Collective%20Responses%20to%20Work

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Chapter 6

• Collective Responses to Work

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History of Collective Labor in the U.S.

• 1) Craft unions were local and, like guilds,
  protected wages and working conditions. But when
  industry moved beyond local boundaries, unions
  broadened and changed.
• 2) Many workers resisted capitalism because they
  felt it was antithetical to federalism. Some
  workers tried to establish their own political
  party. Our winner take all, two party system
  makes anything but a political dichotomy
  impossible.
• 3) What were working conditions like during early
  industrialization?

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Early Unions

• 1) Knights of Labor
• Organized workers of all skills, gender and
  races/ethnicities.
• Led by Terence Powderly
• Popular in the 1880s.
• Believed in capitalism, but believed in worker
  own businesses.

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Early Unions

• 2) Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
• Based on socialist ideals.
• Were powerful organizers
• Organized everyone, regardless of skill, gender,
  race/ethnicity
• Gained momentum in early 20th century

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Early Unions

• 3) American Federation of Labor
• Most conservative union.
• Only organized skilled, white men.
• Led by Samuel Gompers
• Began in early 1890s.
• Started the present structure of union
  organization business unionism

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Early Unions

• 4) CIO --Committee of Industrial Organizations
  (later Committee became Congress)
• Began in 1920s.
• Organized unskilled white male workers.
• During the Depression, AFL fell in strength. CIO
  gained in strength introducing the sit-down
  strike. (Flint, MI)

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Early Union Strategies

• 1) Mass Strike Citizen support of strikes
  through marches. For example, May Day. Famous
  80,000 person protest in Chicago that led to
  Haymarket Riot.
• 2) General Strike Several trades striking
  together.
• 3) Secondary Strikes
• 4) Sit-Down Strikes Flint, Michigan Auto
  Workers.

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Race Relations and Unions

• 1) What is Divide and Conquer
• 2) Divide and Conquer and Race
• The politics of Whiteness was used by employers
  in the early 1900s to divide workers.
• i.e. Virden Riots of 1898.
• 3) What divide and conquer strategies are used
  today?

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Gender and Divide and Conquer

• 1) Unions have supported historically the concept
  of womens work
• Family Wage
• Not attempting to organize jobs predominantly
  filled by women domestic workers and wait staff
• Not supporting comparable worth and service
  workers that are presented as unskilled.

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Government Resistance to Unions Prior to 1935

• 1) Courts
• The courts were the most active branch of govt
  harming unions, Freedom of Contract
• Issued Injunctions against striking workers
• Supported race and gender discrimination
• Applied Sherman Anti-Trust Act until 1914
• 2) Legislature
• Allowed workers to organize but did not pass
  legislation protecting those rights
• 3) Executive
• Called out U.S. militia to stop strikes and
  protestors.
• Did not prosecute aggressors.

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Business Resistance to Unions Prior to 1935

• 1) Pinkertons
• 2) Blacklisting
• 3) Yellow-dog contracts
• 4) Business Associations

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NLRA Wagner Act 1935

• 1) The Depression led to increased protests and
  resistance.
• 2) Legislation passed to protect workers rights
  to organize. This legislation put rules on
  workers and employers
• For example, the most powerful weapon of workers
  was now made illegal wildcat strike
• Communists, the best organizers, were made
  illegal in unions.
• Business had to allow union organizers access to
  employers off the clock without firing or harming
  involved workers.

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1947 Taft Hartley

• 1) Unions grew after Wagner until 1950s.
  Greatest percentage of workers in unions was 31.
  Businesses worried so Taft Hartley emerged
• Outlawed secondary boycotts and sympathy strikes
• Created Right to Work laws. 21 states have
  this.
• President can force striking workers back to work
  in the name of National Interest.

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Issues Facing Unions Today

• 1) Declining union membership 9 of private
  workforce.
• 2) Businesses are allowed to move across
  international boundaries, but workers are not.
• 3) Manufacturing has moved overseas. Employers
  are more resistant to unionizing service workers.
  
• 4) Workers are now trying to protect jobs and
  healthcare rather than wages.

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Pros and Cons of Unions

• 1) Pros
• 2) Cons