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 choicesLabors Strategy

• On Reserve
• PBS Early Labor Dubofsky Kesslerget worksheet
  from me
• Extra Credit Optionwatch a movie answer 1
  questionget 4 points
• Matewan http//www.videodetective.com/movies/trail
  ers/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 UnionA 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?
• Againdoes this seem like a sensible way to
  address the labor problem?

6
(No Transcript)
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.

8
(No Transcript)
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 eruptsUS 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
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 pledgebut
  there is a Massive Strike Wave
• Metal Trades, Ship-building, coal
• 6 million workdays lost
• Youre an advisor to President Wilsonwhat 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 countrys 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 uponThe 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?vefM5EsZPfbA
• Steel, Ship-workers even Policelets explore
  Boston

19
Boston Police Vote to Strike on 9/08/191,134 to
2Why?

• Wages
• Second through 5th year earned 1200 (14,382 in
  todays dollars)
• Most anyone could earn was 1400 (16,779 in
  todays dollars)
• Had to pay 200 for own uniforms (2400 in
  todays 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 ImportantlyShould Police Be allowed to form
unions?

• What are some reasons you might answer yes?
• What are some reasons you might answer no?

21
More ImportantlyShould 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 Unionsthings will not change for 40
  years

23
The Roaring Twenties

• Decade begins with 5 million in unionsby 1931
  only 2.1 million are in unionsWhy?
• No government supportNWLB dissolved
• Old Fashioned Management offensive defeats many
  strikes
• Firings, beatings, shootings, firing workers,
  etc.
• 921 injunctions issued in 1920about 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 choicesLabors Strategy
• AFL and CIO
• Sit Down and Fight Video Clip
• Social Unionism
• CIO PAC

• Matewan on reserve
• Get sheet from me
• Dubofsky/Kessler video sheetHand in now
• Review Questionbig part of grade
• Some are doing an excellent job
• Some havent done anywhat are you waiting for?
• Some are not doing thoroughlydo 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 revolutionthis 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 nations 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 unionthe resultA
  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 strikesbutyou
  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
  billwhat 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 obstructionsby 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.KWhat 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 well consider

48
NLRA, 1935 Section 8

• Employers must bargain in good faith
• Duty to bargain with the intent of reaching an
  agreement.
• O.KSo what can and can not be the subject of
  bargaining? Still to be determined?
• Unfair Labor Practices by Employers are Specified
• Cant interfere with right to unionize. Cant set
  up company unions. Cant discriminate against
  union members.
• O.Kso what happens if an ER does this?

49
NLRA, 1935

• O.Kwhat 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.KHow 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

51
President Roosevelt as Pro-Union

• If I went to work in a factory, the first thing
  Id do would be TO JOIN A UNION
• -Franklin Roosevelt
• Its not clear if he ever really said this, but
  union leaders made poster declaring that he did

52
Opportunity for AFL

• AFL primarily comprised of Craft Unions
  representing skilled workers
• But economy now comprised of large, mass
  production industries full of immigrants, women
  and Blacks
• Fords River Rouge plant employed 100,000 in one
  factory
• Most of them were unskilled or semi-skilled
• Choices.

53
Wagner Act as the opportunity of a lifetime?

• AFL leaders hold negative views of unskilled and
  immigrant workers
• The scramble for admittance to the union is on.
  We do not want to charter the riff-raff or good
  for nothings, or those for whom we cannot make
  wages or conditions
• Daniel Tobin, Head of the AFL Teamsters Union
• Tobin referred to the the rubbish that have
  lately come into other organizations.
• My wife can always tell from the smell of my
  clothes what breed of foreigners I have been
  hanging out with.
• William Collins, AFL organizer

54
Choices

• AFL You are a (skilled white/unskilled white,
  Hispanic, Black, woman, Asian) worker in a Ford
  Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited
  your factory, and told you that your best
  strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000
  into 13 different unions, each of which should
  bargain with Ford independently. This will give
  skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the
  majority, will be lowest priority.
• See next slide

55
AFL Craft Unions

• Divide workers in one car factory into 13
  separate craft unions.
• Try to bargain separately
• Unskilled, women, Blacks, Asians and others are
  low priority

56
Choices

• AFL You are a (skilled white/unskilled white,
  Black, woman, HispanicAsian) worker in a Ford
  Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited
  your factory, and told you that your best
  strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000
  into 13 different unions, each of which should
  bargain with Ford independently. This will give
  skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the
  majority, will be lowest priority.
• Organizer Lewis You are a (skilled
  white/unskilled white, Black, woman, Asian)
  worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the
  new group tell you that the AFL strategy is
  flawed. Division into separate unions weakens
  your power. It is too easy to divide and conquer.
  Skilled and unskilled, regardless of race, should
  form one industrial union. This will give workers
  the power to shut down production, and will force
  Ford to deal with you. See next slide

57
Congress of Industrial Unions

• Organize all workers along industrial lines (one
  factory, one local union)
• Including women, Blacks, immigrants and others
• Demand that Ford negotiate a deal that applies to
  all of its factories

58
Choices

• AFL You are an (unskilled White, Black, woman,
  Hispanic, Asian) worker in a Ford Factory.
  Organizers from the AFL have visited your
  factory, and told you that your best strategy is
  to divide the workforce of 100,000 into 13
  different unions, each of which should bargain
  with Ford independently. This will give skilled
  workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the majority,
  will be lowest priority.
• Organizer Lewis You are an (unskilled White,
  Black, woman, Hispanic, Asian) worker in a Ford
  Factory. Organizers from the new group tell you
  that the AFL strategy is flawed. Division into
  separate unions weakens your power. It is too
  easy to divide and conquer. Skilled and
  unskilled, regardless of race, should form one
  industrial union. This will give workers the
  power to shut down production, and will force
  Ford to deal with you.

59
Choices

• AFL You are a skilled White worker in a Ford
  Factory. Organizers from the AFL have visited
  your factory, and told you that your best
  strategy is to divide the workforce of 100,000
  into 13 different unions, each of which should
  bargain with Ford independently. This will give
  skilled workers an edge. Unskilled workers, the
  majority, will be lowest priority.
• Organizer Lewis You are a skilled White worker
  in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the new group
  tell you that the AFL strategy is flawed.
  Division into separate unions weakens your power.
  It is too easy to divide and conquer. Skilled and
  unskilled, regardless of race, should form one
  industrial union. This will give workers the
  power to shut down production, and will force
  Ford to deal with you.

60
CIO Challenge to the AFL

• Debate over craft or industrial organizing came
  to a head at the 1935 AFL convention in Atlantic
  City.
• United Mine Workers President John Lewis lost a
  crucial vote to organize the auto and rubber
  industries along industrial lines
• Punches Out President of Carpenters Union
• Next time youre in ACwalk as far south as you
  can on the boardwalkthere is a memorial to the
  events
• With several other AFL leaders, Lewis formed the
  more militant Committee of Industrial
  Organizations which ultimately become the
  Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

61
The CIO Challenge to the AFL

• CIO
• Federation of national labor unions created in
  1938 with the goal of promoting industrial
  unionism
• Industrial Union (as opposed to craft union)
• Unions that represent workers across a number of
  different skill levels and/or occupations
• Sometimes One Industry, One Union (US)
• Auto Industry Autoworkers Unionnot machinists
  union, painters union, electricians union, etc
• Sometimes One Sector, One Union (Germany, Sweden)
• Metalworkers Unionnot autoworkers union,
  steelworkers union, machinists union

62
The Rise of the CIO

• Attitudes toward minorities or women?

63
The Rise of the CIO

• Attitudes toward minorities or women?
• Official Position
• Classor at least Industry based Solidarity
  should trump other concerns
• Racial, ethnic gender differences
  inconsequential
• Black and White Unite and Fight

64
The CIO Challenge to the AFL

• CIO
• Federation of national labor unions created in
  1938 with the goal of promoting industrial
  unionism
• Industrial Union (as opposed to craft union)
• Unions that represent workers across a number of
  different skill levels and/or occupations
• Sometimes One Industry, One Union (US)
• Auto Industry Autoworkers Unionnot machinists
  union, painters union, electricians union, etc
• Sometimes One Sector, One Union (Germany, Sweden)
• Metalworkers Unionnot autoworkers union,
  steelworkers union, machinists union

65

• 6. The United Autoworkers first great victory
  occurred in Flint Michigan. What made this strike
  unique? Why do you think the strike was
  successful?
• Video Clip

66
The Rise of the CIO

• From Poverty Level Wages to Middle Class Wages
• The CIO, the United Autoworkers (UAW) and General
  Motors

67
Union membership as a percentage of the
nonagricultural labor force, 1930-2002
68
Unions Force Re-slicing of Economic Pie

• Estimated that 1billion transferred from
  capitalist class to working class in 1937 alone
• This a BIG deal
• Alters American Society
• Improves the standard of living of millionshelps
  create a middle class

69
But for the CIOit is not just abuot wages

• AFLBusiness unionism
• using collective bargaining to improve the wages,
  hours and working conditions of members who
  belong to a particular union. Focus on
  bread-and-butter issues
• pure and simple agenda of improving wages and
  working conditions (Zieger 2002 25)
• Limited political activity and no vision of large
  scale social transformation
• Early AFL ascribed to something called
  Voluntarism
• opposition to government relief and welfare
  legislation and stressing the need for workers to
  depend on their own economic strength (Zieger
  200262)
• Often little inter-union solidarity
• craft unions routinely crossed one anothers
  pickets and endlessly disputed jurisdictions
  (Folks, 145)

70

• 8. In what ways did the CIOs attitude toward
  political action differ from that of the AFL?
  Briefly explain one of the reasons that CIO
  adopted this attitude?

71
CIO Beyond Business Unionism

• workers and Labor Union members have many
  problems affecting their lives in addition to
  wages, hours and working conditions, and related
  matters involving the employer. These are the
  wide range of the citizen in the community. The
  CIO Council becomes the voice of the Labor
  movement about housing, public and personal
  health, child care, education, public and private
  welfare, city and community planning, recreating,
  and a large number of things which are the
  concern of the worker as citizen where he lives.
• Ted Silvey, CIO Leader, 1948

72
The CIO From Voluntarism to Political Action

• It is difficult to conceive of any functioning
  labor organization which does not take part in
  politics. For the leaders of of labor, politics
  was, and is, the other side of of the trade union
  coin.
• CIO pamphlet
• CIO more aggressively fights to elect people who
  are more tolerant of unions and to use government
  to solve social problems
• Goal is to reform capitalism, not abolish it
• More public housing, health care, civil rights,
  jobs, etc.

73
From Business Unionism to Social Unionism

• a form of unionism that focuses on using
  collective bargaining to improve the wages, hours
  and working conditions of members who belong to a
  particular union WHILE also engaging in campaigns
  that will improve the conditions of the working
  class a whole.
• GOAL IS TO ADVANCE A BROADER SET OF ECONOMC
  INTERESTSABOVE AND BEYOND THOSE DEALT WITH BY
  COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

74
The CIO and Politics

• In 1936 CIO puts 74 million behind FDR (2007
  dollars)
• 1943 CIO Political Action Committee formed
• CIO committee created to register voters, educate
  them, and get them out to vote
• In some cities, extremely well organized
• City broken down into districtsdistricts into
  wardswards into blockseach block had community
  steward in charge of mobilizing union vote

75
Brokering a New Deal

• CIO was Key Part of New Deal coalition that
  passed legislation creating
• Old Age Pensions (Social Security)
• Unemployment Insurance
• Why would providing money to unemployed workers
  be helpful to the labor movement?
• Aid for Dependent Mothers (Welfare)
• Fair Labor Standards Act (AFL initially opposes
  based on commitment to voluntarism, CIO supports)
• Minimum wages maximum hours prohibitions on
  child labor
• Agricultural workers and public employees not
  covered by the wages and hours standards

76

• 8. In what ways did the CIOs attitude toward
  political action differ from that of the AFL?
  Briefly explain one of the reasons that CIO
  adopted this attitude? Who had it right, the AFL
  or the CIO?
• Risk for the CIO of getting so politically
  involved in support of the Democratic Party?

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Next

• Unions and WWII
• Social UnionismJust how far?
• Unions in Post War America