GLOBALIZATION UNIONIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLAS A Brief History

GLOBALIZATION UNIONIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLAS

A Brief History of American Unions

Great Upheaval – Railroad strike of 1877 • • • First nation-wide strike Breaks localness of labor-management conflict Reflects rise of big corporations State governments play role in breaking strike Comes during deep depression of the 1870 s

May Day • Effort to Create the 8 -Hour Day through countrywide strikes – – May 1, 1886 Typically workers worker 10 -12 hours per day May Day came during booming economy Working day shortened in some industries • Typically industries using skilled labor – Becomes international working class holiday • Not in US—associated with anarchy (pre-communist radicals)

Pullman Strike • First industrial strike – Craft organization versus industrial organization • Skilled workers in separate unions versus all workers in one union – Railroad unions = craft unions • Eugene Debs formed the National Railway Union – Along with United Mine Workers, NRA = first industrial union – Pullman strike lost when Federal government intervened on behalf of employer • President Cleveland’s reason = keep the US mail moving

Homestead Strike • First major strike precipitated by management to break a craft union – Issue: who controlled production • The boss or the skilled workers • Involved Andrew Carnegie and the skilled iron workers (steel makers) • Technological change favored Carnegie (the Bessemer Process)

Post World War I Strikes • Reflect the rising power of labor unions – Not the craft unions of the 1800 s but the first real signs of industrial unions – Inflation of the war had cut real wages – Revolution in Russia created the Red Scare in the US (fear of radical unions) – Federal government played active role in breaking strikes (anti-immigrant politics)

The Great Depression • Causes of the Great Depression – Over-production (excess manufacturing capacity) – Under-consumption (limited wage growth due in part to a broken union movement) – Government policy (Federal Reserve kept money supply relatively tight during downturn) – Stock market speculation (huge speculative bubble in stock prices bursts in Fall of 1929) – Restriction of international trade (Smoot Hawley tariff)

Early Efforts to Fix the Economic Slump • Republican Herbert Hoover (1929 to 1933) – Public works construction projects – Prevailing wage law for public works – Balance the federal budget • Democrat Franklin Roosevelt (1933 -1945) – Industrial Recovery Act • Set prices and wages industry by industry • Declared unconstitutional

1934 Strikes • San Francisco General Strike (longshoremen) • Minneapolis General Strike (teamsters) • Textile strikes (South) – These strikes indicated that the issues of high unemployment, employer wage cuts and lack of democracy at the work place would not go away by themselves

National Labor Relations Act 1935 • Gave workers the right to organize into unions – Established election procedures whereby unions could be elected by workers and employers had to bargain with these unions – Identified unfair labor practices that employers could not use to keep out unions – Outlawed company unions

Other Labor Oriented New Deal Legislation • Fair Labor Standards Act – Created federal minimum wage • Agriculture exempted to win vote of rural legislators – Required overtime to be paid after 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week • Culmination of May Day movement but did not establish the 8 hour day as an absolute limit • Social Security Act – Provided old age income – Pay-as-you-go system

Formation of the CIO • Congress on Industrial Organization – Led by John L. Lewis of the United Mine workers (Coal) • An industrial union within the craft-oriented American Federation of Labor (AFL) – Aimed at organizing all workers within an industry • Manufacturing was the key target • Problem of Dual Unionism – Competition between unions for the following and membership of the same workers

Sit-Down Strikes • Auto, Steel and Rubber • How do you have a successful strike when unemployment is high? – Solution—strike but don’t leave the plant – Police attack on strikers threatens property of owner – Popular support necessary

Private Property Redefined • NLRA – Union organizers could come on property – Employers had to bargain in good faith • Sit-down strikes – Workers trespassing but police failed to evict them • “Property” reflected the evolving power of capital and labor

Labor and World War Two • No-strike pledge • War Labor Board – Forced union recognition – Set wages and conditions • Pent-up demand associated with full employment and rationing • War profiteering

Key Post War Economic Situation • Bretton Woods Agreement – Fixed exchange rates between countries – Dollar an informal international currency – Gold not an important international currency • US dominant economy with a dominant position in manufacturing worldwide – But export economy not central to the overall US economy (exports + imports = small share of overall US production, GNP)

Post War Strikes • Rosie the Riveter went home • Male workers and returning veterans sought the good life through he exercise of union power • Roughly one in three workers was a union member • Manufacturing = heart of the economy • US economy dominated the world

Republican Congress Reacts • 1947 Taft Hartley Act – Weakens unions, strengthens employers – Right-to-work states • Closed shop, union shop, open shop • Change in the members of the National Labor Relations Board – Really a labor court – Judges now favor employers

Slow Decline in Unions • Post war victories – Higher wages – Health and pension benefits for the first time • But shift from manufacturing reduces union membership relative to overall employment • Slowly, other countries recover from the war • Cheaper foreign imports heighten competition and create employer antagonism against unions

Vietnam War • War reduced unemployment and stimulated inflation • US began running a trade deficit • Eventually (1971) dollar goes off the fixed exchange system and floats (markets determine the value of the dollar) • 1973 first “oil shock” as price of oil doubles – Doubles again in 1978 (second oil shock)

Stagflation in 1970 s • After the Vietnam War and the first oil shock, economy stagnates, unemployment rises, inflation heats up and stock market stagnates. – Housing prices soar (baby boom grows up) – 1974 recession – 1982 recession

Reaganomics • President Reagan cuts taxes a lot, cuts spending a little, government deficit and debt rises • Unemployment falls slowly (partly associated with aging of the labor force) • Great bull market in stocks begins – Panic of 1987 short-lived (Federal Reserve pumps dollars into the market) • 1991 recession relatively mild

High Tech Boom of the 1990 s • Unemployment falls • Real, inflation-adjusted wages rise after 1995 – Had been falling since 1973 – Family real income rose only because women entered the labor force in large numbers • Stock market rises dramatically – Mutual funds and retirement funds feed the mania

Bubble Bursts • • Nasdaq falls by 2/3 rds Bear market Unemployment still low but rising Government deficits re-emerge

The Great Recession

Door Opens to Global Competition

Opening the Door to Trade p. 34

Opening the Door to Immigration 13% 2012 13% 1920 5% 1970 p. 27

Opening the Door to Capital Flows & Technology Finance Up 600% Tech Transfer Up 180% Trade Up 150% p. 40

Open Door=Weaker Labor Trade competition Immigration Runaway shops and runaway technology Falling Wages Rising Profits Attacks on Labor

Wages No Longer Tied to Productivity p. 46

Wages & Salaries as a Share of GDP Fall Profits Rise 1947 2013 p. 49

Construction: Open Shop Goal is Union-Free Construction Repeal Prevailing Wage Outlaw PLA’s Create Construction Guest Worker Program Break Unions Merit Shop Universe

Political Efforts to Weaken Construction Unions Prevailing Wage Laws Project Labor Agreements • Repeals (1979 -1995): • 10 states passed laws outlawing or restricting the use of project labor agreements on public works in 2011– 2012 – AZ, UT, CO, ID, KS, FL, LA, AL, OK, OH (schools) • Current attacks – WI, MI, KY, CN – Arizona, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia Plus Construction Guest Worker Program (ABC, Chamber of Commerce) and ALEC’s “Economic Civil Rights Act” prohibits any and all occupational licenses

Political Attack on Unions ABC Chamber of Commerce Company Unions Construction Unions Fox News ALEC Think Tanks Tea Party Koch Brothers

Unions Hurt

Decline of Unions Worldwide p. 62

US Construction Union Decline Faster p. 64

All Trades Losing (US Data) p. 69

Fraternal Discord • Jurisdictional disputes • Company unions • Breakaway unions

Deunionization and inequality http: //www. newyorker. com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2012/04/income-inequality. html

The horizontal axis shows a measure of income inequality: the Gini coefficient. A higher Gini indicates more inequality. The vertical axis shows a measure of social immobility The intergenerational-earnings elasticity gauges how closely an individual’s earnings are tied to the earnings of his or her parents. A higher elasticity indicates less social mobility. http: //www. newyorker. com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2012/04/income-inequality. html

Solution Requires Unity