CIO
HSTAA 353 CLASS AND LABOR IN AMERICAN HISTORY LECTURE OUTLINES
Week 7 (Outlines are listed at left in order given)
The 1930s "Big Bang": Capitalism Rebalanced; Labor's Giant Step GREAT DEPRESSION: from virtuous productivity cycle to vicious deflation cycle, 1929-1933 FILM: “A Job at Fords” WASHINGTON IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S NEW DEAL Emergency spending for relief; infrastructure development Regulation of banking/ monetary system Rearranges tax system Social insurance for elderly and unemployed Rights for workers and unions REGULATION AND RETREAT Glass-Steagall Banking Act 1933; Gramm-Leach repeal 1999 Securities Exchange Act 1933: Bernie Madoff National Industrial Recovery Act: problem of the courts POLITICS OF REFORM: new Democratic party, new political participation, checks and “imbalances” in governmental systems THE WAGNER (NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS) ACT 1935 Unionization by election, mandatory bargaining, workplace democracy, NLRB enforcement
1890s-1930s Corporate Capitalism (large corporations, little regulation)
Leading sectors: agriculture; consumer goods Market conditions: closed domestic market; high productivity Key institutions and legal conditions: corporations (dominant form of enterprise with wide legal rights) contract & property rights (unlimited) public social services (emerging: mostly educational services) unions (important in big cities, weak elsewhere, contingent legality) immigration (massive, lightly regulated, still mostly from Europe)
1930s-1970s Balanced Capitalism (increased regulation & government services)
Leading sectors: consumer goods; defense industries Market conditions: weak international competition; high productivity Key institutions and legal conditions: corporations (dominant form of enterprise now regulated) contract & property rights (balanced with workplace rights & civil rights-after 1964) public social services (expanding: pensions, job & health programs) unions (important throughout blue-collar sectors, now supported by law) immigration (greatly reduced and heavily restricted)
GDP and Employment statistics
Herbert Hoover Administration policy blunders: -tightens credit to defend Gold Standard -balances budget and cuts spending -Congress passes Smoot-Hawley tarif By late 1932: GDP drops 25%; 25 % unemployed in US, maybe 35% in Washington State
Homeless camp near Alaska Way
Recovery programs: infrastructure development
Government and politics reorganized 1932-1938 •New voters •New party system •New labor movement •New ethos of government •New tax system
public works project, Pioneer Square, 1934
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S NEW DEAL: Rebalancing Capitalism -FDR in office 1933-1945 -Key reform era 1933-1937 -Reforms based on liberal Democrats in control of Congress; elected with Labor support; strike waves and protests -Reforms compromised more radical proposals
KEY NEW DEAL AGENDAS 1933-1937 -Emergency spending for relief; infrastructure development -Regulation of banking/ monetary system -Rearranges tax system (income tax, inheritance tax) -Social insurance for elderly and unemployed -Rights for workers and unions
Regulation and retreat: Glass-Steagall Act 1933, Gramm-Leach Act 1999
Regulation and retreat: Securities and Exchange Act 1933
The Age of the CIO 1935-1955 1934 STRIKE WAVE: unions recover, new burst of activism COMMITTEE FOR INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION (CIO) 1935-37 -John L. Lewis vs Wm. Hutcheson and Wm. Green -industrial unionism vs craft unionism -victories over General Motors, US Steel 1937, others CIO FORMULAS: Social Democratic unionism -industrial unionism -social democratic unionism -civil rights unionism -role for radicals CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS: 1937-1954 - AFL expels CIO unions -CIO changes name -labor’s civil war
Film: “With Babies and Banners: The Women’s Emergency Brigade”
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT (WAGNER ACT), 1935 -Unionization by election -Mandatory bargaining -Principal of workplace democracy
Sen. Robert Wagner
1934 STRIKE WAVE: unions recover, new burst of activism
Left: San Francisco general strike; Above: Woolworth workers strike
COMMITTEE FOR INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION (CIO) 1935-37 -John L. Lewis vs Wm. Hutcheson and Wm Green -industrial unionism vs craft unionism
John L. Lewis (CIO) and William Green (AFL)
CIO FORMULAS: Social Democratic Unionism -investing in politics -increasing the “social wage”
CIO FORMULAS -civil rights unionism -role for radicals
Above: Seattle Communist Party protest 1934
Middle: International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike 1940s
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS: 1937-1954 - AFL expels CIO unions -CIO changes name -labor’s civil war
AFL and CIO membership 1900-1950 year AFL unions CIO unions independent 1900 548 243 1910 1,562 554 1920 4,079 955 1930 2,961 671 1940 4,247 3,625 1,072 1950 8,494 3,713 2,616 Membership figures in thousands
total 791 2,116 5,034 3,632 8,944 14,823
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Japanese logging crew, Camp #1, Schafer Bothers Logging Co., c. 1930s
Longshoremen march in Seattle Labor Day parade, c. 1930s
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
The Coming of the CIO
Timber Worker, July 9, 1937
Harold Pritchett (left) and Harry Bridges (right) shake hands after the IWA is inducted into the CIO, July, 1937.
“I’d say that Harry had an integrity that was recognized by workers. He was interested in having a democratically run union, and he never lost touch with the rank-andfile.” —Sam Kagel, ILWU Pacific Coast arbitrator
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Labor’s Civil War Comes to the Northwest
Timber Worker, August 13, 1937
“If the bosses had to have a union they preferred the AFL. They couldn’t maneuver the CIO like they could the AFL. They were terrified of the CIO.” IWA Women’s Auxiliary members hold the picket line during the Portland lockout. Timber Worker, September 18, 1937.
—Julia Ruttila, President Portland IWA Women’s Auxiliary,
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Social and Political Activism
Timber Worker, July 21, 1939
“The forests are the heritage of our people, and should be used for our people, and capitalism, whether it is small or large, has no place in the administration of the natural wealth of this Province.” —BC Lumber Worker, November, 1940
ILWU members at Seattle orphanage
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Legacies
Earl George, president, Seattle ILWU local
Members of Seattle’s ILWU Local 19 march in WTO protests, November, 1999
HSTAA 353 HOME PAGE Click above to return to HSTAA 353home page
Week 7 (Outlines are listed at left in order given)
The 1930s "Big Bang": Capitalism Rebalanced; Labor's Giant Step GREAT DEPRESSION: from virtuous productivity cycle to vicious deflation cycle, 1929-1933 FILM: “A Job at Fords” WASHINGTON IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S NEW DEAL Emergency spending for relief; infrastructure development Regulation of banking/ monetary system Rearranges tax system Social insurance for elderly and unemployed Rights for workers and unions REGULATION AND RETREAT Glass-Steagall Banking Act 1933; Gramm-Leach repeal 1999 Securities Exchange Act 1933: Bernie Madoff National Industrial Recovery Act: problem of the courts POLITICS OF REFORM: new Democratic party, new political participation, checks and “imbalances” in governmental systems THE WAGNER (NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS) ACT 1935 Unionization by election, mandatory bargaining, workplace democracy, NLRB enforcement
1890s-1930s Corporate Capitalism (large corporations, little regulation)
Leading sectors: agriculture; consumer goods Market conditions: closed domestic market; high productivity Key institutions and legal conditions: corporations (dominant form of enterprise with wide legal rights) contract & property rights (unlimited) public social services (emerging: mostly educational services) unions (important in big cities, weak elsewhere, contingent legality) immigration (massive, lightly regulated, still mostly from Europe)
1930s-1970s Balanced Capitalism (increased regulation & government services)
Leading sectors: consumer goods; defense industries Market conditions: weak international competition; high productivity Key institutions and legal conditions: corporations (dominant form of enterprise now regulated) contract & property rights (balanced with workplace rights & civil rights-after 1964) public social services (expanding: pensions, job & health programs) unions (important throughout blue-collar sectors, now supported by law) immigration (greatly reduced and heavily restricted)
GDP and Employment statistics
Herbert Hoover Administration policy blunders: -tightens credit to defend Gold Standard -balances budget and cuts spending -Congress passes Smoot-Hawley tarif By late 1932: GDP drops 25%; 25 % unemployed in US, maybe 35% in Washington State
Homeless camp near Alaska Way
Recovery programs: infrastructure development
Government and politics reorganized 1932-1938 •New voters •New party system •New labor movement •New ethos of government •New tax system
public works project, Pioneer Square, 1934
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S NEW DEAL: Rebalancing Capitalism -FDR in office 1933-1945 -Key reform era 1933-1937 -Reforms based on liberal Democrats in control of Congress; elected with Labor support; strike waves and protests -Reforms compromised more radical proposals
KEY NEW DEAL AGENDAS 1933-1937 -Emergency spending for relief; infrastructure development -Regulation of banking/ monetary system -Rearranges tax system (income tax, inheritance tax) -Social insurance for elderly and unemployed -Rights for workers and unions
Regulation and retreat: Glass-Steagall Act 1933, Gramm-Leach Act 1999
Regulation and retreat: Securities and Exchange Act 1933
The Age of the CIO 1935-1955 1934 STRIKE WAVE: unions recover, new burst of activism COMMITTEE FOR INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION (CIO) 1935-37 -John L. Lewis vs Wm. Hutcheson and Wm. Green -industrial unionism vs craft unionism -victories over General Motors, US Steel 1937, others CIO FORMULAS: Social Democratic unionism -industrial unionism -social democratic unionism -civil rights unionism -role for radicals CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS: 1937-1954 - AFL expels CIO unions -CIO changes name -labor’s civil war
Film: “With Babies and Banners: The Women’s Emergency Brigade”
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT (WAGNER ACT), 1935 -Unionization by election -Mandatory bargaining -Principal of workplace democracy
Sen. Robert Wagner
1934 STRIKE WAVE: unions recover, new burst of activism
Left: San Francisco general strike; Above: Woolworth workers strike
COMMITTEE FOR INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION (CIO) 1935-37 -John L. Lewis vs Wm. Hutcheson and Wm Green -industrial unionism vs craft unionism
John L. Lewis (CIO) and William Green (AFL)
CIO FORMULAS: Social Democratic Unionism -investing in politics -increasing the “social wage”
CIO FORMULAS -civil rights unionism -role for radicals
Above: Seattle Communist Party protest 1934
Middle: International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike 1940s
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS: 1937-1954 - AFL expels CIO unions -CIO changes name -labor’s civil war
AFL and CIO membership 1900-1950 year AFL unions CIO unions independent 1900 548 243 1910 1,562 554 1920 4,079 955 1930 2,961 671 1940 4,247 3,625 1,072 1950 8,494 3,713 2,616 Membership figures in thousands
total 791 2,116 5,034 3,632 8,944 14,823
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Japanese logging crew, Camp #1, Schafer Bothers Logging Co., c. 1930s
Longshoremen march in Seattle Labor Day parade, c. 1930s
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
The Coming of the CIO
Timber Worker, July 9, 1937
Harold Pritchett (left) and Harry Bridges (right) shake hands after the IWA is inducted into the CIO, July, 1937.
“I’d say that Harry had an integrity that was recognized by workers. He was interested in having a democratically run union, and he never lost touch with the rank-andfile.” —Sam Kagel, ILWU Pacific Coast arbitrator
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Labor’s Civil War Comes to the Northwest
Timber Worker, August 13, 1937
“If the bosses had to have a union they preferred the AFL. They couldn’t maneuver the CIO like they could the AFL. They were terrified of the CIO.” IWA Women’s Auxiliary members hold the picket line during the Portland lockout. Timber Worker, September 18, 1937.
—Julia Ruttila, President Portland IWA Women’s Auxiliary,
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Social and Political Activism
Timber Worker, July 21, 1939
“The forests are the heritage of our people, and should be used for our people, and capitalism, whether it is small or large, has no place in the administration of the natural wealth of this Province.” —BC Lumber Worker, November, 1940
ILWU members at Seattle orphanage
Loggers and Longshoremen The CIO in the Pacific Northwest
Legacies
Earl George, president, Seattle ILWU local
Members of Seattle’s ILWU Local 19 march in WTO protests, November, 1999
HSTAA 353 HOME PAGE Click above to return to HSTAA 353home page
