Figure 1.--Here a Pittsburgh paper boy sells papers to steel Workers after a nationwide strike is settled (January 4, 1960). The caption read,"Steelworkers eager for news of settlement: Newsboy Louis Birck does a brisk business outside the Southside plant of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp (J&L). this afternoon as steelworkers line up to buy a local paper with details of settlement of 115 day-old mationwide steel strike. American steel companies went through a series of mergers as thgey downsized ad tried to meet the fireign comopetition. J&L merged with Republic Steel in 1984 to form LTV Steel. Labor unions like the Steelworkers were able to gain such wage and benefit packages that their companies found it increasingly difficult to compete in not only world market, but domestic markets as well. This was a factor in the ensuing decline of the American steel industry which also meant a sharp decline in the number of steelworkers.

World War II War and the full employment and high wages it brought had aajor impact on American workers. This and the increasingly high wages achieved by wirkers through the unions enabled union workers to enter thecmiddle class. Here the GI -Bill after the War was another major factor. The Labor Movement continued to be divided after the War. New ledership, however, grdually emerged. Walter P. Reuther was born im Wheeling, West Virginia (1907). He was was one of four sons of a socialist brewery worker. He moved to Detroit during the Depression and became a skilled worker in the auto industry. He vecame one of the principal organizers of the Auto Workers Union (UAW). After the War he won a pitched battle for the UAW presidency. Long-time AFL leadr Murray died (1952). George Meany emerged as the new AFL secretary-treasurer. By this time many of the old antagonisms between the two wings of the movement had died out. Major issue had been resolved. This laid the foundation for for unification. The reunited AFL-CIO was agreed to at a convention in New York (December 1955). The AFL-CIO would play a major in the Civil Rights movement durung the 1960s. Here Reuther was a paricularly commited advocate. The AFL-CIO also begn supporting the free trade union movement abord, undertanding the potntial impact of low wges abroad on Americam workers. It also became an important element in the Cold war. The Labor Movement became, however, a victim of its own success. American industry during the War had not only recovered from the Depression, but had expanded and reched record production levels. At the same time Europe and Japan was inshambels. American companies had little competition. This affected both management and labor. Unions demanded and got substantual wge increases and bebefit paxkages. At the same time first Europe abd Japan reciverd, but other countries such as thecasian Tugers began to establish economie basec on free market capitalism. Americn companies wit high built-in lbor cosrs fiund it difficult to compere even in domesric market. This was the beginning of tge undoing of industrial America and the creation of the Rust Belt. The Unions by pricing American labor out of the market in effect destroyed the base from whichbthey drew their membership. The result ws a long decline in industrial union membership abd the influence of unions. Another long term trend was the shift ofcthe economy south to states that had right to work laws. Faced with declining industrial membership, labor organizers began focusing on civil servants. The Depression and the War as well as expanding Government social programs, substantially increased the size of government and the number of government employees. Here union leadwes lent support to mostly Democratic candidates who once in office supported higher wage and improved benefits increasingly higher than those received by industrial workers. The result has been expanding defecits in many states.

Created: 4:24 AM 3/18/2012
Last updated: 4:24 AM 3/18/2012