Dr. Robbins' PowerPoint Review of the history of the Labor Movement in the U.S.

1. The Labor
Movement
Review

2. The Rise of Trade Unions in the 19th Century
 Corporate strategies to squash labor:
 High-priced lawyers, pressure politicians
 Hire “scabs” (strikebreakers)
 State & federal troops brought in
 Lockout (workers shut out)
 Yellow dog contracts (forced promise not to join union)
 Black list
 Company towns

3. Early Unions
 National Labor Union, 1866
 600,000 members: skilled & unskilled laborers
 No Chinese allowed; little encouragement for
women & blacks
 Worked for arbitration of industrial disputes and
the 8-hour day
 Won the 8-hour day for government workers
 Colored National Labor Union

4. Knights of Labor
 Started as secret society in 1869:
 The Noble & Holy Order of the Knights of Labor
 For all skilled and unskilled labor, men and
women, blacks and whites
 Focused on social & economic reform, not
politics
 Haymarket Square Bomb episode seriously
weakened Knights

5. American Federation of Labor
 Founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886
 Skilled labor only
 Truly a federation, combining variety of
skilled labor unions for overall strategy
 Took a moderate approach (not socialist)
 Major goal: agreement to authorize closed
shop (union only)
 Strategies: walk-outs & boycotts

6. Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
 After abuse of 14th Amendment, Congress
finally passes Sherman Anti-Trust Act
 Prohibited any contract, combination (i.e.,
trust) or conspiracy that “restrained trade”
 Not enough enforcement power: federal
attempts to dissolve trusts stopped by
Supreme Court till Teddy Roosevelt’s time
 Used primarily against Unions!!

7. Recognition of Labor
 By 1900, public opinion of labor had
improved
 Labor Day established by Congress in 1894
 Some employers realized the benefits of
working with labor, but most did not
 Next major steps forward with
Progressivists and TR

8. “Wobblies”: Industrial Workers of the World
 Founded in 1905 & led by “Big Bill” Haywood
 Favored industrial unionism—union membership for all
workers in an industry, not just skilled workers
 Favored strikes over political action (sometimes violence)
 Associated with socialist groups
 At the time, only union to welcome all workers: women,
African Americans, immigrants
 Angered US govt. by supporting strikes during WW1, and
lost much of its legal status
 Survived, though diminished, until 1950

9. Congress of Industrial Organizations
 Founded in 1936 by John Lewis, leader of the
United Mind Workers union
 Started as Committee of Industrial Organization
within the AF of L in 1935, but rejected by AF of L
 Continued as a rival organization to AF of L
 Focused on representing unskilled workers
 More open to accepting blacks and women
 More militant than AF of L

10. New Deal for Labor
 Wagner Act aka National Labor Relations Act, 1935
 Created National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
 Replaced function of NRA
 Affirmed labor’s right to organize & bargain collectively with own
representatives
 More support from Congress with Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938
 Minimum wages & maximum hours were to be set by industries
involved in interstate commerce
 Goal was 40 cents/hour & 40 hours/week (!)
 Only applied to industrial workers
 farm & domestic workers excluded, mostly women & minorities
 Overall, tremendous expansion of labor movement, & greater public
& government support

11. Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
 Taft-Hartley Act drastically reduced labor
unions’ power
 outlawed all-union (closed) shops
 made unions liable for damages resulting from
jurisdictional disputes among themselves
 required non-Communist pledge of union leaders
 allowed the government to get injunctions to
postpone serious strikes

12. AFL-CIO
 AF of L and CIO joined together in the AFL-
CIO in 1955 under George Meany
 Tensions between the two groups gradually
subsided as they worked together

13. Miscellaneous Unions
 United Mine Workers
 Teamsters: truck drivers
 UAW: United Auto Workers

14. Late 20th Century
 Some union organizations succumbed to
corruption and were investigated by the
government
 Anti-union legislation and union corruption
both weakened the labor movement
 Union membership began to decline after
reaching a high of about 22 million American
union members in 1980