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CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT  The contemporary U.S. labor relations system can be studied simply as it exists today without any reference to the past. But this is not a very satisfying way to study and ultimately understand labor relations.

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CHAPTER FOUR

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  1. CHAPTER FOUR • HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT  • The contemporary U.S. labor relations system can be studied simply as it exists today without any reference to the past. • But this is not a very satisfying way to study and ultimately understand labor relations. • Todays’ laws, philosophies, processes, organizations, and strategies have evolved out of experiences from the past. • To better understand the current system-and its future challenges-this chapter presents important events, organizations, and strategies from the history of U.S. labor relations.

  2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES • To understand…..  • Why workers have tried to form unions throughout U.S. history and the influences on their success or failures. • The major events in U.S. Labor history including what happened and why each event is significant. • The major organizations in labor history and their contrasting strategies, including labor strategies for promoting collective action among workers and business strategies for discouraging or repressing such action. • How studying the historical record deepens the understanding of the current labor relations system and alternatives for reform.

  3. A Timeline of Labor History up to 1875

  4. FROM LOCAL TO NATIONAL ORGAINZATIONS • 1866-National Labor Union: • Lasted only six years • Established a precedent for labor movement by uniting diverse unions into a single federation. • Emphasized political activity to bring about legal reform. • Campaigned for 8 hour workday, currency & banking reform. • Women’s suffrage • National labor political party

  5. A Timeline of Labor History between 1875 and 1925 • INSERT BOX 4.3.

  6. Violence during the Great Uprising of 1877 • Insert BOX 4.5

  7. THE GREAT UPRISING OF 1877 • The Great Uprising of 1877 is more notable for what it represented than • what it accomplished: • Strikes clearly reflected pent-up grievances of workers • Represented the growing struggle between industrialism, labor and capital • Shared concerns of workers • Laid the foundation of for future labor-management conflict, not cooperation. • Social implications. • With use of Federal troops, big business was more likely to confront rather than bargain with labor.

  8. UPLIFT UNIONISM • Knights of Labor: • Federation of local assemblies • Concern for moral worth, not material wealth • Emphasized education and cooperation over conflict • Broadly inclusive membership • Emphasized the solidarity of all producers-including African-Americans & women • Replace capitalism with producer cooperatives • Producers-not bankers and absentee owners-own and control • End labor conflict by harmonizing interests of capital and labor

  9. PURE AND SIMPLE CRAFT UNIONISM • American Federation of Labor (AFL): • Response to failure of Knights to address everyday working issues. • A federation, not a labor union. • Member unions pursued primary labor relations functions, AFL provided support. • Endorse craft unionism. • Openly hostile towards unskilled workers-only represented skilled workers. • Guided by principle of exclusive jurisdiction.

  10. PURE AND SIMPLE CRAFT UNIONISM • Classic example of business unionism (BU): • Seeks immediate improvements in basic employment conditions. • Accepts capitalism-the need for employers to make a profit. • Seeks to win labor’s fair share of the profits through collective bargaining.

  11. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE! • Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) U.S. example of revolutionary unionism: • Both inclusive and radical • Goal was to form “One Big Union” • Skilled and unskilled, young and old • Native born and immigrant • White and non-white • Male and female

  12. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE! • Inclusiveness and emphasis on social justice provided foundation for 1930s industrial unionism. • Radicalism increased employer hostility towards unions

  13. THE OPEN SHOP MOVEMENT AND WELFARE CAPITALISM • The open shop movement is a concerted drive by employers and their • associations to create and maintain union-free workplaces. • Not open to all workers • Emphasized an ideology of individual freedom • Unions were portrayed as violating individual liberties by denying workers the right to choose • Equated with “liberty and independence” of the employer’s “natural and constitutional rights” • Entailed well-orchestrated collectiveactivity by business

  14. THE OPEN SHOP MOVEMENT AND WELFARE CAPITALISM • Welfare capitalism-less confrontational and more positive approach to employer resistance to unionization. • Welfare capitalism sought to win worker loyalty and increase efficiency by: • Improving supervisory practices. • Offering protective insurance benefits. • Implementing orderly hiring practices. • Implementing orderly hiring practices. • Improving the physical work environment and safety. • Providing employee voice through nonunion employee representation plans (“company unions”).

  15. UNION CONCERNS WITH WELFARE CAPITALISM • Welfare capitalism as disguised union avoidance • Employers wanted employees to be dependent and loyal to the company, not the union. • Employee representation plans as company-dominated, sham unions: • Company unions were created, sanctioned, and sometimes manipulated by management. • Company unions could not strike and could not force management to discuss specific issues. • They did, however, provide an open channel of communication with management. • When the threat of unionization was high, management sometimes made concessions.

  16. Aided by truth and Education, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Seeks to break the Chains of Pullman’s Employee Representation Plan

  17. A Timeline of Labor History since 1925

  18. A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS: LEGAL PROTECTION & INDUSTRIAL UNIONS • On October 24, 1929, the stock market crashed. • Crash led to the Great Depression, by 1933: • U.S. GDP had declined by 29%. • Steel industry was operating at 12% capacity. • Unemployment rate was 25% with 15M unemployed workers. • Bread lines, evictions and cardboard settlements became common. • Reliance on the invisible hand of free markets and big business to promote economic prosperity had failed.

  19. A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS: LEGAL PROTECTION & INDUSTRIAL UNIONS • In 1933 congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA): • Encouraged and emboldened workers to form unions. • Employers established company unions to avoid independent unionization. • In 1934, weakness of Act resulted in tremendous strikes where workers clashed with employers who refused to recognize independent unions. • Minneapolis Teamsters Strike • San Francisco General Strike • East Coast Textile Strike

  20. A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS: LEGAL PROTECTION & INDUSTRIAL UNIONS • 1935-Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act). • Encouraged unionization • Enacted legal protections for workers • Outlawed company unions • Established the National Labor Relations Board • By 1941, union membership tripled to about 8.4M, or 23 percent of workers.

  21. A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS: LEGAL PROTECTION & INDUSTRIAL UNIONS • Mass production workers were ripe for unionization-their work was: • Physically difficult. • Involved long hours. • Supervision was arbitrary and abusive. • By 1935, conflict between craft unionism and industrial unionism lead to the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO).

  22. A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS: LEGAL PROTECTION & INDUSTRIAL UNIONS • Craft unionism “reflected the industrial world of a half-century earlier: small shops, a simple technology and the highly skilled workman.” • Mismatch between craft unionism and modern workplace was vividly revealed in the 1919 steel strike-24 individual unions tried, and failed to organize steel. • Goal of CIO was to pursue unionization of mass manufacturing industries through industrial unionism.

  23. A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS: LEGAL PROTECTION & INDUSTRIAL UNIONS • The General Motors Sit-Down Strike (December 1936-February 1937) was a watershed event for both organized labor and the CIO. • Workers in Flint, Michigan took over two Chevrolet plants. • After the strike spread to other cities and several battles between strikers and police, General Motors finally agreed to recognize the United Auto Workers (UAW). • The UAW’s victory was followed by a strong wave of unionization throughout the auto industry. • Industrial unionism further spread to steel and other manufacturing industries. • Though not without some intense battles, such as the Memorial Day Massacre during the Little Steel Strike.

  24. “The Women’s Emergency Brigade” • Insert box 4.19 • ”

  25. THE IMPORTANCE OF WWII • War production ended mass unemployment of 1930s. • Unions strengthened their weak spots. • The National War Labor Board (NWLB): • Unions traded their right to strike OVER GRIEVANCES for enhanced workplace security. • Created fringe benefits (holiday pay, shift differentials, & health insurance) to work around wartime wage restrictions. • Overall: • Significant increases in union membership. • Enhanced the power of union leaders at the expense of the rank-and-file. • A bureaucratic form of unionism.

  26. WARTIME AND POSTWAR LABOR RELATIONS • In the post war period: • 1947-Taft-Hartley Act. • 1955-AFL-CIO. • 1959-Landrum-Griffin Act. • Private sector union density peaked at around 35 percent. • Public sector union membership dramatically increased. • Labor influenced/influenced by the Civil Rights movement, the economy, competition, and globalization. • 1981-Air traffic controllers fired during the illegal PATCO strike; replacement workers hired. • A number of bitter strikes in the 1980s and 1990s involved management use of permanent replacement workers. • Labor practices became more divergent-as some relationships became more adversarial, while others tried to create stronger union-management partnerships.

  27. WARTIME AND POSTWAR LABOR RELATIONS • The labor movement at the beginning of the 21st century is struggling, yet • has pockets of vibrancy: • Globalization continues to undermine labor’s bargaining power. • Private sector union density has shrunk to 10 percent. • Public sector union density significantly increases. • Dunlop Commission issued recommendations for reducing conflict and improving productivity. • General unionism has largely replaced craft unionism and industrial unionism.

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