Trade Unions/Labour Rights

• What are Trade Union Rights?

  - protect peoples/workers rights

  - negotiation, power of collective action

  - pressurise about pay/working hrs

  - representative
• What are Labour Rights?

  - reasonable working conditions

  - freedom to withdraw labour

  - not subject to intimidation

  - fair pay

  - strike without fear
• Situation in 1865 for TUs/LRs

  - limited to what workers could negotiate with employers in their workplace

  - only small unions exclusively for skilled workers

  - employers had no legal obligation to recognise unions existence let alone negotiate
• Key cause of change from 1860-1900


  - US industrialisation inc industrial workers c.885,000 to 3.2mil

  - more workers meant more demand for rights especially in semi-skilled/unskilled work

  - these workers excluded from existing craft unions

  - labour leaders saw need to organise labour to estb and protect workers rights

  - closed shop = workplace dominated by one TU where all must join

  - small craft unions aimed for sickness benefit and maintain wage levels. Being closed shop ensured compliance by workers with union decisions and union truly rep everyone when negotiating
• Situations for TUs 1870-90

  - 1870: bricklayers earnt $3/day, unskilled workers $1.30, mil had few rights, 12hr shifts, harmful conditions, high accident rates, children 8+ worked coal mines

  - 1880s: workers more unskilled/low pay, contract systems to hire unskilled workers in constructions, machine tool manufacturing, moved city to city, unskilled = 1/3 skilled earnings, 1889 2,000 railway workers killed

  - 1890: unskilled women made up 35% workforce, employer negligence, workers joined self help schemes
• Industrial Workers of the World

  - founded 27 June 1905 known as Wobblers promoted concept of one big union

  - militant, violent, suspicion by employers

  - defended poor/illiterate esp immigrants

  - 1923 had 100,000 members but divisions 1924 lost its strength and conflicts with other TUs

  - 21st century has c.11,000 members
• National Labor Union


  Success:

  - formed 1866 William H.Sylvis attempt draw mass membership

  - campaigned 8hr day, currency+banking reform, immigrant restrictions

  - promoted cause working women, encouraged AA form unions

  - 1868 300,000 members across

  Failures:

  - short lived

  - 1866-67 strike by Iron Founders failed weakened position

  - Sylvis death 1869 stopped further change
• Knights of Labor


  Success:

  - founded 1869, attracted membership NLU

  - new leader, unite skilled/unskilled labour, remove racial barriers, welcomed women

  - 8hr day, W equal pay, abolish child labour. Powderly rejected strikes; legislation

  - 1881 20,000 members, 1886 700,000 (10,000 W+50,000 AA)

  - idea LUs influence policy alarmed politicians

  Failures:

  - after Haymarket Affair 1886, reputation destroyed. 1890 100,000 members

  - internal divisions led many unions break away, join AFL
• American Federation of Labor


  Success:

  - replaced KOL Dec 1886, seek link all unions/become largest

  - leader said harness power skilled workers X easily replaced + conc goal raise wages/dec hrs

  - supported use strikes/boycott

  - 1924 was only remaining major national federation of TUs, sig part labour relations

  - by 1914, over 2mil members

  Failures:

  - still rep only small % workforce

  - some unions within were powerful to retain degree of independence; might not listen to AFL
• Homestead - what happened?

  - Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA; LU formed 1876) and Carnegie Steel Company, strike starting 30 June 1892

  - led several strikes e.g negotiations for new three yr collective bargaining agreement but this failed as forced accept sig wage cuts

  - 1892 Henry Clay Frick in charge company operations 1881 and determined to break unions so ordered plant manufacture large amounts steel , withdrew union recognition

  - AA asked wage inc, Frick instead dec 22%. Agreement for contract collective bargaining but Frick locked union out plant

  - KoL had workers there agreed to strike + other Carnegie Plants - blocked attempt bring in scab labour, picket lines formed, divided military lines
• Homestead - response?


  - Frick placed detective agents, opened fire, killed 2 + injured 11. Own 2 killed + 12 injured

  - 12 July State militia arrived, occupied 95 days

  - 18 July 16 strike leaders arrested, charged riot. Jailed forced to put $10,000 bond

  - 23 July Frick shot neck 2x/stabbed - final collapse strike

  - 12 August company announced 1,700 men working+production resumed

  - strike collapsed+state militia withdrew
• Homestead - result?


  - action almost bankrupted union. Only 192/3800 strikers in attendance, AA members voted 101 to 91 to return 20 Nov 1892

  - strike broke AA as a force in the American Labour Movement; many employees refused sign contracts with AA unions

  - Carnegie Steel remained non union 40yrs

  - 1900, not single plant Pennsylvania remained unionised - easily broken/disbanded

  - AA membership: 24,000 1891 and 6,300 1909

  - other workers became sus of unions
• The Pullman Strike


  - 10 May 1894 workers went strike Pullman Palace Car Company who made carriages trains. 1893 P cut wages 25% + laid off 1/3 workforce

  - reps workers sacked

  - workers joined American Railway Union ARU, Debbs leader. Refused operate trains using Pullman carriages as company refused cooperate

  - told railway companies would run services without Pullman cars but they resisted strike action

  - federal gov issued restraining order against anyone interfering with movement of mail, companies refused allow train move without P sleepers

  - Cleveland 3 July 1894 sent federal troops, ensure movement of mail but break strike

  - ARU arrested, offered end strike if workers reinstated

  - 2 Aug 1894 resumed production, leaders strike not given job back
• Pullman Strike - significance

  - strike arose as result of not recognising right of workers to engage in collective bargaining to protect standard of living/improve w-c

  - reveals how far federal authorities prepared to go to suppress assertion of LRs - legalised injunctions/issued Omnibus Indictment Act which prohibited strikers/workers reps from persuading to strike

  - injunctions = employers weapon against LU.

  - employers continue use them until 1932 when prohibited
• The Haymarket Affair


  - 4th May 1886, violence between police+workers McCormick Harvester Plant, 4 workers killed. Protest rally, bomb thrown, 7 police killed, 4 workers

  - strike 8hr day

  - violence blamed German anarchist

  - indicative of extent of suspicion generated by new immigration late 19th c.

  - created deep divisions between existing hire, Prot, skilled

  - arrival immigrant labour inc existing tension caused by influx AA workers
• Working conditions for 'Old immigrants' (1st wave of immigration to US) and why worsen in late 19th/early 20th century?

  - came largely Eng, Scot, G in search cheap land to farm+joined westwards internal migration.

  - met growing demand for labour as industrialisation

  - poor immigrant W exploited

  - NA thought immigrant workers kept wages low and reduced own bargaining power

  - new immigrants from S+E Europe e.g china

  - by 1900, over 70% immigrants came Russia, Italy, many catholic/Jew

  - 1910 immigrants = 3/4 pop many cities

  - 1900-1930 nearly 19mil ppl entered US

  - end 19th c. Greatest threat social order came mil poorer immigrants coming into cities+growing ind w-c
• Response to the TU to influx immigrants

  - TU struggling gain recognition + inc influences saw AA/immigrants as threat so discr against them by refusing admittance

  - semi/unskilled labour dominated immigrants, weakened position of union leaders as struggled gain recognition for LR

  - suspicions immigrants brought radicalism, violence, anarchy

  - 1881-1905 7 mil workers in 37,000 strikes involved damage to property/looting

  - mass workers reluctant join unions
• How the Laissez-faire policy of the gov weakened organised labour/TU?

  - belief that no gov interference in org of business - form large businesses

  - empowered capitalists to form powerful business corporations and make huge fortunes. Some control key industries e.g Carnegie controlled 25% steel/iron production

  - Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890 manufacturers cut wages without warning, lay off workers, change hrs

  - strikes/protests org time to time but employers resisted any kind of union, labour spies employed
• Position of the SC in relation to organised labour

  - courts supported employers further limited development of labour rep after court injunctions used to break strikes after 1894

  - Lochner v. New York 1905 invoked the 14th A. To declare as unconstitutional a law imposing 10hr day, claiming it violated rights of workers to determine their hrs of work

  - others placed federal injunctions on unions that org strikes+attempted boycott unfair employers
• The significance of AAs struggle for LR on the CR movement

  - rejection of black workers forced them into forming own labour associations. Contributed to self awareness/leadership

  - admittance to national unions = sense belonging. TU became powerful pressure group

  - sharecropping/crop lien system = skills. Blacksmiths, carpenters went search work in urban areas
• Significance of the refusal of TU to work with AA and why they were seen as a threat by the white workers

  - end slavery 1863, AA start entering industrial workforce in south, 1877 onwards in North

  - immigrants from Europe divided by language, treated with hostility

  - LU 1866 urged AAs organise racially separate unions which created divisions = less unity to assert rights

  - mass black labour treated its hostility

  - used as 'scab labour' to thwart strike action

  - did rep sig section of workforce esp WW1, 1000s moved to industrialised north response to demand labour
• Attitude of KoL and AFL towards AAs and progress of black unions 1869 onwards?

  - wanted to admit AA/ethnic groups for unity

  - 60,000 black workers joined

  - AFL rejected discr

  - white unions operated closed shop in many firms so AA excluded entering industries

  - began to form own unions e.g Philip Randolph formed Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters 1925

  - national Negro Labour Union 1869 unsuccessfully attempted affiliate with white skilled unions
• The first women's TU?

  - Womens Trade Union League WTUL estb 1903 and led by Mary Kenny O'Sullivan+Rose Schneidemann

  - aim: to encourage/support W in org themselves in unions

  -opposing sweatshop wc esp fire at Triangle Shirtwaist Factory 1911 killed 145 workers bc trapped 9th floor+flames

  - pressure for the franchise recognise W need pol influence to bring legislation for protection

  - Eleanor Roosevelt member
• Why divisions between WTUL and AFL?


  - WTUL = laws estb 8hr day + min wage

  - AFL = oppose legislation as saw as upsuring role in TU negotiation
• Progress by 1914?


  - end 19th c. 500,000 TU members by 1920 5mil

  - TU membership inc due to poor wages, wc, job security

  - where unions existed, most affiliated to AFL which sought to influence public policy on labour issues by pressuring candidates in local+national elections to gain some political support for estb workers rights in law

  - Gompers urged support for Wilson's presidency 1912 - Some success as created Dept of Labor And Clayton Antitrust Act 1914 limited use of court injunctions if no damage to property (also declared strikes, boycotts, LUs legal under federal law)
• Regress by 1914?


  - TU members only rep 20% non-agricultural workforce; still sig no industries non-unionised esp mass production e.g steel

  - rights still on outcomes negotiations done by unrecognised unions+employers - still hostile as disruptive strikes

  - progress towards workers solidarity limited as divisions between skilled+unskilled, white/immigrant

  - many rights limited to white, male workers. Much still dependent on fluctuations of the eco+power struggle with employers
• Extent WW1 was a TP for TU+LR?

  - opps to industrialists to inc profits encourage more conciliatory policy towards unions

  - 1914 - 18 factory production inc 35%

  - prices rose but real wages inc 20%

  - first time federal gov recognise unions as org representing labour+negotiated with them through National War Labor Board to ensure maintain high levels of prod - in return coop with no strike policy, agreed to grant rights join unions

  - employers agreed safeguard w.c by implement 8hr day. Gompers+AFL ordered refrain strike during war

  - union membership 2.7mil 1916 and 5mil 1920
• Extent post-war was TP for TU+LR?


  - upsurge unrest, 1919, extreme outbreaks violence resulted death, injury, poverty destruction

  - racially motivated, riots fuelled influx into labour market of returning soldiers+fear communist infiltration

  - 'red scare' had extreme reactions by employers to any kind industrial protest viewed as subversive even when LU exerting proper rights

  - 1919 = 3,630 strikes and 4,160,348 workers
• Roaring Twenties'


  - 1920-29 eco prosperity. Wages rose, consumer goods available bc mass production. Led inc demand cars, washing machines

  - upsurge of nativism, continued fear communist infiltration (hostile response of one cultural group seeking to preserve inherent characteristics; whites and 'old' to 'new' immigrants)
• Welfare capitalism


  - rise in real wages+fall unemployment reduced ind unrest - employers gave better wc, dec hrs, benefits

  - company unions set up - reps meet with employers discuss eg plant safety but X allowed call strikes + can't negotiate wages

  - workers sign 'yellow dog' contracts big business to prevent joining unions eg Henry Ford owned biggest factory in world 80,000 workers . 1914 reduced to 8hrs work, 2x wages to $5. 1941 any LU recognised by company for purpose of collective bargaining

  - 1921 no. Strikes = 2385, workers = 1,099,247

  - 1925 strikes = 1,301, workers = 428,416
• The Great Depression


  - 24 Oct 1929 share prices fell faster, millions $ lost which led to factory closures+bankruptcy

  - unemployment 3% 1929 to 25% 1933 (13mil)

  - AAs badly affected; 2x unemployment than whites

  - voluntary relief org unable to cope

  - conflict between employers+workers=strikes

  - 1933, only 10% workforce unionised

  - employers right to sack so common sack workers
• Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters and Maids - LU

  - began 1925.

  - Pullman Company one of largest employers of AAs 1920/30s. Porters relied on tips so reliant on condescension of white passengers

  - spent avg 10% time unpaid setting up/cleaning + paid food/uniform so c.half wags + join no promotion for AAs as high position for whites

  - 500 porters met Harlem 25 Aug 1925 launched campaign in secret as unions stopped by sacking. Philip Randolph lead with 'fight or be slaves'

  - company response to denounce the BSCP as outside agency + sponsored own union but continued fight

  - by 1928 no recognition, leaders said strike but divided

  - 1934 changed to law about labour relations meant BSCP position to claim only legit union rep porters

  - Randolph demanded National Mediation Board certify as rep of porters, not company union + won in election 1935

  - 1937 signed first collective bargaining agreement with company
• ND - national industry recovery Act

  - Herbert Hoover lost confidence as failure respond depression. Employers action against strikes, TU members dec. Roosevelt elected

  - 16 june 1933 Congress pass NIDA which estb National Recovery Administration NRA

  - aim to foster coop between sides of industry by developing agreed code of practice about issues eg wage rates. Most sig = law giving workers right to org TUS+collective bargaining

  - 1934, 557 codes agreed by joining companies covering 23mil workers

  - (-) effects = employers eg Ford refused sign code+generally favoured employers

  - declared unconstitutional 1935
• National Labor Relations Act

  - Wagner Act 1935

  - Wagners aim to regulate labour disputes by providing structure for collective bargaining

  - first national legislation that recognised rights of workers to elect own rep take part in c.b with employers. Declared Constitutional 1937.

  - right join unions, permitted 'closed shops'

  - set up 5 man National Labor Relations Board (still today) responsible for addressing unfair labour practices in private sector employment

  - expansion TU membership. 37mil 1933 to 9mil 1938

  - Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 created $25 weekly wage for ind workers

  - but disputes employers/employees continued, divisions TU themselves deprived mass unskilled of rights
• Congress of Industrial Organizations


  - CIO formed 1937

  - task to org labour in mass production ind gathering 3.7mil members. Employers resisted closed shops estb by them

  - end 1930s, strikes using 'sit-ins' which effective 1937 to gain recognition of right to join TUs. Only Henry Ford held out till 1941 recognised Auto Workers Union

  - black workers/other races/W benefitted
• What did the ND do for disadvantaged workers?

  - extended rights but mostly skilled workers

  - remained sig no. Unskilled

  - AAs/Mexicans continued face discr. Inc by agricultural policies of the ND resulted in eviction large no. B+Hispanics who migrated to cities for work. No employment opps for NA

  - position women not improved, even tho min wage, differences in pay

  - welfare reforms helped some poorer

  - extension rights of labour not complete by entry to war 1941

  - 1930: 637 strikes, 3,401,000 TU membership, 11.6% workforce. 1945: TU memb 14,322,000, 35.5% WF

  - TP as inc TU membership, made big businesses conform, federally recognised, 1932-39 2-9mil
• Effect of the ND and WW2 on womens TUs?

  - ND - failed deliver equal pay, continued to protest eg United Auto Workers (men) supported equal pay ensure employers didnt replace cheap female labour

  - WW2 - 1940-44 inc W joining TUs (800,000 to 3mil). Many directly recruited into existing male unions/womens sections larger unions. Inc paid work as union officials
• Which was the most significant TP for the rights of labour and TUs - WW1 or WW2? Before/During WW1

  - 1914-18 factory production inc 35%, real wages by 20%

  - FG recognised TUs as org rep labour/negotiated too through National War Labor Board to ensure high levels prod

  - union members inc 2.7mil 1916 to 5mil 1920

  - return for coop no strike polic, board agreed guarantee rights workers join unions+c.b

  - employers agreed safeguard wc by (+) response to implement 8hr day, Gompers/AFL ordered workers refrain strike
• Which was the most significant TP for the rights of labour and TUs - WW1 or WW2? Post WW1

  - unrest fuelled by influx returning soldiers+fear communist inflation 1919-20 the most = 'Red Scare'. Extreme reaction of employers to any kind ind protest even tho LU exerting rights

  - upsurge unrest, 1919 had outbreaks extreme violence- death, injury, property destroyed

  - strikes 1919 eg LU in Seattle org generally work stoppage - mayor accused them attempting anarchy+called federal troops

  - 1919 3630 strikes
• Which was the most significant TP for the rights of labour and TUs - WW1 or WW2? Before/During WW2

  - National War Labor Board NWLB estb - pressure wage inc, so did inc + bc overtime pay boosted avg ind earnings by 70%

  - TUs grew rapidly 8.9mil 1940 to 14.8mil 1945

  - expansion armed forces/halt overseas immigration led to fall unemployment 783,000 1943. No.women inc 50%, 1943 1/3 workforce. More 1mil AAs found joins ind centres N/W. Army

  - levels prod inc in agr/industry - achieved by centralisation of planning

  - 1943 pres empowered to seize any plant where strike action threat to interfere with war prod - illegal to instigate strikes, had give 30 days notice

  - AAs restricted menial jobs - Philip Randolph threatened march Washington - President responded forbidding racial discr, created Fair Employment Practices Committee.

  - migration led riots in N.