Trade Unions and Labour Rights

Question 1

Overall judgement on position of TU & workers rights through the period?

Answer 1

Though there were improvements since 1865, TUs & Workers still required greater improvements by the 1990s.

Question 2

Overall judgement on FG role/attitude towards workers & unions?

Answer 2

• More so in opposition to Trade Unions and Labour rights, often using extreme violence, especially pre-WW1, to crush unions which inhibited progress in terms of recognition, right to action and improving pay and conditions,
• Despite slight periods of Government support, these were concentrated to the 1930s and 1960s which were quickly reneged on esp. by the 80s.
• This harsh reaction to union strikes reestablished the Federal Government’s vehement opposition to unions and returned the unions back to a state of inferiority. Therefore, in spite of short-lived periods of progress, by the end of the period Federal Governments had more or less maintained a position of opposition to the progression of Labour Rights.

Question 3

Evidence demonstrating the FG opposition to TU right to exist

Answer 3

Period characterised by a series of violent suppression of strike action
- Great Railroad Strike 1877 in which 25 were killed, Haymarket affair 1886, homestead strike 1892 & Pullman strike 1894 – all were met with violent suppression from federal troops = FG unwilling to recog. unions

• Opposition legitimised through legal cases/SC rulings: Adair v. Us 1908 ruling that prevented the banning of yellow-dog contracts, forcing workers to abandon union movements & Taft-Hartley Act 1947 reversed Wagner’s gains = allowed states to pass ‘right to work’ laws.= again govt legislation infringing on right to join unions.
• By the end of the period fed. Govt support for unions right to exist was relatively limited as Reagan’s use of the Taft Hartley act legislation to crush the 1981 PATCO strikes, firing 11,000 workers firmly cemented the us govts attitude towards unions, returning to a state of unwillingness to cooperate.

Question 4

Evidence of FG support of TU right to exist

Answer 4

• ‘New Deal’ era = TP? in fed. Govt attitudes as more liberal acts began to be passed
• Wagner act (1935) legally recognised unions and workers right to unionise
• Exec. Order 10988 of 1962 which similarly granted fed employers right to unionise, formally recognising union right to exist

BUT this ‘support’ for unions was short lived.

Question 5

Evidence of FG opposition to right to strike

Answer 5

• Haymarket affair (1886) when federal troops were sent in to quell the unionists
• Ludlow Massacre (1914) with federal troops intervening in resistance to the strikers ult. killing 25.

Then witnessed a move to restrictive legislation rather than overt violence:
- Steel strike act of 1959 & the PATCO strike of 1981 as both times presidents Eisenhower and Reagan invoked the Taft-Hartley act to crush union strikes, symbolising the lack of progress in fed govt attitude as the severe crushing of these strikes revealed the constancy of the govts unwillingness to recog. Strike action.

Question 6

FG support of right to strike

Answer 6

• New Deal Era as a ST TP:
• Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932) restricted the use of court injunctions against strikes, allowing for more successful strikes like the Flint Sit-Down Strike (1936-7) when the government refrained from sending troops
• Nat. Lab. Relations Board est. in 1938 = Govt began to recognise that there was a need to coop.

Question 7

FG opposed to improving Pay & Conditions

Answer 7

• ignorance of strikes and violent reactions sig. prevented the fight for improved pay & conditions.
• Haymarket affair 1886, railroad strikes of 1946 when Truman threatened to draft workers & PATCO strike 1980 = all strikes were crushed by govt. and resulted in no significant changes in conditions – federal government opposition to cooperating with unions ultimately prevented them from advocating for and achieving benefits.

Question 8

Evidence of FG supported improving Pay & Conditions

Answer 8

• Grant’s 1869 8hr work-day & Adamson Act (1916) which established an 8-hour workday and additional overtime pay BUT both were limited as they only affected specific groups; federal workers and interstate railroad workers respectively.
• The ‘New Deal’ era, the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) established the minimum wage and overtime pay to a broader range of workers; indicating a period of federal government support & sim. ‘progressive’ Equal pay act of (1963) & OSHA the occupational safety & health association est. 1970 showing that there were lapses in the fed govts cutthroat opposition to tu rights

Question 9

What was the Lochner v. New York (1905) act & what was its impact in terms of union rights.

Answer 9

The SC ruled against state laws limiting working hours, acting as a rather major setback in terms of union attempts to increase and improve their pay and conditions rights.

Question 10

What was Kennedy’s executive order 10988 in 1962 & what was its impact in terms of unions & workers rights.

Answer 10

Presidential recognition of workers right to unionise & engage in collective bargaining. This was hugely significant in terms of a renewed formal recognition of union right to exist.

UNDERMINE: Potentially only a reaction to the economic situation
SYNTHESIS: Some sustained attempts at increasing the recognition of union right to exist through the introduction of legislature: Wagner Act 1935 was landmark in formally recognising union right to exist, Kennedy’s executive order compounded and strengthened this.

Question 11

What was the Wagner Act 1935 and what was its impact in terms of union rights?

Answer 11

Highly important as legally recognised union right to exist = landmark event for TUs because demonstrated that the FG was becoming somewhat more progressive, moving away from its vicious persecution and crushing of TU action.

UNDERMINE: The Wagner act was a component of Roosevelt’s New Deal, thus its motivations may not have been rooted in a conscious desire to improve Trade union rights but actually to bolster the US’ faltering economy in the face of the Great Depression - TU rights were an afterthought.

Impact was relatively short-lived? The Wagner act, whilst being of great symbolic importance was still rather weak in that the FG continued to persecute TUs and workers & returned to9 its more violent approach, using restrictive legislative measures to quell unions rather than explicit violence: the creation of the Taft-Hartley act 1947 = severely restricted union activities banning secondary boycotts and closed shops, and allowing states to pass “right-to-work” laws, which undermined unions’ ability to gain widespread recognition. = Presidents invoked T-H to quell unions: Steel strike of 1959 & the PATCO strike of 1981 as Eisenhower and Reagan invoked the Taft-Hartley act to crush union strikes, symbolising the lack of progress in fed govt attitude as the severe crushing of these strikes revealed the constancy of the govts unwillingness to recog. Strike action.

Question 12

What was Coppage v. Kansas (1915) & what was its impact in terms of union rights.

Answer 12

Demonstrative of the SC’s vicious opposition to unions right to exist as allowed employers to introduce ‘yellow-dog’ contracts which forbade employees from joining unions = severely limiting TU pressurising power.

Question 13

Trade unions: importance in improving their right to exist

Answer 13

• Unimportant:
  Despite acting as a pressuring force, consistently limited by the fact that their strike action often failed. & often further weakened by their inability to unite.

PATCO strike

• Important: