Week 3 Solidarity: Class, Race and Ethnicity…Choices AFL, IWW…Choices Union Recognition and...
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Transcript of Week 3 Solidarity: Class, Race and Ethnicity…Choices AFL, IWW…Choices Union Recognition and...
Week 3
Solidarity: Class, Race and Ethnicity…Choices AFL, IWW…Choices Union Recognition and Class War Wagner Act
Choices…AFL, CIO Lunch
Ellis Island: Immigration and Labor
Website Problems…should be fixed by Mondayhttp://www2.widener.edu/~spe0001
Scavenger Hunt…whoever gets the most sites wins…must be >3 of them…
Capitalism Takes Different Forms
Free Market Capitalism Little Government “Interference” in economy as individual
workers bring their labor to market and sell it for whatever price it will fetch
Price of labor set by competition between self interested workers competing in the labor market
Organized or Regulated Capitalism
Unions organize individual workers to cooperate with other workers to collectively make demands on management
Wages, hours and working conditions set by negotiation between employer and union…a contest of power
Organizing Unions
Decision to organize labor into union brings many, many questions…
Who should be in the union? All workers? Only some races? Native workers and
Immigrants? Only men? What should the union demand? Who should they demand it from? Employers
or government?
NOTE: SEIU and other unions are currently fighting over what the answers should be…
Cooperation requires Solidarity
Solidarity Community of feelings, purposes, etc. Community of responsibilities and interests.
Solidarity is an interesting thing…nothing natural about it…it is something that gets created…
Think about your life? Who/what groups do you feel the strongest sense of solidarity with? Pick the top three…
Why?
Cooperation requires Solidarity
Solidarity Community of feelings, purposes, etc. Community of responsibilities and interests.
Solidarity is an interesting thing…nothing natural about it…it is something that gets created…
Think about your life? Who do you feel the strongest sense of solidarity with? Pick the top three…
Other people from you neighborhood, your borough, your city, your country, your race or ethnicity, people with the same eye color, your social class, people you work with, other Yankee or Giants fans, your gender, your religion, other things?
Why?
More or Less Solidarity
Free Market Capitalism…
Price of labor set by competition between self interested workers competing in the labor market
No real need for solidarity here: “I got my mine…good luck getting yours!”
Organized or Regulated Capitalism…
Unions organize individual workers to cooperate with other workers to collectively make demands on management
Cooperation requires solidarity…but what should it be based on?
Choices emerge… Different unions will disagree about
what the basis of solidarity should be and about the strategy for unions
Lets explore…
Context: Lot’s of different people competing to sell their labor in America’s labor market
Old Immigrants/Native Born (English, Swedes, Dutch,
Irish)
New Immigrants (Italians, Russians, Poles,
Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese)
Descendants of slave labor African Americans
Protestants, Catholics, Jews
Men and women
Skilled and Unskilled
The Industrial Workers of the World…led Patterson Silk Strike
Solidarity Community of
responsibilities and interests.
Anyone know their strategy for labor? Their basis of solidarity
Industrial Workers of the World
Basis of Solidarity: WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE! IWW did not discriminate based on skills, race or
ethnicity, gender or immigrant status
Strategy
Syndicalism- direct action on the job to build industrial unions of all workers until they were strong enough to launch a general strike and take over business and government.” p.157 Folks
Goal was the abolition of capitalism and the creation of a new cooperative society without private ownership and wage labor
The Industrial Workers of the World
Revolutionary future…
“The workers of the world have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop.” – IWW
Iffy here and now…
The IWW had no system for collecting dues, no strike funds, rotated leadership to prevent hierarchy, refused to sign labor agreements… (Fantasia & Voos, p.40)
American Federation of Labor..
OK…IWW wants you to help abolish capitalism…
What, if anything, do you know about the AFL’s strategy?
Hint: Who has more power in the labor market…an brain surgeon or a cafeteria worker? Why?
AFL…
Focus on organizing skilled craft workers because it was felt they had the most power since they were hard to replace… Train engineers, but not porters; skilled weavers but
not cloth carriers; carpenters but not farmworkers
This led to focus on organizing mostly White Native Born males…narrow basis of solidarity
Many affiliate unions would not permit women, Blacks or Asians to join… Note next few slides
Who should be in the Union?
Cigar Makers bylaws: “unless said person is a white practical cigar maker” he could not be in the union.
Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Qualifications for membership: “Any white person between the ages of 16 and 65…”
Clerks & Freight Handlers: “All white persons, male or female, of good more character.”
Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen: “He shall be white born…”
Wire Weavers: “Christian, white, male of the full age 21…”
AFL
AFL…
Basis of solidarity emphasized race & gender
Not interested in abolishing capitalism or creating a new and different society…
Pursued what is sometimes called “Business Unionism” or “Pure and Simple Unionism”…
Any ideas what that means…
AFL = Business Unionism
Business unionism
using collective bargaining to improve the wages, hours and working conditions of members who belong to a particular union.
Focus is on bread-and-butter issues for guys in the union
Limited political activity and no vision of large scale social transformation
Not interested in abolishing capitalism and creating a new society
Craft Unions and Collective Bargaining
No goal for transformed future, but very strong unions for here and now
In contrast to the IWW, the AFL collected dues, created strike funds, and negotiated labor agreements
P a in te rs L oca l 1 C a rpe n te rs L oca l 1 E le c tric ia n s L o ca l 1 M a ch in is t Lo ca l 1 P ip e fit te rs L oca l 1
E m pire S ta te B u ild in g In c.
Choices
You are a (skilled White weaver/unskilled woman, Black,Hispanic or Asian) who works in a Silk factory. You work constantly, and have trouble making ends meet. You are approached by different union organizers and invited to a meeting. You can be fired for just attending a meeting. If you are unskilled, there are many waiting to take your job. Every week, the news is full of stories about workers being killed during strikes.
Organizer 1) Mr. Haywood tells you that the new system of wage labor is morally wrong & based on exploitation. People shouldn’t have to sell themselves and toil in degrading, awful conditions. Mr. Haywood tells you that you should unite with workers of all races and ethnicities to build a class wide movement that can create a society without wage labor, where workers own and control the factories, sharing the profits for the common good. Join the IWW.
Choices
You are a (skilled White weaver/unskilled woman, Black, Hispanic or Asian) who works in a Silk factory. You work constantly, and have trouble making ends meet. You are approached by different union organizers and invited to a meeting. You can be fired for just attending a meeting. Every week, the news is full of stories about workers being killed during strikes.
Organizer 2: Mr. Gompers of the AFL tells you that Mr. Haywood is a dreamer whose goals are not realistic. You should accept the wage system, and try to force employees to give you a better deal. Throwing your lot in with all workers will weaken your bargaining position, because unskilled workers are so easy to replace. He also questions whether you want to be in a union with women, immigrant riff-raff and Blacks. You should join with the other skilled weavers, and as a smaller group, you should demand better wages, hours and working conditions in the short term. To help strengthen your position, you should work to end the immigration of undesirable groups like the Chinese who are willing to work for low wages.
Choices
IWW, AFL…forget about it?
If you’re a skilled White Weaver, do you go to a meeting or stay home? If you go to a meeting, whose meeting do you go to? Why?
If you’re an unskilled man, a women, Hispanic, Black or Asian, do you go to a meeting or stay home? Why?
Initially, most White skilled workers who opt for unions choose the AFL
Ideas that one should find an individual solution to economic problems rejected
“Yet what force is weaker than the feeble strength of one”- From the union anthem Solidarity Forever
But so are radical ideas about revolutionary movements to abolish wage labor & implement collective ownership
“I have come to the conclusion . . . that it is our duty to live our lives as workers in the society in which we live, and not to work for the downfall or the destruction or the overthrow of that society, but for the fuller development and evolution of the society in which we live; to make life the better worth living.- Samuel Gompers (Testimony, Congress, House Select Committee, 1913)
AFL’s narrow definition of “worker” leaves many out…
AFL Preferred White Native Born Male Workers
Women noble beings, but helpless…not an organizing focus
Blacks ambivalent toward at best, excluded at worst, maybe Jim
Crow locals…Not an organizing focus.
New immigrants (Italians, Jews, Poles, Mexicans) ambivalent toward at best, ignored at worst…Not an
organizing focus… Founding Document called for a ban on foreign workers
Asians demonized and excluded…Note next slide…
Racial Solidarity Trumps Union Solidarity
Unions work to push Chinese workers out of the labor market Physically attack them Pass laws prohibiting Chinese from
working Pass laws preventing them from
coming to US
Group Mobility via the AFL…
Despite the exclusions, millions of workers opt to pursue group mobility via the AFL
1897: 447,000 in unions 1904: 2,072,000 in unions 1930: 3,401,000 in unions
Many Workers Want Unions…But Many Owners don’t…So what happens…
Workers get together and approach employer: “We’d like to have a union!”
Management has no legal obligation to recognize unions…
Ludlow Colorado as famous example of what this sometimes led to
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.”
Not just a strike…a war… class war Video clip on Ludlow Colorado
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.
As the AFL struggles to grow, the economy collapses… 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
Conditions are Intolerable
“We cannot endure another winter of hardship such as we are passing through.”
Republican Governor of Washington
Protests Spread Across the Nation
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?
Fears Emerge About Revolution “Folks are restless. Communism is
gaining a foothold. Right here in Mississippi, some people are ready to lead a mob. In fact, I’m getting a little pink myself.” Spokesperson for the American Legion, a
conservative organization
From Business Unionism to something more “dangerous”?
Teamsters organize truck drivers in Minneapolis
Goal is not revolution, but the recognition of an AFL union to bargain over wages, hours and working conditions
Employers refuse to recognize union…
The result…A General Strike?
Revolution as possible…? General Strike
a strike by all or most workers in a community or nation.
Entire cities or nations are brought to a halt
General Strikes in 1934: Minneapolis, San Francisco… note video
Revolution as possible?
“You have seen strikes in Toledo, you have seen Minneapolis, you have seen San Francisco, and you seen some of the southern textile strikes…but…you 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
More choices…
You are President Roosevelt. You are watching as intense labor unrest sweeps the nation. A number of cities have been shut down due to general strikes. Member of the business community advise you to hold the line. Workers, many of whom voted for you, are on the move, demanding changes in society that will facilitate group mobility for members of their class. Many worry that things are getting out of hand. Only 18 years ago, workers in Russia helped lead a revolution that abolished capitalism.
What do you do?
A “new deal” for workers” New Deal Programs redistribute $$$$$$ in society
Old Age Pensions (Social Security) Redistribute money to old people
Unemployment Insurance Redistribute money to those out of work
Aid for Dependent Mothers (Welfare) Redistribute money to single moms
Fair Labor Standards Act Minimum wages; maximum hours (8 hour day); prohibitions
on child labor
All very important programs…but people are often less aware of world historic legislation drafted by Senator Wagner (D-NY)…
Wagner Act
Wagner Act or National Labor Relations Act(1935) a federal law that among other
things guaranteed workers the right 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
Wagner Act (1935)…this is a BIG deal
“It is declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions… by 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.”
Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act)
Created Election process for union representation
Employers’ responses to unionization limited by employer unfair labor practices No company unions; companies can’t fire union supporters;
no blacklists, no spies
If union won election, management was required to recognize the union
Good-faith collective bargaining became public policy Companies must bargain if union wins
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Created to enforce provisions of the Act
President Roosevelt as Pro-Union “If I went to work in a factory, the first
thing I’d do would be TO JOIN A UNION” Franklin Roosevelt
“The right to bargain collectively is at the bottom of social justice for the worker, as well as the sensible conduct of business affairs. The denial or observance of this right means the difference between despotism and democracy.”- FDR, 1937 Millis, Harry A., From the Wagner act to Taft-Hartley
Opportunity for AFL
AFL primarily comprised of Craft Unions representing skilled workers
But economy now comprised of large, mass production industries full of immigrants and Blacks Ford’s River Rouge plant employed
100,000 Most of them were unskilled or semi-
skilled
More Choices…but AFL’s vision is limited
Wagner Act…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
Choices
AFL: You are a (skilled white/unskilled white, Hispanic, Black, woman, immigrant) 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, who are mostly immigrants and people of color, will be lowest priority.
See next slide
AFL Craft Unions Divide workers
in one car factory into 13 separate craft unions.
Try to bargain separately…
Ignore the unskilled, women, Blacks, immigrants
Ford
Plant A Plant B
Plumbers Union Local 1
PaintersUnion
Local 1
Machinists Union
Local 1
Janitors Union
Local 1
Plumbers Union
Local 2
Painters Union
Local 2
MachinistsUnion
Local 2
JanitorsUnion
Local 2
Choices
Organizer Lewis: You are a (skilled white/unskilled white, Black, woman, immigrant) worker in a Ford Factory. Organizers from the CIO 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 or ethnicity, 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
Congress of Industrial Unions
Organize all workers along industrial lines (one company, one union) Including women,
Blacks, immigrants and others
Demand that Ford negotiate a deal that applies to all of its factories U A W 1
P lan t A
U A W 2
P lan t B
U A W 3
P la n t C
UAW -Ford
BARGAIN PERTAINSTO
FORD
Ford
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 CIO 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 or ethnicity, should form one industrial union. This will give workers the power to shut down production, and will force Ford to deal with you.
Choices AFL: You are an (unskilled White worker/Black/new
immigrant/woman) 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 worker/Black/new immigrant/woman) 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.
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 and leads walk out of several unions
Lewis formed the more militant rival Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
Lewis, President of the CIO CIO
created in 1935 as a federation of industrial unions dominated by unskilled workers
Industrial Union membership composed primarily of semi-skilled
or unskilled workers who are organized on the basis of the product they produce Instead of painters, welders,
mechanicsautoworkeres Instead of plumbers, electricians, carpenters
construction workers
Takes root in mass production industries
The Rise of the CIO…
Basis of solidarity Class or industry
Official Position Solidarity between
workers should trump other concerns
Racial, ethnic & gender differences inconsequential “Black and White Unite
and Fight”
Only really got to here…
Was unable to show sit down…should probably move everything else over…
Ended at 11:45 to get to insure we got back on time for boat to ellis…
The Rise of the CIO
From Poverty Level Wages to Middle Class Wages
The CIO, the United Autoworkers (UAW) and General Motors
Note Video on Sit Down Strikes
CIO like a “crusade”
Pushes AFL to organize too Union Density increases rapidly…By
1950s…1 out of 3 workers is in a union
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1930 1933 1935 1937 1940
Pct. In Union
Unions Concentrated in Key Industries
By 1946, Core of Economy almost completely union
80-100% unionized Aircraft, Aluminum, Auto, Breweries, Clothing,
Electrical Machinery, Meat packing, Rubber, Shipbuilding Steel, Coal, Construction, Long shoring, Trucking
Will have spill over effect to non-union sector Fear of unionization will prompt better wages,
hours, and working conditions
Unions Force Re-slicing of Economic Pie
Estimated that $ 1billion transferred from capitalist class to working class in 1937 alone
This a BIG, BIG, BIG deal…
Alters American Society
Improves the standard of living of millions…helps create a middle class
The “Great Compression”
Unions Help Change America…
Unions help redistribute income, improve working conditions, reduce working hours, and gain fringe benefits from employers
America becomes a more equal society…A middle class emerges, poverty is reduced…0
5
1015
2025
3035
4045
50
1870 1890 1910 1935 1944
Percent in Poverty
“Golden Age” of American Capitalism…
In less than 30 years Real income for typical family
doubled Consumption per capita doubled
Still economic inequality, as well as inequality based on racial & gender segregation, but US made significant strides toward greater fairness and economic justice
An alternative way to improve one’s standard of living…
Individual Strategy
Compete with others. Quit bad jobs, get more education, acquire new skills, kiss up to boss, work more hours, start your own business…
Group Strategy
Cooperate with other workers & Collectively demand that wages, hours and working conditions be improved
Organizing labor
OK…so now we have unions…and we also have more questions.
What should unions demand? Better wages hours and working conditions for their
members? Affordable housing? An end to discrimination?
Minimum wage hikes?
Who should they demand it from? Employers? Government?
Lunch
Please return in 1 hour sharp…
The boat leaves at 2pm, and we need to be on line by 1:30 or so…If we miss the boat, we’re in trouble.