Landon R. Y. Storrs
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153964
- eISBN:
- 9781400845255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153964.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter looks at key figures in the emerging anticommunist network and analyzes two early episodes: the Smith Committee attack on the National Labor Relations Board and its allies, and the Dies ...
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This chapter looks at key figures in the emerging anticommunist network and analyzes two early episodes: the Smith Committee attack on the National Labor Relations Board and its allies, and the Dies Committee attack on the consumer movement, especially the League of Women Shoppers and the Office of Price Administration. The power of the labor movement in stimulating the reaction against the New Deal is well known, but the consumer movement should be recognized as another major trigger. Women were important in the ascendance of both industrial unionism and organized consumerism, and conservatives highlighted women's role in an effort to undermine public confidence in those movements and their allied government agencies.Less
This chapter looks at key figures in the emerging anticommunist network and analyzes two early episodes: the Smith Committee attack on the National Labor Relations Board and its allies, and the Dies Committee attack on the consumer movement, especially the League of Women Shoppers and the Office of Price Administration. The power of the labor movement in stimulating the reaction against the New Deal is well known, but the consumer movement should be recognized as another major trigger. Women were important in the ascendance of both industrial unionism and organized consumerism, and conservatives highlighted women's role in an effort to undermine public confidence in those movements and their allied government agencies.
Landon R. Y. Storrs
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153964
- eISBN:
- 9781400845255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153964.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on Mary Dublin Keyserling and Leon Keyserling, who were particularly prominent targets for the anticommunist right from 1940 through the mid-1960s. His first claim to fame was ...
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This chapter focuses on Mary Dublin Keyserling and Leon Keyserling, who were particularly prominent targets for the anticommunist right from 1940 through the mid-1960s. His first claim to fame was drafting the National Labor Relations Act, and her career began as a consumer activist, so they aptly represent the movements whose successes mobilized anticommunist crusaders. The Keyserlings were “purchasing-power progressives” who argued that raising working-class living standards was essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy. They both experienced long, bruising loyalty investigations and resigned in 1953 during the transition to the Eisenhower administration. Leon reemerged as an economic adviser to the Democratic National Committee and the AFL-CIO in the late 1950s and then as an ally of the centrist Democrat Hubert Humphrey. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Mary head of the U.S. Women's Bureau, over the objections of congressional conservatives who revived the old disloyalty allegations.Less
This chapter focuses on Mary Dublin Keyserling and Leon Keyserling, who were particularly prominent targets for the anticommunist right from 1940 through the mid-1960s. His first claim to fame was drafting the National Labor Relations Act, and her career began as a consumer activist, so they aptly represent the movements whose successes mobilized anticommunist crusaders. The Keyserlings were “purchasing-power progressives” who argued that raising working-class living standards was essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy. They both experienced long, bruising loyalty investigations and resigned in 1953 during the transition to the Eisenhower administration. Leon reemerged as an economic adviser to the Democratic National Committee and the AFL-CIO in the late 1950s and then as an ally of the centrist Democrat Hubert Humphrey. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Mary head of the U.S. Women's Bureau, over the objections of congressional conservatives who revived the old disloyalty allegations.
Marshall Ganz
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195162011
- eISBN:
- 9780199943401
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162011.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
By 1977 the United Farm Workers (UFW) had successfully negotiated more than 100 union contracts, recruited a dues-paying membership of more than 50,000, and secured enactment of the California ...
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By 1977 the United Farm Workers (UFW) had successfully negotiated more than 100 union contracts, recruited a dues-paying membership of more than 50,000, and secured enactment of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the only legislative guarantee of farm workers' collective bargaining rights in the continental United States. Why did the UFW succeed at such a daunting task—a task at which other far more powerful organizations had repeatedly failed? This book argues that the UFW succeeded, while the rival AFL-CIO and Teamsters failed, because the UFW's leadership devised a more effective strategy, in fact a stream of effective strategies. The UFW was able to do this because the motivation of its leaders was greater than that of their rivals; they had better access to salient knowledge; and their deliberations became venues for learning. The three elements of strategic capacity—the ability to devise good strategy—are discussed.Less
By 1977 the United Farm Workers (UFW) had successfully negotiated more than 100 union contracts, recruited a dues-paying membership of more than 50,000, and secured enactment of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the only legislative guarantee of farm workers' collective bargaining rights in the continental United States. Why did the UFW succeed at such a daunting task—a task at which other far more powerful organizations had repeatedly failed? This book argues that the UFW succeeded, while the rival AFL-CIO and Teamsters failed, because the UFW's leadership devised a more effective strategy, in fact a stream of effective strategies. The UFW was able to do this because the motivation of its leaders was greater than that of their rivals; they had better access to salient knowledge; and their deliberations became venues for learning. The three elements of strategic capacity—the ability to devise good strategy—are discussed.
Jon R. Huibregtse
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034652
- eISBN:
- 9780813038544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034652.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the ...
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American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents. The book explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed. Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, the book describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.Less
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents. The book explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed. Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, the book describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.
Ronny Regev
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469636504
- eISBN:
- 9781469636771
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469636504.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The sixth chapter recounts the history of Hollywood collective bargaining. On a day-to-day basis, the American motion picture industry relied on its ability to balance a modern, rationalized ...
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The sixth chapter recounts the history of Hollywood collective bargaining. On a day-to-day basis, the American motion picture industry relied on its ability to balance a modern, rationalized production operation with a more unstructured creative process. However, in times of crisis, when the harmony was interrupted, the creative element was often surrendered. During the 1930s, the presidency of FDR, his New Deal policies, and the empowerment of organized labor throughout the U.S. had a significant influence on Hollywood. The chapter focuses on the rise of the Screen Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Screen Directors Guild, their struggles, the way they chose to pursue them, and the attitude embraced towards them by studio management. However, as is shown, while they borrowed tactics from industrial unions and appealed to the National Labor Relations Board, Hollywood creative employees aligned with traditional industrial labor causes only as long as it served their immediate goals.Less
The sixth chapter recounts the history of Hollywood collective bargaining. On a day-to-day basis, the American motion picture industry relied on its ability to balance a modern, rationalized production operation with a more unstructured creative process. However, in times of crisis, when the harmony was interrupted, the creative element was often surrendered. During the 1930s, the presidency of FDR, his New Deal policies, and the empowerment of organized labor throughout the U.S. had a significant influence on Hollywood. The chapter focuses on the rise of the Screen Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Screen Directors Guild, their struggles, the way they chose to pursue them, and the attitude embraced towards them by studio management. However, as is shown, while they borrowed tactics from industrial unions and appealed to the National Labor Relations Board, Hollywood creative employees aligned with traditional industrial labor causes only as long as it served their immediate goals.
John Weber
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469625232
- eISBN:
- 9781469625256
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469625232.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
In the early years of the twentieth century, newcomer farmers and migrant Mexicans forged a new world in South Texas. In just a decade, this vast region, previously considered too isolated and ...
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In the early years of the twentieth century, newcomer farmers and migrant Mexicans forged a new world in South Texas. In just a decade, this vast region, previously considered too isolated and desolate for large-scale agriculture, became one of the United States' most lucrative farming regions and one of its worst places to work. By encouraging mass migration from Mexico, paying low wages, selectively enforcing immigration restrictions, toppling older political arrangements, and periodically immobilizing the workforce, growers created a system of labor controls unique in its levels of exploitation. Ethnic Mexican residents of South Texas fought back by organizing and by leaving, migrating to destinations around the United States where employers eagerly hired them—and continued to exploit them. This book reinterprets the United States' record on human and labor rights. It illuminates the way in which South Texas pioneered the low-wage, insecure, migration-dependent labor system on which so many industries continue to depend.Less
In the early years of the twentieth century, newcomer farmers and migrant Mexicans forged a new world in South Texas. In just a decade, this vast region, previously considered too isolated and desolate for large-scale agriculture, became one of the United States' most lucrative farming regions and one of its worst places to work. By encouraging mass migration from Mexico, paying low wages, selectively enforcing immigration restrictions, toppling older political arrangements, and periodically immobilizing the workforce, growers created a system of labor controls unique in its levels of exploitation. Ethnic Mexican residents of South Texas fought back by organizing and by leaving, migrating to destinations around the United States where employers eagerly hired them—and continued to exploit them. This book reinterprets the United States' record on human and labor rights. It illuminates the way in which South Texas pioneered the low-wage, insecure, migration-dependent labor system on which so many industries continue to depend.
James A. Gross
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501714252
- eISBN:
- 9781501714276
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501714252.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This book makes four important contributions to our understanding of U.S. labor law and policy. First, given my previous three volume study of the work of the NLRB, this book is able to discuss the ...
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This book makes four important contributions to our understanding of U.S. labor law and policy. First, given my previous three volume study of the work of the NLRB, this book is able to discuss the Board’s path under Chairmen Gould, Truesdale, Battista and Liebman in historical context. Second, this book demonstrates the consequences of applying different and conflicting values to real world issues of labor law. Third, the book’s inward assessment of U.S. labor law and policy using international human rights principles as standards for judgment constitutes new perspectives on old issues. These new perspectives challenge the commonly held view among practitioners and academics that workers’ organizing and collective bargaining are merely tests of economic power by adversarial interest groups exercising commercial rights not human rights. Finally, rather than joining those writing obituaries for the Act and the NLRB, this book maintains, despite the unrelenting pounding of hostile forces, that the core of the Act remains a solid foundation for the realization of workers’ rights–but calls for a new more creative vision because more is needed than merely fine tuning for marginal adjustments.Less
This book makes four important contributions to our understanding of U.S. labor law and policy. First, given my previous three volume study of the work of the NLRB, this book is able to discuss the Board’s path under Chairmen Gould, Truesdale, Battista and Liebman in historical context. Second, this book demonstrates the consequences of applying different and conflicting values to real world issues of labor law. Third, the book’s inward assessment of U.S. labor law and policy using international human rights principles as standards for judgment constitutes new perspectives on old issues. These new perspectives challenge the commonly held view among practitioners and academics that workers’ organizing and collective bargaining are merely tests of economic power by adversarial interest groups exercising commercial rights not human rights. Finally, rather than joining those writing obituaries for the Act and the NLRB, this book maintains, despite the unrelenting pounding of hostile forces, that the core of the Act remains a solid foundation for the realization of workers’ rights–but calls for a new more creative vision because more is needed than merely fine tuning for marginal adjustments.
Daniel R. Ernst
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199920860
- eISBN:
- 9780199377206
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199920860.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The procedural version of the rule of law the Hughes Court settled on did not appeal only to a judicial elite. New York's general election in 1938 showed that it claimed broad support. The state ...
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The procedural version of the rule of law the Hughes Court settled on did not appeal only to a judicial elite. New York's general election in 1938 showed that it claimed broad support. The state constitutional convention adopted an “antibureaucracy clause” requiring weight-of-the-evidence review for most agencies' findings of facts. It split the state's lawyers and political parties, but even conservative corporation lawyers like John Foster Dulles opposed the clause, and voters overwhelmingly rejected in November. But New Yorkers expected agencies to treat individuals fairly and they voted in surprisingly large numbers for a relative unknown, John Lord O’Brian, who made his campaign to win the seat of Senator Robert F. Wagner a referendum on the procedures of the National Labor Relations Board, Wagner’s prized legislative offspring.Less
The procedural version of the rule of law the Hughes Court settled on did not appeal only to a judicial elite. New York's general election in 1938 showed that it claimed broad support. The state constitutional convention adopted an “antibureaucracy clause” requiring weight-of-the-evidence review for most agencies' findings of facts. It split the state's lawyers and political parties, but even conservative corporation lawyers like John Foster Dulles opposed the clause, and voters overwhelmingly rejected in November. But New Yorkers expected agencies to treat individuals fairly and they voted in surprisingly large numbers for a relative unknown, John Lord O’Brian, who made his campaign to win the seat of Senator Robert F. Wagner a referendum on the procedures of the National Labor Relations Board, Wagner’s prized legislative offspring.
Marion G. Crain and Ken Matheny
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- December 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199988488
- eISBN:
- 9780190218249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199988488.003.0006
- Subject:
- Social Work, Social Policy, Research and Evaluation
Labor unions play a vital role in ensuring an equitable distribution of wealth by increasing the share of corporate profits that go to workers. The decline in union membership and influence in the ...
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Labor unions play a vital role in ensuring an equitable distribution of wealth by increasing the share of corporate profits that go to workers. The decline in union membership and influence in the United States thus correlates with rising income inequality. American unions have struggled to reconcile an agenda of economic justice for the working class with a more pragmatic orientation that emphasizes gains for groups of workers on a contract-by-contract basis. The dominance of the latter approach, compounded by legislative and judicial hostility to group action by workers, has resulted in the public perception of unions as self-interested special interest groups. Yet embedded within historical and modern American unionism is a powerful ideological impulse toward social and economic reform. That impulse is constrained, however, by an anachronistic labor law. A new legal regime that provides breathing space for evolving change agents is essential to restore labor’s countervailing power.Less
Labor unions play a vital role in ensuring an equitable distribution of wealth by increasing the share of corporate profits that go to workers. The decline in union membership and influence in the United States thus correlates with rising income inequality. American unions have struggled to reconcile an agenda of economic justice for the working class with a more pragmatic orientation that emphasizes gains for groups of workers on a contract-by-contract basis. The dominance of the latter approach, compounded by legislative and judicial hostility to group action by workers, has resulted in the public perception of unions as self-interested special interest groups. Yet embedded within historical and modern American unionism is a powerful ideological impulse toward social and economic reform. That impulse is constrained, however, by an anachronistic labor law. A new legal regime that provides breathing space for evolving change agents is essential to restore labor’s countervailing power.
Jon R. Huibregtse
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034652
- eISBN:
- 9780813038544
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034652.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter discusses the legislative struggles between the election of 1924 and the passage of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) in May 1926, which laid important legal framework for the National Labor ...
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This chapter discusses the legislative struggles between the election of 1924 and the passage of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) in May 1926, which laid important legal framework for the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The elections of 1924 thus brought the first stage of railroad labor's battle to bring the Railroad Labor Board to a close. The unions presented the Howell-Barkley Bill to Congress and forced the GOP to recognize the need to amend the Transportation Act. Union leaders continued to work behind the scenes to strengthen their position. By remaining politically active, and even threatening to some, the brotherhoods assured themselves a voice in the creation of new legislation.Less
This chapter discusses the legislative struggles between the election of 1924 and the passage of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) in May 1926, which laid important legal framework for the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The elections of 1924 thus brought the first stage of railroad labor's battle to bring the Railroad Labor Board to a close. The unions presented the Howell-Barkley Bill to Congress and forced the GOP to recognize the need to amend the Transportation Act. Union leaders continued to work behind the scenes to strengthen their position. By remaining politically active, and even threatening to some, the brotherhoods assured themselves a voice in the creation of new legislation.
Gregory Wood
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501704826
- eISBN:
- 9781501706349
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501704826.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines the relationship of the labor movement to the decline of smokers' work cultures from the 1970s to the 1990s. As newspaper articles, letters to lobbyists, and published National ...
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This chapter examines the relationship of the labor movement to the decline of smokers' work cultures from the 1970s to the 1990s. As newspaper articles, letters to lobbyists, and published National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions illustrate, the demise of smoking at work often intersected with the efforts of many employers to roll back the power of organized labor. Employers sometimes used no-smoking rules to discipline workers, committeemen, and union organizers for unwanted efforts to shape managerial policy making. Unions often fought for working-class smokers and their vanishing privileges, as the increasing marginalization of smoking and smokers seemed to portend the overall demise of labor's power in the late twentieth century. The NLRB discovered in numerous cases brought by workers and unions that employers tried to sidestep collective bargaining by abruptly creating new no-smoking rules and using smoking restrictions to harass union supporters.Less
This chapter examines the relationship of the labor movement to the decline of smokers' work cultures from the 1970s to the 1990s. As newspaper articles, letters to lobbyists, and published National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions illustrate, the demise of smoking at work often intersected with the efforts of many employers to roll back the power of organized labor. Employers sometimes used no-smoking rules to discipline workers, committeemen, and union organizers for unwanted efforts to shape managerial policy making. Unions often fought for working-class smokers and their vanishing privileges, as the increasing marginalization of smoking and smokers seemed to portend the overall demise of labor's power in the late twentieth century. The NLRB discovered in numerous cases brought by workers and unions that employers tried to sidestep collective bargaining by abruptly creating new no-smoking rules and using smoking restrictions to harass union supporters.
Ruth Milkman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040320
- eISBN:
- 9780252098581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040320.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter examines how labor unions responded to workforce feminization that began in the 1970s. It first places the relationship of women to unions in historical perspective before analyzing ...
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This chapter examines how labor unions responded to workforce feminization that began in the 1970s. It first places the relationship of women to unions in historical perspective before analyzing empirical data on inter-union variations in the extent of women's representation in union membership and leadership in the late twentieth century, as well as variations in the extent and nature of attention to “women's issues” on the part of unions. It then explores the dynamics of union organizing in the 1980s, showing that workplaces with large female majorities were the most readily organized in that period—as measured by the probability of winning National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union representation elections. It also considers the growing commitment of some unions in the 1970s and 1980s to gender equality issues and to incorporating women into positions of leadership. Finally, it discusses the innovative gender politics that has emerged in unions least constrained by the forces of deunionization or patriarchal traditions.Less
This chapter examines how labor unions responded to workforce feminization that began in the 1970s. It first places the relationship of women to unions in historical perspective before analyzing empirical data on inter-union variations in the extent of women's representation in union membership and leadership in the late twentieth century, as well as variations in the extent and nature of attention to “women's issues” on the part of unions. It then explores the dynamics of union organizing in the 1980s, showing that workplaces with large female majorities were the most readily organized in that period—as measured by the probability of winning National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union representation elections. It also considers the growing commitment of some unions in the 1970s and 1980s to gender equality issues and to incorporating women into positions of leadership. Finally, it discusses the innovative gender politics that has emerged in unions least constrained by the forces of deunionization or patriarchal traditions.
Jeffrey Hilgert
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451898
- eISBN:
- 9780801469244
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451898.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter reviews Anglo-American labor history to illustrate that the right to refuse unsafe work has been a struggle to decide who is empowered to define it. The right to refuse was protected as ...
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This chapter reviews Anglo-American labor history to illustrate that the right to refuse unsafe work has been a struggle to decide who is empowered to define it. The right to refuse was protected as early as the Jellico Agreement of 1893, which covered eight Appalachian mines and was at the time “one of the most advanced agreements of any miners in the country.” It allowed a miner “to refuse to work if he thought the mine was dangerous through failure of the bosses to supply enough support timber.” After the enactment of the U.S. National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act) and adoption of Wagner Act principles in Canada in the 1940s, the right to refuse unsafe work gained ground as a viable subject of collective bargaining in North America. Collective labor agreements would become the only way to circumvent the strict common laws on the termination of employment that had commodified workers in the United States and Canada.Less
This chapter reviews Anglo-American labor history to illustrate that the right to refuse unsafe work has been a struggle to decide who is empowered to define it. The right to refuse was protected as early as the Jellico Agreement of 1893, which covered eight Appalachian mines and was at the time “one of the most advanced agreements of any miners in the country.” It allowed a miner “to refuse to work if he thought the mine was dangerous through failure of the bosses to supply enough support timber.” After the enactment of the U.S. National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act) and adoption of Wagner Act principles in Canada in the 1940s, the right to refuse unsafe work gained ground as a viable subject of collective bargaining in North America. Collective labor agreements would become the only way to circumvent the strict common laws on the termination of employment that had commodified workers in the United States and Canada.
Kim Bobo and Marién Casillas Pabellón
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501704475
- eISBN:
- 9781501705892
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501704475.003.0018
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter explains how worker centers can deal with forces in society that would like to harm or destroy them. It first highlights the important lessons that can be learned from the experience of ...
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This chapter explains how worker centers can deal with forces in society that would like to harm or destroy them. It first highlights the important lessons that can be learned from the experience of ACORN, a community organizing voice for low-income families that had to contend with right-wing forces. It then discusses current attacks against worker centers, including those by the website called Worker Center Watch and goes on to consider the issue of 501c3 tax exemption leveled against worker centers, along with the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor definitions and requirements relevant to the problem. It also discusses the importance of the National Labor Relations Act for worker center organizers; the strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) filed against worker centers; and other areas where worker centers may be vulnerable and should shore up their operations. Finally, the chapter looks at the main opposition to bills strengthening enforcement against wage theft and outlines steps for training worker center staff and volunteers in laws and areas of concern.Less
This chapter explains how worker centers can deal with forces in society that would like to harm or destroy them. It first highlights the important lessons that can be learned from the experience of ACORN, a community organizing voice for low-income families that had to contend with right-wing forces. It then discusses current attacks against worker centers, including those by the website called Worker Center Watch and goes on to consider the issue of 501c3 tax exemption leveled against worker centers, along with the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor definitions and requirements relevant to the problem. It also discusses the importance of the National Labor Relations Act for worker center organizers; the strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) filed against worker centers; and other areas where worker centers may be vulnerable and should shore up their operations. Finally, the chapter looks at the main opposition to bills strengthening enforcement against wage theft and outlines steps for training worker center staff and volunteers in laws and areas of concern.
Raymond F. Gregory
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449543
- eISBN:
- 9780801460746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449543.003.0018
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR
This chapter examines out-of-the-ordinary circumstances in which accommodation arises as an issue. It first considers the case of Kimberly Cloutier, who sued Costco over dress code before turning to ...
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This chapter examines out-of-the-ordinary circumstances in which accommodation arises as an issue. It first considers the case of Kimberly Cloutier, who sued Costco over dress code before turning to Charan Singh Kalsi's religious discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Transit Authority. It then discusses two other court cases involving George Daniels and Robert Roesser, along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines on accommodation. It also assesses the relevant provisions of the National Labor Relations Act regarding the payment of union dues by workers holding religious convictions that oppose union activities. It suggests that a solution for workers with religious convictions that oppose labor unions is to pay to charitable institutions what other workers pay to their union as dues.Less
This chapter examines out-of-the-ordinary circumstances in which accommodation arises as an issue. It first considers the case of Kimberly Cloutier, who sued Costco over dress code before turning to Charan Singh Kalsi's religious discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Transit Authority. It then discusses two other court cases involving George Daniels and Robert Roesser, along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines on accommodation. It also assesses the relevant provisions of the National Labor Relations Act regarding the payment of union dues by workers holding religious convictions that oppose union activities. It suggests that a solution for workers with religious convictions that oppose labor unions is to pay to charitable institutions what other workers pay to their union as dues.
Charles W. Romney
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190250294
- eISBN:
- 9780190250317
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190250294.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Local National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officials brought the Wagner Act to the Pacific canneries between 1935 and 1941. The NLRB’s field offices focused on legal procedure in preparing cases. ...
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Local National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officials brought the Wagner Act to the Pacific canneries between 1935 and 1941. The NLRB’s field offices focused on legal procedure in preparing cases. The emphasis on proper legal procedure spread from the NLRB field offices to local union organizers, union bylaws, and union rules. In the late 1930s the NLRB used pledge cards to measure union support in the canneries, a measure that local unions adopted as part of their own requirements for membership. The emphasis on legal procedure also extended the time required for NLRB investigations, forcing unions to pay for long periods of legal representation. Legal reasoning and legal procedure framed the NLRB’s local operations and encompassed each union’s local organizing.Less
Local National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officials brought the Wagner Act to the Pacific canneries between 1935 and 1941. The NLRB’s field offices focused on legal procedure in preparing cases. The emphasis on proper legal procedure spread from the NLRB field offices to local union organizers, union bylaws, and union rules. In the late 1930s the NLRB used pledge cards to measure union support in the canneries, a measure that local unions adopted as part of their own requirements for membership. The emphasis on legal procedure also extended the time required for NLRB investigations, forcing unions to pay for long periods of legal representation. Legal reasoning and legal procedure framed the NLRB’s local operations and encompassed each union’s local organizing.
Jeffrey Hilgert
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451898
- eISBN:
- 9780801469244
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451898.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter reviews Anglo-American labor history to illustrate that the right to refuse unsafe work has been a struggle to decide who is empowered to define it. The right to refuse was protected as ...
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This chapter reviews Anglo-American labor history to illustrate that the right to refuse unsafe work has been a struggle to decide who is empowered to define it. The right to refuse was protected as early as the Jellico Agreement of 1893, which covered eight Appalachian mines and was at the time “one of the most advanced agreements of any miners in the country.” It allowed a miner “to refuse to work if he thought the mine was dangerous through failure of the bosses to supply enough support timber.” After the enactment of the U.S. National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act) and adoption of Wagner Act principles in Canada in the 1940s, the right to refuse unsafe work gained ground as a viable subject of collective bargaining in North America. Collective labor agreements would become the only way to circumvent the strict common laws on the termination of employment that had commodified workers in the United States and Canada.
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This chapter reviews Anglo-American labor history to illustrate that the right to refuse unsafe work has been a struggle to decide who is empowered to define it. The right to refuse was protected as early as the Jellico Agreement of 1893, which covered eight Appalachian mines and was at the time “one of the most advanced agreements of any miners in the country.” It allowed a miner “to refuse to work if he thought the mine was dangerous through failure of the bosses to supply enough support timber.” After the enactment of the U.S. National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act) and adoption of Wagner Act principles in Canada in the 1940s, the right to refuse unsafe work gained ground as a viable subject of collective bargaining in North America. Collective labor agreements would become the only way to circumvent the strict common laws on the termination of employment that had commodified workers in the United States and Canada.
Charles W. Romney
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190250294
- eISBN:
- 9780190250317
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190250294.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The fight over the vote for the FTA started a period of intense legal and political argument between the Teamsters and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the northern California ...
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The fight over the vote for the FTA started a period of intense legal and political argument between the Teamsters and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the northern California canneries. In late 1945 and early 1946, the Teamsters attacked the integrity of the NLRB’s procedures by persuading Congress to investigate a disputed letter from the Agriculture Department. The union also ignored the pending NLRB case and induced companies to dismiss some FTA supporters in northern California. From October 1945 to February 1946, Board chairman Paul Herzog and the Board deflected Teamster attacks and sought to craft a decision on the apparent FTA victory that protected the NLRB’s political legitimacy in Washington and asserted the NLRB’s legal authority in northern California.Less
The fight over the vote for the FTA started a period of intense legal and political argument between the Teamsters and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the northern California canneries. In late 1945 and early 1946, the Teamsters attacked the integrity of the NLRB’s procedures by persuading Congress to investigate a disputed letter from the Agriculture Department. The union also ignored the pending NLRB case and induced companies to dismiss some FTA supporters in northern California. From October 1945 to February 1946, Board chairman Paul Herzog and the Board deflected Teamster attacks and sought to craft a decision on the apparent FTA victory that protected the NLRB’s political legitimacy in Washington and asserted the NLRB’s legal authority in northern California.
John Weber
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469625232
- eISBN:
- 9781469625256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469625232.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The Introduction examines the historical narrative presented at San Antonio’s 1968 World’s Fair, named HemisFair. It also explains the geographic and historiographic focus of the book before ...
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The Introduction examines the historical narrative presented at San Antonio’s 1968 World’s Fair, named HemisFair. It also explains the geographic and historiographic focus of the book before presenting a brief overview of each of the chapters.Less
The Introduction examines the historical narrative presented at San Antonio’s 1968 World’s Fair, named HemisFair. It also explains the geographic and historiographic focus of the book before presenting a brief overview of each of the chapters.
Annelise Orleck
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635910
- eISBN:
- 9781469635934
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635910.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 made labor activists keenly aware of the need for regulatory labor legislation as well as strikes and street protests. This chapter traces the evolving ...
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 made labor activists keenly aware of the need for regulatory labor legislation as well as strikes and street protests. This chapter traces the evolving friendship of Newman and Schneiderman with Frances Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and argues that these Jewish immigrant Socialist garment workers helped shape the 20th century regulatory state and social safety net.Less
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 made labor activists keenly aware of the need for regulatory labor legislation as well as strikes and street protests. This chapter traces the evolving friendship of Newman and Schneiderman with Frances Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and argues that these Jewish immigrant Socialist garment workers helped shape the 20th century regulatory state and social safety net.
