Week 3

1. 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…

2. 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 competitionbetween self interested workers competing in the labor market • Organized or Regulated Capitalism • Unions organize individual workers to cooperatewith other workers to collectively make demands on management • Wages, hours and working conditions set by negotiationbetween employer and union…a contest of power

3. 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…

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. More or Less Solidarity • Free Market Capitalism… • Price of labor set by competitionbetween 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 cooperatewith other workers to collectively make demands on management • Cooperation requires solidarity…but what should it be based on?

7. Choices emerge… • Different unions will disagree about what the basis of solidarity should be and about the strategy for unions • Lets explore…

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 unionsof 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 capitalismand the creation of a new cooperative society without private ownership and wage labor

11. 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)

12. American Federation of Labor.. • OK…IWW wants you to help abolish capitalism… • What, if anything, do you know about the AFL’sstrategy? • Hint: Who has more power in the labor market…an brain surgeon or a cafeteria worker? Why?

13. AFL… • Focus on organizing skilled craft workersbecause 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

14. 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…”

15. AFL

16. 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…

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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?

22. 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)

23. 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…

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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.”

27. Not just a strike…a war… class war • Video clip on Ludlow Colorado

28. 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.

30. 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

31. Conditions are Intolerable • “We cannot endure another winter of hardship such as we are passing through.” • Republican Governor of Washington

32. 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?

33. 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

34. 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?

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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?

38. 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)…

39. 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

40. 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 bargainingand 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.”

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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

46. AFL Craft Unions • Divide workers in one car factory into 13 separate craft unions. • Try to bargain separately… • Ignore the unskilled, women, Blacks, immigrants

47. 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

48. 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

49. 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.

50. 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.