jan 1, 1936 - CIO

Description:

Unions grew in membership and political clout under the New Deal, thanks to the Wagner Act. Organized labor had suffered in the probusiness climate of the 1920s, but by the end of the 1930s the number of unionized workers had more than doubled to an unprecedented 23 percent of the nonagricultural workforce. “The era of privilege and predatory individuals is over,” the fiery labor leader John L. Lewis declared. A new union movement, led by Lewis’s Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), promoted “industrial unionism” — organizing all the workers in an industry, from skilled machinists to unskilled janitors, into a single union. The American Federation of Labor (AFL), the other major group of unions, favored organizing workers on a craft-by-craft basis; both federations recorded massive membership increases.

Labor’s new vitality translated into political power and a long-lasting alliance with the Democratic Party. The newly formed CIO encouraged support for Democratic candidates in 1936, and its political action committee became a major Democratic ally during the 1940s. The political gains of the 1930s were real but ultimately limited. Unions never enrolled a majority of American wageworkers, and antiunion employer groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce remained politically influential. After a decade of progress, union labor remained a secondary, though significant, force in American industry.

Added to timeline:

Date: