User:RonS2013/sandbox

Ramain Singhal

History 146B

Professor Higbie

11-26-14 n Wikipedia Contribution: Production and Union Participation

The labor movement changed drastically around the turn of the century. Whereas before, labor was used to organize workers and better their lives through economic means, now labor was able to come together and workers could see they weren’t alone. There could be many different ways that efficiency in manufacturing was increased, and by increasing this efficiency, wages could be raised, and in almost every case, this meant more buying power for working class people. Making mass-produced times more available to a wider number of people. People began to gravitate towards socialist and union-oriented groups, groups which were once considered to be subversive and against democracy. The ironic thing about African-American workers, however was that they were not only discriminated against for union, membership, but for housing as well. Until recently, this group, which came predominantly from the south into more urban areas, was prohibited from living in certain neighborhoods, if not by law, then by practice. As they moved into more urban areas in the North and East from areas predominantly in the south, they began to see that they were not given the same rights as white workers of the same skill level. In some cases, the African-Americans were actually better qualified and were members of these unions before the Whites were, and were still excluded and discriminated against.

There were many who believed the labor movement was in some ways against democracy. The labor movement was affecting the economy and forcing the employers to bargain with the unions. This was, however, negative to the economy. But others thought differently. Unions should exist because to not have unions would be undemocratic, leaving power in the hands of a few while the majority had not voice. But even among the labor unions, there were differing opinion. Most believed that the closed shop was the only way to go. When “right to work” laws were put in place, the “right to work” states were predominantly in the south and the rest of the country was closed shop. Proposition 14 was overturned and “right to work” was greatly diminished, although the states could still enforce it if they wanted to. But, without the closed shop, employers could bring in “b-men” and they didn’t have to bargain with them. Even though it was a law, the rights of unions to organize and bargain collectively was not immediately acknowledged and supported. It took some time for them to gain power. Once they did have power, however, they could file grievances if procedure was overlooked by supervisors and even consult a third party if the dispute could not be resolved within the company.

When the NLRB was created, there was much dispute about the role of unions and how much power they should possess. Some wanted the unions to have absolutely no power. But even though it was created, it was not widely enforced until much later. The labor unions had to fight and strike for everything they wanted changed. Ever since the turn of the century, employment was increasing. Along with an increase in employment, there was an increase in home ownership and wages. The increase in wages would not have been possible without the vast shift to automated production. With a complete reevaluation of the way in which things were manufacture in America, productivity and efficiency went up very quickly and drastically. Now, instead of having to be moderately good at a number of different tasks, a worker had to only be very skilled at one task, and with the assembly line, installed by Ford, this new industrial model could not only increase the rate at which things were made, but also increase the wages of the actual workers because it would take less time and human effort to produce the same product. But, even though there was a dramatic shift in manufacturing in the United States, there was still a long way for the labor movement to go for better wages, working conditions, and rights.

Another large factor in the change in the US economy and labor movement was immigration. Different groups of people from the mid to late 19th century until recently emigrated from place all over the world. In the late 1800’s it was predominantly Europe, and later from Asia, but this played an important role in labor. The group of immigrants which enjoyed more widespread inclusion not only in unions but in jobs as well was whites from different parts of Europe. In the early days of the labor movement, whites were more willing to join unions because those unions contained people they could identify with. One big reason the labor movement did not advance more quickly was that different ethnicities of workers did not want to cooperate and form unions with other races. This gave the owners much more power than they would have otherwise had.

Socialism was considered to be a more extreme ideology compared with other forms of organized labor. Since the early 20th century, the Soviet Union was a great proponent for socialism and anyone in America who embraced it was criticized or even persecuted for their opinions. It took a very long time for any of these to become more widespread and commonly accepted because the rulers of big business did whatever they could to stop the advance. They used force to break strikes and in many cases, ignored laws which gave unions specific rights. These rights were not fully put into practice until the Supreme Court began to uphold them. People like Eugene Debs in the United States really influenced a lot of people who were looking for a way to better their lives. Upton Sinclair’s writing had the same effect. When he wrote about the horrible conditions in meat-packing houses in Chicago in the early 1900’s many people paid attention and were shocked to hear about this.

Some things gained by the labor movement were fought for very hard for a very long, such as the eight hour day. Today this seems like something very common and many would say it is common sense, but 70 years ago, this did not exist to the extent it does today. Unfortunately, the eight hour workday and other accepted norms of today were gained through violence instead of civil disobedience. Probably one of the most extreme was the LA Times bombing, but because this battle was going on for so long, even 50 years later, there were more acts of violence like the Memorial Day. One of the reasons that big business was able to wield so much authority was that they had financial means to influence elections, and because of this they had the police on their side as well. They were more powerful alone than all the workers together not for long. It was only after workers put aside their differences and truly embraced their cause together that they were able to make substantial gains. But even after the passage of the eight hour day in the 1880’s, it was not widely accepted and enforced for another 60 years because big business still controlled much power on the local and state levels. Perhaps one of the most influential and effective labor movements of the early times was the garment workers. But they also had some of the worst working conditions and more than a hundred of them died in the triangle fire, probably motivated them very much.

One of the most interesting changes was the movement and voting changes in the 1900’s. Where the south was predominantly White Democrat before World War II, after, it became mostly Republican as a socially conservative group and the North and East became mostly Democrats even though much of big business was run in urban centers in the North. The southern states were also the ones where “right to work” was more easily accepted, irony. Even though the Socialists never elected anyone to the White House, they were still influential and they showed the working class was gaining power, momentum. But there was still disagreement between the AFL and CIO and African American workers were still at odds with White ones. The AFL and CIO had differing ways of acting and different ideals. The AFL was originally the first labor organization and it focused on unconnected group across the US; the CIO consisted of a central authority. The AFL was somewhat outdated and the CIO was better at recruiting and propaganda. When the CIO broke away, the AFL had lost much of its membership and lots of its power. But the AFL was much like the IWW, which wanted to limit government instead of replacing capitalism. Trade unions and craft unions were some of the only ones to gain power and influence; some of the other unions were united but they didn’t have enough members and didn’t know how to organize effectively, strike and gain power. The IWW was more successful but only because it wasn’t as radical socialist as other groups and it was good at working with the CIO which was getting more powerful.

America was a melting pot and for many, Americanization didn’t mean leaving behind their old values and cultures when they came to the United States, in fact some groups actually embraced those cultures even more. The melting pot had an effect it made America diverse and the urban areas had many different ethnicities living in somewhat close proximity. But there were also many different ethnic groups, some of which did not want to be associated with others. This was bad for the working man and gaining power. Around 1900, almost all of the African-Americans lived in the south, after 1900, many migrated outwards to the West and the North to more urban areas. All the immigrants around this time period from other countries outside the US settled in urban centers in the North and East, with almost none in the south. But even in urban centers, African-Americans were discriminated against in housing and jobs. Many African-Americans were organized into unions before Whites were but they were given less rights and privileges than Whites in the same industries. Blacks were not the only ones who had to fight more for their rights than Whites, women had to as well. But tragedies like the Triangle fire, more than 100 WLGWU died and this was great motivation for their labor unions to organize and fight for rights, some of the most important were safer working conditions.

Some thought labor movement was undemocratic, but when workers began to come together and organize, they saw they weren’t alone, and they organized. A huge shift in manufacturing came around 1910 with automation and Keynesian efficiency in place to maximize output and efficiency, but gains in wages and 8 hour days came later for the working class. Immigration created a large, ethnically diverse workforce, but they were not eager to work together, and progress was slow because they would not unite against big business. The country was changing, the Southern Democrats were becoming Republicans and Republican urban areas were becoming socially liberal Democrats. All the different ethnicities in the United States, once united were an asset and created a very strong economy with safe working condition, better wages, working hours, and a voice in the political, economic process which influenced their lives.

Bibliography


 * Laslett, John H.M., Sunshine Was Never Enough (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2012)
 * Steger, Manfred B., Globalization (Oxfor, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2013)
 * Jones, William P., The March on Washington (New York: W W Norton and Company, 2013)