Soc3945: Outline--Week Ten

Sociology 3901: Outline--Week Ten

I. The American Working Class and the Labor Movement

A. Pre-1930s.

1. Radical unions. Knights of Labor, Western Federation of Miners, International Workers of the World (IWW--their whole leadership imprisoned during World War II)

Mother Jones

2. American Federation of Labor. Craft unions, not industrial unions. Not welcoming to the "new immigrants" and certainly not to blacks and Mexican-Americnas.

3. Role of the state: Injunctions, yellow dog contracts, police and national guard

B. The Great Depression (1929-1942)

1. Norris LaGuardia Act (1932)

1933 and 1934: a wave of violent strikes, including in Minnesota, the Teamster's strike of 1933... for the first time, a governor (Floyd Olson) intervened on behalf of the strikers... highly publicized congressional hearings, headed by New York Senator Robert Wagner...

2. National Labor Relations Act (1935). "Employees shall have a right to organize unions and bargain collectively."

3. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)... "The president wants you to organize!"

4. What had changed in terms of the political process model of social movements I outlined last week? The biggest factors were the political situation in the 1930s (with the deep economic crisis, big business could not count on its usual strong support from government and the criminal justice system) and new organizations, particularly the CIO. Consciousness also changed rather dramatically, as more workers became convinced that collective action was both necessary and effective. (And they were also more likely to have support from middle class groups--preachers, teachers, etc.) In addition, the new laws made it much more difficult to use the criminal justice system against the labor movement

C. Current day state of the unions

1. Decline of the labor movement (and compare with other countries..

compared with 30% in Germany; 40% in Ireland; close to 90% in Sweden. "Even Canada has three times the unionization of the United States."

I. The American Working Class and the Labor Movement

A. Pre-1930s.

1. Radical unions. Knights of Labor, Western Federation of Miners, International Workers of the World (IWW--their whole leadership imprisoned during World War II)

Mother Jones

2. American Federation of Labor. Craft unions, not industrial unions. Not welcoming to the "new immigrants" and certainly not to blacks and Mexican-Americnas.

3. Role of the state: Injunctions, yellow dog contracts, police and national guard

B. The Great Depression (1929-1942)

1. Norris LaGuardia Act (1932)

1933 and 1934: a wave of violent strikes, including in Minnesota, the Teamster's strike of 1933... for the first time, a governor (Floyd Olson) intervened on behalf of the strikers... highly publicized congressional hearings, headed by New York Senator Robert Wagner...

2. National Labor Relations Act (1935). "Employees shall have a right to organize unions and bargain collectively."

3. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)... "The president wants you to organize!"

C. Current day state of the unions

1. Decline of the labor movement (and compare with other countries..

compared with 30% in Germany; 40% in Ireland; close to 90% in Sweden. "Even Canada has three times the unionization of the United States."

2. See also Fortune's list of the largest 25 corporations in the world