World War II and the Post-War Period

Lecture 1

Labor During the War

Administrative

• Reading reminder – All the rest of the reading on this topic by the next class

Review

• Dramatic Changes in labor and employment law in the 1920s and 1930s

• Dramatic split in the American Federation of Labor and the creation of the CIO

• Rapid organization of the mass production industries, especially cars, tires and steel and the role of sit-down strikes

• Employers’ continued resistance to rights of employees and to unions

Today

I. Wartime Economy

II. Labor Movement During the War

III. Women and Minorities in the War-time Labor Force

I. Wartime Economy

• Extremely full employment

• Typical war‑time inflationary forces – Why?

• Accordingly, for the first time in a decade, workers have jobs, money and bargaining power, but are frustrated by the absence of goods to buy

II. Labor Movement During the War

• Competition continues between A.F.L. and C.I.O.

• Both federations supported the war effort conscientiously

III. Women and Minorities in the War-time Labor Force

• Desperate need for workers led to dramatic increase of women working

• Many African-Americans promoted to do jobs previously reserved for whites

• In both cases, issue of equal pay gave rise to conflict

Race Issues

• 1941 Randolph threatened march on Washington if the government refused to do something about discrimination

• Roosevelt responded with Executive Order creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee

• Overall, sex and race barriers in employment decreased during the war

Next Time

• War-time Public Policy

• War-time industrial conflict

World War II and the Post-War Period

Lecture 2

Industrial Conflict and Public Policy

Administrative

• Begin reading on 1960s for Wednesday– First reading

Review

• Wartime Economy – Unemployment virtually disappeared– Controlled economy

• Labor Movement During the War– AFL and CIO both strongly supported war

effort– War Labor Board resolved disputes

Today

I. Industrial Conflict during the war

II. Labor law in the war and post-war periods

I. Industrial Conflict During the War

• Unions and employers had agreed to avoid industrial conflict

• Disputes to be resolved by War Labor Board

• Unions thrived under the War Labor Board

Conflict

• 1941 had been a very high strike year

• Relatively few strikes by AFL or CIO unions during the war

• Exception was the United Mine Workers

Conflict

• 1946 post-war strike wave

• On several occasions President Truman intervened

• Gradually the strike wave ebbed after 1947

II. Labor Law in the War and Post-War Periods

• United Mine Workers strikes during the war caused anti-union backlash

• Response was Smith-Connally Act (1943)

Smith-Connally

• Empowered president to seize companies where disputes imperiled the war effort

• Criminal penalties for those who instigated or promoted strikes

Taft-Hartley Act

• Response to the strike wave of 1946

• Largely written by the National Association of Manufacturers

• Passed over Truman’s veto – “Slave Labor Act”

Taft-Hartley

• Outlawed the closed shop

• Allowed states to prohibit the union shop

• Reintroduced injunctions in labor disputes in a variety of circumstances

• Banned secondary strikes and secondary boycotts

• Required unions to file anti-Communist affidavits for officers

Taft-Hartley

• Denied unionization rights to low level managers

• Authorized 80-day injunctions against strikes imperiling national safety and welfare

• Introduced concept of union unfair labor practices

Taft-Hartley

• Did not destroy collective bargaining where it existed

• Did halt the momentum unions had established during the war

Next Time

• The Landrum-Griffin Act

• The post-war Anti-Communist scare

• The merger of the AFL and CIO

World War II and the Post-War Period

Lecture 3

The Post-War Period

Administrative

• Reading reminder – Memphis Sanitation strike for next class– Teacher unionism and Cesar Chavez for

following class

• Quiz reminder

• Essay reminder

Review

• Issues of race and gender during the war

• Relative absence of strikes during the war

• Public Policy Issues– Smith-Connally Act (1943)– Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

Today

I. The post-war Anti-Communist scare

II. The merger of the AFL and CIO

III. The Landrum-Griffin Act

I. The Communist Scare

• Immediate post-war period one of rabid anti-Communism

• Anti-Communist campaign in Hollywood

• Senator Joseph McCarthy

Anti-Communism

• Labor movement emerged from World War II with Communist leadership of several major CIO unions

• Communists were also influential factions in a number of other major unions

Anti-Communism

• Overall, no one more Conservative than leadership of the trade union movement

• 1949 CIO expelled 11 unions with 20% of total CIO affiliated membership

• In some cases (e.g. electrical products) CIO chartered new unions to replace the expelled ones

• Other unions made Communists ineligible for office

II. The Merger

• By the mid-1950s, AFL affiliates had 9 million members and CIO affiliates had 6 million

• Reduced conflict over principles and personalities

• New leaders George Meany and Walter Reuther

Merger

• June 1953 negotiated “No-Raiding” pact

• February 1955 agreed to full merger at the end of the year– All existing unions to be preserved– No raiding– AFL to provide both President and Secretary-

Treasurer

Merger

• Agreed on series of Campaigns

• Much of the labor movement remained outside– Railway brotherhoods– UMW– ILWU– Teamsters (expelled for corruption)

III. The Landrum-Griffin Act

Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act

• Product of investigations of McClellan Committee

• Evidence of rigged elections, misuse of funds, embezzlement and sweetheart contracts

Act• Assumed public interest in democratic and

proper union behavior• Assumed that unions would be unable to

assure such behavior themselves• Purposes of the Act

– Protect against improper union behavior– Protect against union-management

arrangements denying members proper representation

– Plug loopholes in Taft-Hartley

Act

• Bill of Rights for union members

• Regulation of union elections

• Discipline of Members

• Regulation of Trusteeships

• Regulation of Financial Conflicts of Interest

Next Time

• Begin discussion of the 1960s