World War II and the Post-War Period

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World War II and the Post-War Period

• Lecture 1
• Labor During the War

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Administrative

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

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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

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Today

1. Wartime Economy
2. Labor Movement During the War
3. Women and Minorities in the War-time Labor Force

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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

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II. Labor Movement During the War

• Competition continues between A.F.L. and C.I.O.
• Both federations supported the war effort
  conscientiously

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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

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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

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Next Time

• War-time Public Policy
• War-time industrial conflict

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World War II and the Post-War Period

• Lecture 2
• Industrial Conflict and Public Policy

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Administrative

• Begin reading on 1960s for Wednesday
• First reading

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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

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Today

• Industrial Conflict during the war
• Labor law in the war and post-war periods

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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

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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

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Conflict

• 1946 post-war strike wave
• On several occasions President Truman intervened
• Gradually the strike wave ebbed after 1947

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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)

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Smith-Connally

• Empowered president to seize companies where
  disputes imperiled the war effort
• Criminal penalties for those who instigated or
  promoted strikes

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Taft-Hartley Act

• Response to the strike wave of 1946
• Largely written by the National Association of
  Manufacturers
• Passed over Trumans veto Slave Labor Act

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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

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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

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Taft-Hartley

• Did not destroy collective bargaining where it
  existed
• Did halt the momentum unions had established
  during the war

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Next Time

• The Landrum-Griffin Act
• The post-war Anti-Communist scare
• The merger of the AFL and CIO

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World War II and the Post-War Period

• Lecture 3
• The Post-War Period

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Administrative

• Reading reminder
• Memphis Sanitation strike for next class
• Teacher unionism and Cesar Chavez for following
  class
• Quiz reminder
• Essay reminder

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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)

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Today

• The post-war Anti-Communist scare
• The merger of the AFL and CIO
• The Landrum-Griffin Act

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I. The Communist Scare

• Immediate post-war period one of rabid
  anti-Communism
• Anti-Communist campaign in Hollywood
• Senator Joseph McCarthy

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Merger

• Agreed on series of Campaigns
• Much of the labor movement remained outside
• Railway brotherhoods
• UMW
• ILWU
• Teamsters (expelled for corruption)

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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

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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

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Act

• Bill of Rights for union members
• Regulation of union elections
• Discipline of Members
• Regulation of Trusteeships
• Regulation of Financial Conflicts of Interest

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Next Time

• Begin discussion of the 1960s