World War Two, the

Institutionalization of Labor and

the CIOs Red Scare Purge

Coming into the 1940s

Passing of the National Labor Relations Act

emboldened labor unlike never before.

Labor was afforded certain rights unlike before the right

to exist without criminalization, right to organize with
reprisal
With the new rights bestowed to labor and the
competition between the AFL and CIO labor steadily
increased in membership.

The institutional structures and policies that

developed in the 1930s changed the relationships
among workers, unions, employers, and government.
Organized labor especially the CIO became
increasingly involved in politics and an alliance with the
Democratic Party was solidifying.
Labor became institutionalize (solidified during WWII)

Pearl Harbor attacked! December 7, 1941

The U.S enters World War II on December 10, 1941

Ten days after Pearl Harbor FDR summoned labor and

management to plan new measures of industrial cooperation.
Did not want strikes and lockouts to affect war-time production
Agreed to three point:
No strikes or lockouts for the duration of hostilities;
Peaceful settlement of all industrial disputes;
The creation of the National War Labor Board - a tripartite board, with
labor, management and the public each represented by four members.
Empowered to hand all labor controversies affecting the war effort.

Both the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of

Industrial Organizations agreed to the no strike pledge

In exchange labor was recognized by management and were able

to implement maintenance of membership clauses in their
agreements.

The bitter, adversarial roles that previously existed between labor and
capital was now tempered by this new partnership between labor
leaders, business and government - Exchanged a measure of union
security and new social legitimacy and labor stability.

Those considered respectable labor leaders were brought into the

nations power elite: Presidential advisory boards, foreign policy
councils and congressional staff.
Sidney Hillman (CIO) and William Knudsen (Gen. Motors) severed codirectors for the Office of Production Management.

Legislative lobbying began to replace rank-and-file activism

Greater separation from membership as labor leadership develops

greater cooperation with management.

This also provided an excuse for a lack of militancy within leadership

making leadership less vulnerable to pressure from their own rankand-file.

Union leadership AFL and CIO pushed for speed ups and
reinforced the narrative the strikes were unpatriotic.

Strike!

Early on strikes were greatly reduced:

1941 4,288 strikes 2,360,000 involved - 23,000,000 man-days

lost
1942 2,968 strikes 840,000 involved - 4,180,000 man-days lost

By the summer of 1942 some labor leaders began to argue

that workers interests were being ignored.

Angered by the effects of the Little Steel formula - recognized

that rising prices justified wage adjustments, but limited inequity
increases to no more than 15% of the January, 1941 wage rate.
Formula did not match inflation costs. (Labor argued that costs
increased by 43%)

In addition, labor was also angered at the passing of the

Economic Stabilization Act, essentially freezing wages at
the level of September 15, 1942.

By 1943 A few unions - like the UMWA - began to defy the earlier pledges
engaging in a series of successful strikes 4 national strikes till FDR seized
the mines Govt neg. with UMWA victory for union.
1943 3,752 strikes 1,980,000 involved - 13,500,000 man-days lost.

UMWA strike led to the passing of the Smith-Connally Act - The Act
allowed the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened
by or under strikes that would interfere with war production, and prohibited
unions from making contributions in federal elections.
First Used: Philadelphia Transportation Company Strike (Sickout) White workers went
on strike in response to the hiring of black workers August 106, 1944.

Despite the UMWA most of labor still honored the no-strike agreement.

Faced with this united front of the government, employers, and their own
unions, workers developed the technique of quick, unofficial strikes
independent of and even against the union structure. (Wildcat strikes)

The number of such strikes began to rise in the summer of 1942, and by
1944, the last full year of the war; more strikes took place than in any
previous year in American history.
1944 4,956 strike 2,120,000 involved 8,720,000 man-days lost

Gender, Race and Labor

Due to the transitions into wartime production labor scarcity

superseded labor surplus.
1942-45 the highest level of full employment in American history
Workers had steady job, security of employment and rising real incomes

The need for labor led to the increase of African-American and

women in industries they previous had no access to.

Many women were not housewives coming out of their homes to aid
the war effort, but rather were coming out of low-wage jobs for
better pay and opportunity.
In 1940, women made up 25 percentof the workforce. Five years later
they made up 36 percent.

African-Americans left low-wage domestic unskilled and agricultural

jobs for more skilled and better-paying defense work.
As with WWI with the great migration, African-Americans migrated north
and west for opportunities. This time on a large scale (1915-18 350,000)
(1941-1945 three to five million.

White women found entry into better jobs easier than

black men and women. But it was understood by male
workers, their unions and the companies that women
were to stay in the industries only through the duration
of the war.

Thirty-one AFL affiliates barred black members, as did

the railroad brotherhoods.
Ex: International Association of Machinists barred blacks from
becoming members.

Saw them as an inferior group that would burden the union

Feared if they were allowed to join that southern white members would
secede from the union.

Many unions, including CIO organizations, had

segregated locals.

Even in the CIO white workers threaten to strike if black

received more skilled job.
UAW and UMWA fought for the rights of their black members,
embracing the heritage of the CIO.

1941 - A. Philip Randolph

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Threatened a march on Washington
and to bring "ten, twenty, fifty thousand
Negroes on the White House lawn.
Demand for good jobs and fair
employment Led to FDR to sign
Exec. Order 8802 - Fair Employment
Practices Commission prohibited racial
discrimination in the national defense
industries including unions and companies engaged in war-time production.

In 1945, 1.25 million African Americans

worked in manufacturing.

The heritage of discrimination against blacks and women in many unions

and the missed opportunities for broadening the appeal of the labor
movement would come back to haunt it in the decades that followed
World War II.
Perception that unions face was white and male.

After the War

Between 1940-45 Union membership rose from 9 million to

almost 15 million (27 percent to 36 percent); CIO doubled its
membership.

Presidents Murray and Green of the CIO and AFL signed a

"Charter of Industrial Peace" with Eric Johnston, president of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in March 1945. "It's Industrial Peace
for the Post-War Period!" read the front-page headline of C.I.O.
News

However
Conservative became alarmed over the growing power of labor
unions and its increasing involvement in politics.
In addition, as World War II drew to a close and millions of
workers faced unemployment with widespread layoffs, as well as a
reduction of hours, slashed and deflated wages and price inflation.
Attempts to resolve the issues with the National War Labor
Board failed.
Relationship between management and labor quickly unraveled.

The Strike Wave of 1945-46

In September 1945 43,000 petroleum workers and 200,000 coal workers

struck
In October 44,000 lumber workers, 70,000 teamsters and 40,000 machinists
joined them.
November UAW called its first major strike against GM since the company
unionized. 180,000 workers in GM plants across the country.

At the beginning of the new year (1946) over 2 million workers were on strike,
which included:
January 1946 - 174,000 electrical workers, 300,000 meatpackers, and 750,000
steelworkers.

April 1946 350,000 miners

May 1946 250,000 railroad engineers and trainmen nationwide
Dec 1946 - 120,000 miners, rail and steel workers in the Pittsburgh region

In total, 4.3 million workers participated in the strikes. According to labor

historian, Jeremy Brecher, it was "the closest thing to a national general strike of
industry in the twentieth century."

Backlash and the Taft-Hartley Act

The post-war strike wave ignited an offensive campaign from the anti-labor side.
The corporate community and their congressional allies unleashed a propaganda
campaign that portrayed labor as a selfish special interest that ill-served the
public.
The anti-union drive coalesced in 1946 around the demand for modification of
the Wagner Act (NLRA).
Arguing that the law only outlawed employer practices, leaving labor free to engage in
improper and coercive behavior.
Created an imbalance of power too far to the side of labor.

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

Outlawed unfair labor practices of unions

No secondary boycotts,
Right-to-work laws,
Company had the right agitate against unions,
Closed shop outlawed,
180 day cooling off period during a labor dispute that put imperil national health or
safety.
Required unions to give 60-days notice for the termination or modification of any
agreement.
Not allowed to make contributions or expend any of their funds in political campaigns
Officers were required to file affidavits that they were not members of the Communist
Party or of any organization supporting it.

Post-War & Cold War Hysteria

After the WWII it was clear that

tension between the US and the USSR
was going to shape the current and
future global landscape. This
increasingly became the central issue
of postwar American life.

Communist infiltration of U.S. trade

unions became the main topic of
conversation in the late 1940's.

Both the AFL and the CIO supported

the foreign policies of the government
- Truman Doctrine of containing
Soviet power via military and financial
aid to countries; favored the Marshall
Plan; defended Trumans reasons for
the conflict in Korea; and even took
funds from the CIA and helped
combat left-wing influences in the
labor movements in W. Germany,
France, Italy, Latin America and Third
World countries.

Since its beginning the CIO enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with
radicals since its founding in 1935.
Members of the communist union TUEL (Trade Union Education League) were recruited
into the CIO at the very beginning because of their politics.
Much of the leadership within the CIO had previous or current radical ties either with
TUEL, I.W.W., Communist Party or other radical political parties.

At first it opposed the language of the Taft-Hartley pertaining to communists in

leadership.

During the 1948 election, many on the far Left broke rank from the labor
leadership that supported Truman instead supporting Henry Wallace and the
Progressive Party. Especially in the CIO this was viewed as a betrayal of labors
interest (i.e., support of Truman/Democrats)

Following year at its national convention in 1949, the CIO revised its
constitution to make communists ineligible for executive office and to provide
for expulsion by a two-thirds vote any affiliate following the communist line.

This act ultimately undermined the more militant tendencies within the labor
movement and cemented the more institutionalized and mainstream aspects of
the labor movement. Moving away from movement-based labor to more of a
business model.