History Civil Rights - Trade Unions

Knights of Labor (KOL) (Date)

-1869

Molly Maguires (Date)

-1873

Haymarket Affair (Date)

-1886

AFL (Date)

-1886

Homestead strike (Date)

-1892

Pullman strike (Date)

-1894

Lochner v. New York (Date)

-1905

NIRA and NRA (Date)

-1933

Wagner Act (Date)

-1935

CIO (Date)

-1937

Taft-Hartley Act (Date)

-1947

AFL-CIO merge (Date)

-1955

Occupational Safety and Health Act (Date)

-1970

PATCO strike (Date)

-1981

Trade union membership in 1900 vs 1915

-791,000 in 1900
-2,560,000 in 1915

Worker rights in 1865

-Unions almost exclusively represented skilled workers eg: shoemakers
-Unskilled workers had very few rights as their jobs were dangerous but they could easily be replaced

KOL (1869)

-Mostly developed after 1879
-Successful strike against Wabash Railroad in 1885
-Lost influence after Haymarket in 1886

AFL (1886)

-Largely replaced KOL
-Led by Samuel Gompers
-Had 2 million members by 1914

IWW (1905)

-Had a militant reputation
-Did not fight for poorer workers and immigrants
-Constantly under pressure from authorities

Positives of organised labour by WWI

-Membership had grown to over 2 million
-Union's had begun to pressure political candidates

Negatives of organised labour by WWI

-Unions represented only 20% of non-agricultural workforce
-Many industries eg: motor industry did not have unions
-No legal guarantee of employer-union negotiation
-Workers divided by skill ethnicity and gender
-Gains limited to white, male, skilled workers

NWLB (WWI)

-Set up by Woodrow Wilson
-Settled disputes between workers and employers

Welfare Capitalism

-Employers offering benefits to workers in exchange for a rejection of unions

Yellow Dog Contract

-Agreement to not join a union

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

-Set up by A. Philip Randolph
-Gained recognition in 1935

Asa Philip Randolph

-Born in Florida 1889
-President of BSCP
-Vice-President of AFL-CIO
-Organised March on Washington

NIRA (1933)

-National Industry Recovery Act
-Enshrined right to unionise and right to collective bargaining
-Declared unconstitutional by SC

Wall Street Crash (Date)

-1929

Wagner Act (1935)

-Similar to NIRA
-Established National Labour Relations Board (NLRB)
-NLRB negotiated for workers and prevented company unions
-Declared constitutional by SC

Union membership growth in New Deal

-Almost tripled between 1933-38
-3.7 to 9 million

Fair Labor Standards Act (Date)

-1939

Fair Labor Standards Act (1939)

-Established minimum wage

Improvement of worker position in WWII

-Wages rose by around 70%
-Unemployment near non-existent
-Union membership from 9 to 15 million

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

-Vetoed by president Truman
-Prevented closed shops
-Repealed many New Deal reforms

Equal Pay Act (Date)

-1963

Equal Pay Act (1963)

-Passed by JFK
-Gave men and women "equal pay for equal work"

Union position by end of LBJ administration

-Bargain over conditions
-Bargain over wages
-Negotiate contract conditions
-Gain medical insurance
-Negotiate paid holidays
-Gain pensions

Union membership in 1950 vs 1965

-14 million in 1950
-17 million in 1965

Union vs non union pay in the 60s

-Union pay generally around 20% higher

Initial agricultural workers rights organisations

-AWOC (Agricultural Workers Organising Committee)
-NFWA (National Farm Workers Association)

United agricultural rights organisation

-UFW (United Farm Workers)

UFW (Date)

-1972 (1966)

UFW (1972)

-Led by Cesar Chavez
-Mainly used strikes and boycotts
-Non-violent

Union membership as workforce % 1970 vs 1990

-27% in 1970
-16% in 1990

Cesar Chavez

-1927 to 1993
-Fought for rights of migrant labourers, especially Latinos
-Began to clash with other leaders in the 1970s

Number of strikes 1970 vs 1990

-381 in 1970
-44 in 1990

Number of workers involved in strikes 1970 vs 1990

-2.5 million in 1970
-185 thousand in 1990

Why did unions decline in the 80s and 90s?

-Anti union governments
-Divisions within unions (PATCO)
-Decline in local manufacturing (Outsourcing)
-Continued welfare capitalism
-Increasing numbers of women and white-collar workers uninterested in unionisation

Workers that felt "left behind" by the 90s

-Hispanic and African American workers

How were unions limited by industrial growth and economic change?

-Increase in mass production in gilded age
-Growth in white-collar, high tech industries after WWII

Fall in blue-collar union membership after WWII

-Around 50%

Examples of Captains of Industry/Robber Barons

-John Rockefeller (Oil)
-Andrew Carnegie (Iron and Steel)

Pullman Strike (1894)

-A staged walkout strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts.
-Led by socialist Eugene Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor
-Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened because it was interfering with mail delivery
-Cleveland sent 2000 troops to break the strike
-4 people were killed

Lochner v. New York (1905)

-Declared unconstitutional a New York act limiting the working hours of bakers due to a denial of the 14th Amendment rights
-"Unreasonable, unnecessary and arbitrary interference with the right and liberty of the individual to contract"

Impact of FDR on TU rights

-New Deal legislation
-Allowed closed shops
-Prohibited black listing

Impact on JFK on TU rights

-"New Frontier"
-Equal Pay Act 1963

Impact of LBJ on TU rights

-"Great Society"
-CRA
-Economic Opportunity Act
-Age Discrimination in Employment Act
-Helped end discrimination through gender, ethnicity and age

Impact of Reagan on TU rights

-Determined to reduce union power
-Privatisation
-PATCO
-Appointed pro-employer members of Labor Relations Board

PATCO Strike (1981)

-Strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization -Reagan responded by firing all controllers not back to work within 48 hours (Taft-Hartley Act)
-Blacklisted all employees from federal employment
-Turning point in labour relations

Real wage rises in WWI and WWII

-20% in WWI
-70% in WWII

Union divisions

-Skilled vs Unskilled
-Ethnic
-Gender

Division between skilled and unskilled workers

-Initially unions were almost exclusively skilled
-Union solidarity began to develop in 1930s
-AFL-CIO merge
-White collar vs blue collar

Ethnic divisions in unions

-Immigrants and African Americans initially banned from unions
-Immigrants and African Americans willing to work for less
-Post-Vietnam immigration weakened union position

Gender divisions in unions

-Women often less interested in unionisation
-New Deal failed to bring equal pay
-Farrah Manufacturing Company

Haymarket Affair (1886)

-Strike in Chicago
-4 strikers killed
-Protest march with 7 police deaths
-Blamed on German anarchists
-5 executed
-Caused collapse of KOL

Molly Maguires (1873)

-Irish immigrants
-Took a violent approach
-Detracted from union reputation

Homestead Strike (1892)

-Carnegie Steel Company
-Ended in battle between strikers and Pinkertons
-Henry Frick shot and stabbed
-Massive decline in union