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Summary: The American Labor Movement

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The American labor movement, champions of the ordinary worker has had a downhill battle in the last eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its membership apogee has had a steady decrease, with labor force percentages in 2016 slipping to 10.7 percent, the lowest in over 70 years. Many factors contributed to the ebb and flow of organized labor, however, the most impactful came after the New Deal legislation, with enactment of the Wagner Act (1935); and Taft Hartley Act (1947), (Union membership rate 10.7 percent in 2016, 2017).
In the early 1930s, union membership plummeted to 3 million, compared to 5 million in the previous decade, because of the many violent strikes and confrontations with union resistant employers. However, this trend would …show more content…

Roosevelt (FDR) took the office of the President. To ease the hardships of the Depression, and safeguard against continued financial destruction the President enacted legislation known as the New Deal - designed to provide “Relief, Recovery, and Reform.” (Dealing With The Great Depression)
The 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or Wagner Act, and the National Labor Board (NLRB) were derivatives of the New Deal. The NLRA, aimed to encourage collective bargaining, provide a course of court free hindrances to bargaining for unions, gave employees the right to form and join unions; and foster a better relationship between management and labor (John Woolley and Gerhard Peters). The NLRB administered the law.
With the liberty granted under the Wagner Act, growth ensued and unions forced membership, through contracts that required all workers to pay, whether they joined or not. By 1945, an anti-union climate pervaded America due to their extensive growth, power, and the plethora of huge …show more content…

President Reagan warned the strikers to return to work, when they refused, he fired over 11,000 workers. These essential employees were adequately and permanently replaced. This ended the strike, and set a precedence, in the employment sector, that striking workers can be permanently replaced (Michael R. Carrell & Christina Heavrin, 2013, p. 104).
Organized labor received a sharp blow from the debacle – union fees decreased, with the dismissal, membership declined and PATCO no longer exists. Although, labor numbers continue to decline, the labor movement is built on the strength and fortitude to fight. As they focus on immigration reform - 2015, estimates of just over 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. (Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeffrey S. Passel and D’Vera Cohn, 2017). All of them are employment disadvantaged workers, dispersed in many industries, mainly in the agriculture and service industries. They have no labor protection, earn low wages, operate in poor working conditions, then they need the advocate of labor

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In Lizabeth Cohen’s book, Making a New Deal, it shows a timeline of the shift that took place in the American people during the Great Depression. Before the Great Depression in 1919 there was a wave of strikes that failed after the Great War. The disappointment from the little gains for the American working class caused the labors to abandon some of their values and look for better ways to organize the Unions. When the Great Depression hit America labors had to come up with new ideas and behaviors to create a stronger Unions. Stronger Unions made it possible for them to have power in national politics and still succeed in their work life.

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The Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1947 to overcome President Truman’s veto. This act made illegal the labor union regulation called closed shop regulation which required employees to belong to a labor union before employment by any employer. It creates an opening for states to create a

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In the Taft-Hartley Act, the US Congress demonstrated this by demolishing the rights of worker unions and strikes, giving the employers overwhelming control over the lives of employees. The National Labor Relations Act, or Wagner Act, passed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, previously protected the strikes and collective bargaining of employees and labor unions. However, with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, labor unions were much weaker than before, and many even branded this act as the “slave-labor act.” “To pass the Taft-hartley Act that lifted many of the protections organized labor had enjoyed since the passage of the Wagner Act in the 1930s” (Fraser 754). With the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, many of the rights that protected the rights of workers to collectively bargain with their employers without any risk of losing their jobs and union strikes, were significantly weakened.

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Industrialization changed Americas social structure and economy, but with progressions provoked the rise of unions and labor movements. The case of Commonwealth v. Hunt, the Massachusetts Supreme court ordered that it was not illegal for workers to unionize and strike. This was an extremely important step for Americans urban laborers. For almost twenty years after that Commonwealth v. Hunt ruling unions were very small and very slowly progressing, birthing the National Labor Union years later. The depression of the 1870s put an end to the National Labor union, but this union did persuade congress to pass an eight-hour work day for federal employees.

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Labor and the US Government from 1890-1945 A key aspect of this nation’s history lies in the ever-shifting relationship between its government and its common man, most specifically its labor workers. This relationship plays a crucial role in the understanding of the changes that took place in America between 1890 and 1945. The changing relationship between government and labor workers in the United States between 1890 and 1945 demonstrates a period of unrest and a transitional period in which the focus shifted towards the working class as a result of the greed and corruption of 19th century business elite , as can be seen in the labor strikes requiring government intervention of the late 19th century, the progressives of the early 20th century

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The organized labor of 1875-1900 was unsuccessful in proving the position of workers because of the future strikes, and the intrinsical feeling of preponderation of employers over employees and the lack of regime support. In 1877, railroad work across the country took part in a cyclopean strike that resulted in mass violence and very few reforms. An editorial, from the Incipient York Time verbalized: "the strike is ostensibly hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and splenetic demonstration of resentment by men too incognizant or too temerarious to understand their own interest" (Document B). In 1892, workers at the Homestead steel plant near Pittsburg ambulated out on strike and mass chaos the lives of at least two Pinkerton detectives and one civilian, among many other laborers death (Document G).

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Lewis finds the Wagner Act to be valid, which ended up being FDR's response to the "widespread labor unrest". (Doc G) The Wagner Act was installed to address the concerns of workers over their rights as union members as well as their ability to collectively bargain. The act proved effective as labor unrest began to dwindle. Companies like “General Motors or US Steel” could not have the final say on the treatment of employees.

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The Emergency Banking Act shut down all banks and only allowed them to reopen once they had under gone a government inspection. This Act began to restore trust in the banking system for many Americans. Franklin Roosevelt increased the government's power by making the National labor Relations Board (NLRB). When The Wagner Act was made it changed the role of the government by adding social justice to the government's responsibility of what to provide to citizens, political rights and economic security. Another program that provided reform was social security; social security gave pensions to elderly workers, along with many other benefits to

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The President and the Supreme Court continued to intervene with the continual struggle between labor and employers. The American Railroad Union had been broken up after the injunction. Workers that were affected in the strike had depression and could not find jobs. Companies were affected because they had difficulty finding workers who would work under their conditions. The wages were very low and that made it hard to

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The U.S. had been in the Great Depression for roughly four years and the economy showed no signs of being revived. Once in office, Roosevelt started his New Deal Program designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform so the country could get back on its feet and not experience another depression. Relief legislation included the Emergency Banking Relief Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Federal Emergency Relief Act. The National Industrial Recovery Act, the Glass-Steagall Banking Legislation, and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) comprised the recovery aspect. Finally, there was the reforms, which included the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, the Wagener Act (also known as the National Labor Relations Act), and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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This move was seen as a bold and unprecedented act, signaling a significant shift in the federal government's stance on organized labor. This action had extreme significance for both labor unions and the extensive political landscape. V. Legacy and Lessons Learned: The Reagan-PATCO conflict had a lasting impact on labor relations in the United States. It served as a turning point, empowering employers to take a more aggressive stance against unions and inspiring a wave of anti-union opinions in the following years. The event also showcased the vulnerability of organized labor in the face of political and public opinion, and the limits of collective bargaining power.

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New Deal was solely created to prevent the terror of Great Depression from spreading further. Through relief, recovery and reform programs like AAA, CCC, WPA and etc expressed on the tree, FDR considered to give aid to people who were suffering( Doc 3). This expanded the role of FDR’s government in the Great Depression. This documents delivers that the vast majority of 3 R programs and their effectiveness throughout this horrific time. Additionally, New Deal established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) or also known as the Wagner Act to protect the rights of workers to organize, bargain collectively, and strike( Doc 6).

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Workers banded together to form these unions to protect their rights. A speech by Samuel Gompers, the leader of the union American Federation of Labor, stated his union’s demands for reduced hours of work, “adequate wages”, and

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The Wagner Act of 1935, also known as the National Labor Relations Act, guaranteed workers the right to organize and bargain collectively, strengthening labor unions and giving workers a greater voice in the

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In order to encourage the growth of trade unions he passed this bills that did more than intended. As the book Who built America details,"The Wagner Act guaranteed workers the right to freely organize their own unions and to strike, boycott, and picket their employers(Rosenzweigh 454).This was exactly what all Middle and working class Americans needed to push them over. It had the stern language that the NIRA lacked and the backing of the National Labor Relation board to hear complaints. Because people thought there jobs were safer due to Roosevelt 's policies, they were more willing to join unions, leading to hike in

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