Labor Unions SP10

The Purpose of Unions

conflicts

Labor Unions in the United States are the means in which the working class can fight against the conflicts of the capitalist system. It must be established that capitalism is a system of conflicts; in fact, conflict is one of the driving forces in Capitalism. One of conflict of focus is between the working class and the owning class. These two groups are set against each other because they are striving for opposing goals [1]. The owning or capitalist class is looking to secure more profit in order to grow. Therefore, they always attempt to pay the lowest wage for the highest amount of labor time. Yet, the working class is striving to work the least amount of hours while obtain the highest possible wages, in an effort to advance their position in society [2]. However, historically this struggle has not been an even one. Since Capitalists’ are the owners of the means of production, they have an intrinsic advantage because they have control over the workers’ wages, hours, and benefits and usually are able to overpower any individual worker.

How Unions Work

When a union is able to form between those in the working class, their ability to change their position as subordinates to the owning class becomes possible. A union is a group of workers who unite in order to advance their situation in the work place. As Karl Marx stated in 1875, “It is altogether self-evident that, to be able to fight at all, the working class must organize itself as a class…” [3] What Karl Marx is trying to explain is the power of the owning class is overwhelming because they own the property, the facilities and the product being produced. However if the working class can unite in an effort to secure certain goals they can become quite powerful. Since they are the ones doing the physical work in the factory the workers keep the businesses going and therefore, as a group, have the ability to stop working and cause the capitalist to lose profits. This can be devastating to any capitalist endeavor and ideally will cause him to negotiate with the workers for a better wage and better hours. Yet, it is not that simple because when the workers stop working, they are not being paid and the working class cannot survive long with out their wages. This means that in order for workers to gain anything through forming a union and striking, they must also make great sacrifices and risk their livelihood.[4]

Rise of Unions in the United States

The Labor movement first began in 1872 in Philadelphia with the founding of what is called the Knights of St. Crispin. This was a group of radical laborers whose “membership mounted to 40,000 or 50,000, whereas the next largest unions of the time claimed only 10,000 to 12,000.”[5] Such movements were motivated by the complete lack of regulation of the capitalist system as well as no laws that prohibited social discrimination or exploitation. [6] This meant that the working class at the time was living in such horrible conditions that they were became radicalized. This is a very important aspect in the rise of labor unions because until conditions became horrible for the working class, no one thought to create a union. [7] The United States did however, have the advantage of looking at other countries industrial revolutions and realizing that capitalism is very exploitative and therefore, unions are a necessity for the working class to establish, before conditions become unbearable. Through out the 1900s the labor unions slowly gained power, mostly due to an influx in immigration during the time. [8] These immigrants were heavily exploited and impoverished. Yet, because the idea of unions had already been established in other countries, Americans were able to form unions like the Knights of St. Crispin, the National Labor Union and the Knights of Labor. [9]

Prominent Unions throughout History

AFL

The AFL or American Labor Federation was formed out of a dispute with the Knights of Labor. The founders of the ALF claimed that the Knights of Labor’s anti-strike policies were detrimental to certain workers and that capitalist firms were taking advantage of the fact that those workers part of the Knights of Labor were not going to strike. Once the AFL became an official union, which was willing to strike, they established support through out the country. Eventually, under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, the AFL became one of the most popular unions in the country. As the AFL became better known, they also solidified their stance as very anti-communist, which angered some labor unionist and others on the left who were working for the working class. [10]

CIO

The CIO or Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed out of a dispute with the AFL in 1936. Their dispute was over inclusion of different types of laborers who many felt were under represented. While under the leadership of John L. Lewis, the CIO became a union whose focus was on inclusion of anyone who wished to advance the cause of the working class. One example of this was when the CIO’s inclusive policies was when it organized strikes with the help of several well known communist groups throughout America. During World War Two the CIO was the peak of its power and established factions all over the country among many different craftsmen. However, as the war ended the CIO became increasing more anti-communist, as that was national attitude at the time. However, once this began it became clear that the CIO would need to rejoin the AFL, which it did in 1956.[11]

Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor began as a secrete society in the late 1860s. They were inspired to declare themselves a union from the actions of the National Labor Union, although their organization actually began slightly before the National Labor Union. The Knights of Labor was revolutionary in the fact that they were not discriminatory against African American workers. The mission of the Knights of Labor is as follows:

“We believe that the Knights of Labor [KoL] were on the right path of organizing Labor and in the justice of their economic and social demands. Three factors, uniquely distinguish the KoL from other labor unions. First, the Knights of Labor called for the creation of a single labor union for skilled and un-skilled workers alike to strengthen the Union against all opposition. Second, the Knights strongly opposed to the use of the strike. Strikes lead to misery and hardship for workers, and as history proves -- ultimate defeat. Thirdly, the Knights' goal was to establish co-operative businesses owned and operated by members of the union.” [12]

The practices and the goals the Knights of Labor established were not just influential to every union thereafter. However, there were aspects of the knights of Labor that were quite controversial and are rejected today. The main example of this is the Knights of Labor’s anti-strike ideas. They believe that strikes hurt the worker, yet they do not establish any type of forceful method in which a union asserts its opinions. [13]

National Labor Union

The National Labor Union formed in 1866 and dissolved in 1873. Although this Union was short lived, it was the first official union of the industrial revolution in America. The National Labor Union was critical in establishing what could be achieved when workers form a union. With out the creation of the National Union in the 1860 is many other unions would not have been able to form. The reason for the dissolving of this union was its overly complex system of selecting leaders as well as a very volatile economic climate in the 1870s. [14]

Knights of St. Crispin

The Knights of St. Crispin were a group of radical skilled laborers who stood against the unfair labor practices of capitalists in 1867. The member of this early union advocated for a complete abolition of child labor and for a better living wage. By 1870, this union had about 50,000 members and was by far the largest union in the United States. However, soon after it became so large it disintegrated due to racist activities against Chinese workers and weak leadership. [15]

AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO is the merging of the AFL and CIO into one union. The merging of these two powerful unions in 1953 made the AFL CIO one of the most powerful Unions in the country and controlled vast numbers of laborers. Today the AFL-CIO remains a prominent and although it is often criticized for not being radical enough it certainly has proven that it will always be one of the strongest unions in America.[16]

UMW

The United Mine Workers began in 1890 in Ohio. Originally, these miners were a part of the Knights of Labor but due to their anti-strike policies the coal miners chose to form their own union. Coal mining was one of the most dangerous and difficult jobs in the United States and because of this the workers involved knew that they needed a union in order to make better their already arduous job. Luckily for the United Mine Workers their leadership was superb. Both Mother Jones herself and the famed John L. Lewis were major leaders of the UMW and brought the coal miners cause on to the national spot light. The UMW peaked during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, were the UMW’s leaders were able to have their voices herd by the federal government. [17]

Labor Unions and the Great Depression

As the Great Depression ravaged the United States, all aspects of life seemed bleak. There was no money to be made anywhere. At first, unions were even having trouble growing there it was more of a priority to get a job then to worry about if that job was unionized. However, that was to change when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to office. [18] It was clear to President Roosevelt that the lives of the working class in the United States needed to be better and that meant unions were going to be encouraged by the federal government for the first time. One way Roosevelt did this by proposing and eventually passing the National Labor Relations Act or NLRA of 1935. [19] The goal of this act was to force companies into paying higher wages to workers while also offering them substantially more job security. In other words, “Roosevelt believed that the severity of the Depression was due to excessive business competition that reduced prices and wages, which in turn lowered demand and employment.” [20] Therefore, the NLRA was an effort to “(limit) competition and allow labor to capture some of those rents(money) by exempting industry from antitrust prosecution if the industry immediately raised wages and accepted collective bargaining with labor unions.”[21] It is clear that the volatile economic times of the Great Depression created not only the right climate for workers to become angry and demand change but it also sent a message to the federal government. That if the country was going to recover then the struggles of the working class must be recognized and under Roosevelt, those struggles became a major focus of his presidency. What Roosevelt also did for unions in the United States was lay the ground for them to have a strong set of legal supports, which would make the United States have large, unified and active unions for years to come.[22]

The fall of Unions in the United States

As time progressed and the global economy became a more prevalent part of the United States economy, unions began to lose power. [23] As authors, James Crotty, Gerald Epstein, and Patricia Kelly argue in their most recent book Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy:

“The corporate attack on labor was multidimensional. It include, among other things, war on unions, political support for stripping workers of their legal rights, the widespread use of replacement workers during strikes for the first time in the post-World War II era, outsourcing, and FDI [foreign direct investment].” [24]

The rise of Neo-liberal ideas in America has caused a backlash against unions. Such anti-union views have also been greatly perpetuated by Republican president Ronald Reagan. An example of Reagan’s anti-union strategies was to:

“First, in the summer of 1981, striking air-traffic controllers were dismissed by President Reagan and non-union employees were hired as replacements. This event held out as demonstrating a new strategy of employer oppositions to industrial action. Second, in the 12 months following the election, two seats on the five-seat National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) were filled by Reagan appointments. These and subsequent appointments to the Labor Board were to establish a solid pro-managements majority that expanded employers' rights to oppose union organizing.” [25]

In other words, Reagan used his position as President of the United States to weaken the connection between unions and the federal government, which was previously established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. [26] Reagan’s efforts have since greatly weakened the power unions have to advocate for their workers. He both legally and organizationally weakened all unions in the United States and to this day union participation is extremely low compared to other industrialized countries.

Labor Unions and Social Justice

Labor Unions are particularly complex in their relation to social justice. This is because the idea of labor unions and the reality of labor unions are very different. On an ideal level, labor unions are the strongest and most well organized way for the working class to combat our oppressive capitalist system. Unions are literally the ultimate examples of what a unified majority can do. Throughout their existence unions have been able provide health benefits, higher wages and better working hours to many of their employees. With out unions in place the workers would be powerless to advocate for themselves. We can also see that when unions are seen favorably by the general population and by the federal government, they can achieve long lasting and significant benefits for all members of the working class. However, unions have also had crippling problems, which has lead to their current day woes. At first, unions had significant problems with racism. [27] Many unions during the turn of the century and up until the civil rights movement of the 1960s did not allow African American workers into their unions. [28] This caused great resentment among the African American community, who felt that they would most benefit from union membership and yet, because of their exclusion they were placed into the very situations which unions were meant to prevent. [29] Such racism directly conflicts with the goal of establishing a socially just society, because racism, just like class, creates hierarchy and therefore exploitation in a capitalist society. Another problem with unions is their politics. Many criticize unions for aligning too much with the Democratic Party in the United States, although the Democrats are more favorable of labor unions than the Republican party, they are not as committed as many would like. This is because the Democratic Party is very associated with large corporations and neo-liberal economic ideas, which are primarily beneficial to the owning class. Over all we can establish that the very concept of unions was a very important step in the goal of achieving a socially just society. There are many examples of unions fighting tirelessly for the rights of their working class members. However, recently unions have become less popular, several presidential administrations have had anti-union policies and the global economy is only becoming stronger, making the future for unions seem quite grim.