Outline

1. 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 • On Reserve • PBS Early Labor: Dubofsky & Kessler…get worksheet from me • Extra Credit Option…watch a movie answer 1 question…get 4 points • Matewanhttp://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/matewan-trailer/570 • 6 pm Monday LC 326A • Need 7 to commit for it to happen • Will put on LUO reserve for 2 pts

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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.”

5. 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?”

7. 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.

9. 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."

10. 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

11. World War erupts…US enters in 1917 • Need for soldiers, workers, coal, war production…

12. 1890, Blacks in America: 90% in South

13. The Great Migration North: Blacks Move North for Jobs

14. 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% Philly: The Great Migration

15. 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?

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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?

21. 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

22. 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…

23. 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?

24. 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

25. 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)

26. 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…

27. 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

28. 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…

29. 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

30. 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?

31. RLA as step toward “institutionalizing conflict”….Next step facilitated by the collapse of the American economy….

32. 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

33. Conditions are Intolerable • “We cannot endure another winter of hardship such as we are passing through.” • Republican Governor of Washington

34. 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?

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. Revolution as possible…? • General Strikes in 1934: • Minneapolis • San Francisco shuts down ports up and down west coast • Note video clip

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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?

42. 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…

43. 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…

44. 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.

45. 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?

46. 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…

47. 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

48. 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…?

49. 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?

50. 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