No Strength Without Unions?
Background

History shows that while we have all "labored," most American workers have not been represented by unions. Throughout the country, the height of unions came in 1954 and at that time, only 35 percent of workers were union members. Now only about 18 percent belong to unions. That is not to say, though, that labor organizations did not influence workers, business and the economy. In many respects, unions inspired the working-class and improved class structure among the poor. Unions have also brought about reform in business practices regarding employees. The impact of unions also extends into the personal lives of workers, providing social interaction.

Early Unions
One of the earliest national labor unions, The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, was formed in 1869. The Knights hoped to organize all working men and women into a single union. Generally, they did not believe in strikes, and higher wages was not their primary goal. Instead, under the leadership of Terence Powderly, the Knights sought to improve society by ending child labor, instituting an eight-hour workday, and giving equal pay for equal work. However, by the end of the 19th century, and after a series of violent strikes such as the Haymarket Strike, the Knights had largely disappeared.

In the decades before World War I, numerous craft unions appeared and grew strong enough to win wage increases and workplace benefits for skilled laborers. In 1886, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was formed in Columbus, Ohio, to unite these skilled workers. While the AFL did not welcome unskilled or industrial workers, it still grew. By 1904, its national membership had reached 1.675 million. Some of its success may have resulted from the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, which attempted to limit trade or commerce caused by trusts—conglomerates of companies that operated as a single unit and thus often made huge profits. However, with labor's success came opposition: Employers organized an "open shop" policy and convinced most of the American public that trade unions such as the AFL violated the American tradition of free enterprise and were costly to the public. What's more, the federal government failed to strictly enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act, so large conglomerates continued operating.

Some unionists became dissatisfied with the AFL because of its inability to handle employer problems and because it excluded certain types of workers. The Industrial Workers of the World, a more militant socialist organization, formed in 1905 and attracted unskilled workers. In 1913, for example, the IWW rubber workers in Akron, Ohio, staged a walkout that eventually turned into a violent clash between police and strikers. (The Socialist party was so well received in Ohio that in 1912, it gained more than 90,000 votes for Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist presidential candidate.) Although the IWW Akron strike didn't achieve any results for the workers, many other IWW and AFL efforts were successful. By 1917, the AFL claimed it had helped boost the average wage for skilled workers by 60 percent, and that average hours worked per week had dropped by 20 percent over the last 30 years.

Unions in the Early 20th Century
World War I greatly changed labor/management relations across the nation and in Ohio. Because the federal government wanted to increase production of war goods, it tried to build a good relationship with the more moderate AFL. President Woodrow Wilson created a War Labor Board, chaired by Ohioan William Howard Taft, which granted the eight-hour workday. While the board did not force employers to recognize or bargain with independent trade unions, AFL union membership continued increasing throughout the 1920s. The IWW, however, did not fare as well. Because of its radical tactics, the IWW was labeled Communist and fell into disfavor.

The 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression took a heavy toll on the labor movement. With 15 million Americans unemployed by 1933, unions simply struggled to maintain their membership and didn't try to gain political influence. Labor didn't make significant strides until 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his New Deal program to provide relief to America's unemployed. That year the National Industrial Recovery Act—which guaranteed workers the right to organize their own unions and bargain collectively - was passed. This act spread rank-and-file demand for unionism throughout the nation.

Even with the NIRA in force, the AFL—labor's most powerful organization—made only limited progress. Employers continued to resist change, and the federal government refused to administer the NIRA as it was intended. In fact, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that the NIRA was unconstitutional. The AFL's exclusion of industrial workers also hampered progress. Because the AFL resisted industrial organization, a movement within the AFL—known as the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) and later the Congress for Industrial Organization—emerged. The formation of the CIO and the passing of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) of 1935 led to tremendous growth in the late 1930s. The United Automobile Workers, the United Rubber Workers, and the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (later known as the United Steel Workers) gained hundred of thousands of members. Between 1940 and 1945, union membership grew from 9 million to 15 million, and 7 million new jobs were created. Although women and blacks were generally excluded from unions, they were able to enter the workforce in greater numbers than before.

Unions after World War II
Even with this growth in union membership, the AFL conceded to a no-strike pledge and a moratorium on wage increases despite huge wartime profits in industry. Furthermore, mandatory overtime had become common in most industries. Because the AFL refused to negotiate better conditions, many workers staged wildcat strikes. Nearly 5,000 work stoppages occurred in 1945 alone, and these disruptive strikes angered many Congressional leaders. Led by Ohio Sen. Robert A. Taft, Congress in 1947 passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which required union officials to sign pledges stating they were not Communists, and outlawed jurisdictional strikes between two unions and the closed shop. The act also called for an 80-day cooling-off period in conflicts involving issues of national welfare and forbade unions to contribute to political campaigns.

The Taft-Hartley Act spawned a revival of labor's political activities and the 1955 merger of the AFL and the CIO. George Meany of the AFL was president and Walter Reuther of the CIO was president of the industrial department. This new organization was not entirely successful, and some aspects were found to be corrupt; in 1957, the Teamsters were expelled from the AFL-CIO after an investigation exposed widespread corruption in the Teamsters Union. (The Teamsters Union was formed in 1903 and its primary members are truck drivers. Since 1940, the Teamsters has been the single largest private-sector union in the country.)

The corruption found within the Teamsters Union led, in large part, to the passage of the Landrum-Griffin Act two years later, which further limited union organization by providing for the regulation of internal union affairs, particularly regarding union funds. In addition, this act provides some measure of protection to union workers against abuses by a bill of rights that includes guarantees of freedom of speech and periodic secret elections.

Since the 1960s, the United States has faced major changes in the workforce and in the nature of work. More women and blacks have gained jobs. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed to reduce discrimination against women and blacks in the workforce. Because of increased technological advances beginning in the early 1970s, tens of thousands of steel, automobile, and rubber workers lost their union jobs. Since the 1970s, the United States has been moving from a manufacturing to a service economy; fewer Americans are being employed in the mass production of goods. Civil service jobs, pink-collar jobs, and civil service unions have grown dramatically in the last few decades.

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