Currently, the union in the United States has a contractual action
exclusively on a company, plant or trade category basis. It is possible,following the request to the National Labor Relations Board, to call
elections and, only by obtaining an absolute majority, a union becomes
the contractual representative of all the workers of that company, plant
or other bargaining unit. There is another possibility which is the
registration, after verification of the signatures, of the majority
of workers in a union. Furthermore, the representation in the sector
unions of public, private, service employees, teachers and even
pensioners who remain members of the union to control the management of
the pension fund has also spread. There are also federal organizations
of unions such as the historic AFL-CIO and since 2005 the CtW (Change to
Win), but these do not have a contractual role but only of
representation and political initiative.
But the role of the union in the United States is not a minor story. An
initial turning point was the founding of Jewish unions by
Yiddish-speaking anarchist workers who emigrated between 1880 and 1914.
These unions combined religious tradition with libertarian movements,
and the messianic tradition was linked to union activity. The condition
of desperation and isolation experienced in Western factories and cities
was articulated in a stubborn defense of freedom and human dignity,
which sought autonomy for the masses without resorting to violence.
With the establishment of a Central Labor Union in Chicago in 1883, the
demand for an eight-hour workday began, which led to the tragic events
in Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886, followed by the hanging in 1887 of
workers' leaders Albert Parson, August Spies, George Engel, and Adolph
Fischer, who were later found not to be involved. In 1888, the United
Hebrew Trades was organized, and the struggles with itinerant pickets
and surprise demonstrations began, which would be the methods of action
of the new industrial union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
Trade unions were also born, such as the women's clothing workers'
union, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), and, in
support of the union struggles, the publication of the Fraye Arbeter
Shtime (the Voice of the Free Worker) began in 1890, which would be
published until 1977.
In 1912, the IWW, led by Big Bill Haywood and Arturo Giovannitti,
organized the historic textile strike in Lawrance (MA) "the Bread and
Roses strike", followed by the Paterson (NJ) strike; This phase
continues until the strike in the Mesabi Range (MN) mines in 1916. A
movement that ends with federal intervention and mass expulsions of
activists in 1919 following the anti-war actions of union leaders and
politicians such as Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. On the union
level, the IWW suffers repression by the federal police and private
agencies that determines its operational downsizing and its near
elimination from an organizational point of view, reducing the
possibility of autonomous union action by workers.
However, from the 1930s, processes of transformation begin in the union
field, especially in the face of a technical transformation of
industries that reduces the figures of professional workers in favor of
a growing number of specialized workers, in particular following the
crisis of '29 and the consequent increase in unemployment. The
organizational structure of the AFL proves inadequate. The unskilled
workforce does not join the union and reduces its social base. In 1938,
a split occurred within the union and the Congress for Industrial
Organization (CIO) was formed, which the mass of unskilled industrial
workers would join. The CIO reached considerable strength and size,
organizing workers' mobilizations that would lead to widespread
unionization in the industries of the Northeast. Changes also
occurred on the political level, during the presidency of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and the welfare policies of the New Deal. In 1935, the
"National Labor Relations Act" (Wagner Act) was passed. The law
recognized workers' right to form a "Labor Union" or join an existing
one, guaranteeing the right to strike and collective bargaining. "Yellow
unions" controlled by companies were prohibited and a new structure of
relations between companies and workers was created.
Another aspect of the period is the creation of rackets for the
exploitation of labor and the interference in labor disputes by mafia
organizations. These organizations came to control entire unions such as
the "Teamster Union" (truck drivers), the "IATSE" (cinema and theater
workers) and the ILGWU itself. The phenomenon had a strong reduction in
November 1957 with the arrest of unionists (including Jimmy Hoffa) at
the Apalachin (NY) summit and in 1963-65 with the work of the Senate
subcommittee headed by John McCellan.
Another path that originates from unionism is that of Doroty Day
(1897-1980) who, after her experience in the I.W.W., founded the
Catholic Worker Movement (in contrast to the Association of Catholic
Trade Unionist) on May Day 1933, together with Peter Maurin. To distance
herself from mafia infiltration, Day linked the direct action of
American workers to the Christian redemption of individuals and the
evangelical content of the "Sermon on the Mount", based on the
"Christian personalism" of Mounier and Maritain.
Journalist and activist, Day was educated on the texts of Tolstoy and
Kropotkin, from 1917 she worked in the newspapers "The Masses" and
"Call", in 1918 she became a volunteer nurse as part of her pacifist and
non-violent commitment.
Her trade union activity was based on the organization of strikes
involving black workers in the South, laborers in the Midwest, textile
workers and miners. She paid particular attention to underage workers
and campaigns against anti-Semitism. He also founds the "Case di
solidarietà", a movement to support the destitute that becomes a
"liturgy" of the human community. Never giving up non-violent positions,
he approaches the Catholic left in the Sixties, and suffers the control
of his action by the FBI. In 1963 and 1965 he organizes pacifist
pilgrimages to Rome. Another crucial moment of American trade unionism
is experienced in the post-war period. With the conclusion of the
anti-fascist alliance in support of war production, in a few years there
is a bipolar antagonism between the USA and the USSR. Between 1945 and
1946 there is a wave of strikes in support of wage demands, the CIO has
joined the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). On the political
level, the response of Congress takes the form of laws (Taft-Hartley in
June 1947 and Mundt-Nixon in 1948). The first abolishes many guarantees
of the Wagner Act of 1935, the LMRA prohibits workers from using forms
of strikes not declared by unions such as "wildcat strikes" or
solidarity practices during strikes in other companies such as
"solidarity strikes". The measure reduces the powers of the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on violations of labor laws, on disputes in
company bargaining and on unilateral contracts by companies. With the
Taft-Hartley Act, the elimination of "union security agreements" was
also promoted by individual states, agreements that favored the creation
and membership of company unions, thus causing the fragmentation of the
union movement.
The Mundt-Nixon Act of 1948, "Subversive Activities Control Act", also
had serious effects on the union level. The post-New Deal economic
policy, after the Bretton Woods agreements, leads to the definition of
programs (Truman doctrine) such as the "Marshall Plan" that break
international stability and will be instruments for the break with the
Cominform and for the splits in the WFTU. The CIO leaves the WFTU in
1949 and reunites with the AFL, which has always had a position against
membership. Among the major supporters of this union turn are David
Dubinsky of the ILGWU, Walter Reuther of the United Automobile Workers
(UAW) and Luigi Antonini of the AFL; among the CIO leaders who tried to
maintain forms of international ties is George Baldanzi. The launch of
the committees for anti-American activities opens the phase of the
so-called "McCarthism".
In 1950, at its congress, the CIO expelled union leaders deemed
communists. In 1954, the "Communist Control Act" established a
declaration of anti-communism for all associations and the dissolution
of those that did not sign it. Union officials were required to swear an
oath of non-membership of communist organizations. This led to a
reduction in grassroots activism and greater discipline in labor relations.
In 1970, during the Nixon presidency, the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations) was approved, which was also used to sanction
demonstrations and strikes that gave rise to violent episodes or
negative consequences on trade between states. The law created to
control organized crime and unrecognized associations was also used by
the Courts of Justice to condemn union leaders or participants in
demonstrations and strikes. Despite this situation, union membership
grew to reach twenty million members in 1979, also favored by the
union's commitment to supporting the integration and equality of
African-American or immigrant workers. With the election of Ronald
Reagan to the presidency in 1980, economic policy changed, major
restructuring began, and a wave of layoffs in large industries. The
union is unable to resist this situation, its bargaining power is scaled
down as well as its corporate role of control and the number of members
is significantly reduced.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Furio Biagini, Born elsewhere. The Jewish anarchist movement between
Moscow and New York, Franco Serantini Library, Pisa, 1998;
-AA. VV. Workers' struggles in the United States of America, Pantarei,
Milan, 2008;
-Federico Romero, History of the Cold War, Einaudi, Turin, 2009;
-William D. Miller, Doroty Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, Jaca
Book, Milan, 2017.
http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
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