Strikes:
a. Homestead Steel Strike – 1892 – gov’t calls in state militia, strike collapses
b. Anthracite Coal Strike – 1902 – TR steps in, union gains concessions, but not “collective
bargaining” or “recognition”
6. Growth of AFL
a. 1880 = 100,00
b. 1920 = 2,000,000
c. 11,000,000 (100 member unions)
Congress of Industrial Organizations – 1935
1. Purpose: compensate for AFL’s neglect of semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Organize all workers
within an industry, unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled.
2. Leaders: John L. Lewis
3. Growth: by 1950 – 5,000,000
4. Merger with AFL 1955 – AFL-CIO
Major Strikes
1. Railroad Strike of 1877
2. Haymarket Strike of 1886
3. Pullman Strike of 1894
4. Coal Strike of 1902
Legislation
1. Commonwealth v. Hunt – 1842
2. Sherman Anti-Trust Act – 1890 – employed by owners and courts against organized labor
3. Progressivism:
a. Child labor prohibitions
b. Maximum hours and minimum wage
c. Health and safety regulations
d. Clayton Anti-trust Act 1913 – can’t use anti-trust laws against labor
e. Dept. of Labor 1913 – “promote interests of labor”
f. Adamson Act 1916 – to head off railroad strike. Wilson passes 8 hour workday for workers
4. Norris-LaGuardia Act 1932 – prohibited courts from granting injunctions against striking workers
5. New Deal:
a. NIRA – National Industrial Recovery Act
-collective bargaining and child labor
-yet, declared unconstitutional in 1935
b. Wagner Act 1935
-creates National Labor Relations Board
-collective bargaining
-prohibited use of blacklists
-prohibited corp. interference in union operations
-prohibited use of spies
c. Fair Labor Standards Act 1938
-minimum wage and maximum hours
6. Taft-Hartley Act 1947
a. Provisions
-no closed shops
-no secondary boycotts
-80 day cooling-off period
b. political effect: hurt Republicans in 1948 election
7. Landrum-Griffin Act 1959 – combat corrupt union practices
- union officials must be elected through secret ballots
Other Union Terms/Events
1. scabs – replace striking workers
2. lockouts – business “locks out” workers for concessions
3. yellow dog contracts – pledges not to join unions
4. injunctions – court orders to “cease and desist” – used against striking workers
5. Labor and Wars:
-labor concedes during war
-strikes following World War I and World War II
6. Peak years of unionism: 1955, 25% of workers in a union
7. Right to work laws – state laws undermining union groups.
(Taft Hartley allowed the “union” shop, but prohibited the “closed” shop)