History of Collective Bargaining in the
United States
First Strike:
Philadelphia printers in 1786
New York printers in 1790
First unions:
1792: Federal Society of Journeymen
Cordwainers, Philadelphia
1794 Journeymen printers, New York

Employer and Union Tactics
• Craft union approaches firm, asks for agreed pay.
Strike employers who refuse.
• Uncooperative workers ostracized, labeled rats, scabs
• Early strikes successful
• 1806: Philadelphia Cordwainers union broken by court injunction against strike
• Srikes declared “criminal conspiracy to disrupt managerial prerogative to set wages”
• Unions lose 4 of 6 similar cases in 1820s
• Other constraints: Immigrants, slow growth, mechanization, local unions

History (continued)
1842 Commonwealth v. Hunt legalizes strikes
1850 First national union: printers
1866 National Labor Union
Primarily political
Lasts 6 years
1869 Knights of Labor
Emphasizes 3 rd party actions
Combination of craft, industrial unions
Embarassed by strikes, but Wabash strike leads to rapid growth

History (continued)
Violence
1875 Molly Maguires in mining, Pennsylvania and West
Virginia
1886 Haymarket Riot, Chicago: Strike for 8 hour day
1892 Homestead Steel, Pennsylvania: Lockout when workers refuse wage cuts
1894 Pullman Strike, Illinois: strike over layoffs, wage cuts
1914 Ludlow, Colorado mines, lockout when union presses for recognition

History (continued)
Other constraints on unions
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act
1902 United Hatters of North America strike against Loewe and Company
Yellow dog contracts
Industrial spies
Blacklisting
Company unions
Sweetheart deals

A Tale of Two Unions
1886
Samuel Gompers and business unionism crafts only instituted collective bargaining support capitalism audited books use of strikes supported by national resources

A Tale of Two Unions (continued)
1905-1920 Industrial Workers of the
World
Big Bill Haywood and Revolutionary unionism
Aim: overthrow capitalism, workers control capital
Industrial unions (agriculture, mining, loggers) lax dues
Embezzlement by organizers
Great songs

A Tale of Two Unions (continued)
By 1920, IWW all but gone (1,000 members today)
AFL had 280,000 members in 1898
1.5 million members by 1904
3 million members by 1920
13 million today

1926 Railway Labor Act
1936 Airlines covered under RLA
Include many of the features that were later added to the NLRA, Taft
Hartley
1930 Texas & New Orleans Railroad Co v. Brotherhood of
Railway and Steamship Clerks
Validate unions under the Commerce clause
Congress shall have the power to regulate commerce…among the several states
Congress can make collective action “an instrument of peace rather than strife.”

1931 Davis Bacon Act
• Must pay prevailing local wage on federal projects
•
Prevailing wage defined as the wage that separates the lowest 70% from the top 30%
•
Several states followed suit
•
Des Moines Iowa Events Center
• Most federal government projects employ union members

1932 Norris La Guardia Act
• Invalidates use of Sherman Anti-Trust act in labor disputes
• Declares “Yellow Dog” contracts unenforceable

1935 National Labor Relations Act
Wagner Act
Ushered in the era of the most rapid union gains in U.S. history
Between 1935-1947,
Union density rises from 13% to 35%
1700 company unions disbanded
76,000 workers fired for union activity reinstated
5,070 bargaining units certified
Other reasons?

NLRA Features
Coverage
Exclude: federal, state employees agricultural workers domestic servants independent contractors supervisors
Include: U.S. Postal Service
Large private firms

NLRA Features
Section 7: Rights of employees
Employees shall have the right to self-organize, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all such activity except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment.

NLRA Features
Section 8: Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) for the employer
8(a)(1): to interfere with activities in Sect. 7
8(a)(2): to dominate or support a union
8(a)(3): to discriminate on the basis of union interest
8(a)(4): to punish worker(s) who file a ULP charge
8(a)(5): to refuse to bargain in good faith

NLRA Features
1937 NLRB v. Jones Laughlin Steel upholds NLRA
5-4
Under Commerce clause, Proper for Congress to prohibit employers from interfering with the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively because of the catastrophic effects that strikes could have on interstate commerce.

World War II and its immediate aftermath
• Rapid union growth
•
Wage and price controls, no-strike pledges
• UMW refuses, 2 strikes led by John L. Lewis
•
Pent-up wage demands
1945 GM and Ford strike
1946 Strikes in oil, lumber, textiles, electrical industry, steel, coal; railroad workers threaten to walk out
Truman responds

1947 Taft Hartley Amendments
Unfair labor practice for union
8(b)(1)(A): to coerce workers to join
8(b)(1)(B): to coerce employer regarding representation
8(b)(2): to coerce employer to punish employees
8(b)(3): to refuse to bargain in good faith
8(b)(4): to coerce “hot cargo” contracts to engage in secondary boycotts to compel firm to bargain when another union is already recognized to strike over a jurisdictional dispute

1947 Taft Hartley Amendments
Unfair labor practice for union
8(b)(5): to charge excessive fees
8(b)(6): to coerce employer to pay for services not performed
8(b)(7): restrictions on representational and organizational pickets informative pickets are ok
14(b): to require workers join a union in a right-to-work state

1947 Taft Hartley Amendments
Sect 202 Establishment of Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service (FMCS)
Sect 206: Cooling off period in national emergencies

1959 Landrum-Griffin Act
• Workers bill of rights
•
Democratic elections
• Rules for trusteeships
•
Rules for financial reporting
• Allows a form of closed shop for building trades

Other laws
1964 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
1965 Affirmative Action
1938 Fair Labor Standards Act
1974 Employee Retirement Security Act (ERISA)
1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act
1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

Union declines since 1947
• Taft Hartley?
•
Demographics?
• Economic growth in nonunion sectors?
•
Economic growth in the West and South?
• Federal labor legislation?

Union declines since 1947
• Taft Hartley?
•
Mixed, perhaps it slowed growth
•
Demographics?
• Women? Not a big effect. Bigger in some European countries
• Education? Not a big effect due to increases in union strength in the public sector
• Age? Unionization rises with age, so aging labor force should help unions

Union declines since 1947
• Economic growth in nonunion sectors
•
Rapid growth in service, F.I.R.E., trade sectors that had low union density
•
Declines in manufacturing,
•
Also decrease in union density within sectors
•
Economic growth in the West and South
•
Strong evidence supporting role of regional growth
•
Federal Legislation
• ERISA, OSHA, Title VII, SS, WC, UI, COBRA, ….