Not only did businesses offer improved working conditions, they also created company unions that promised “industrial democracy through management-dominated instrumentalities” (Dubofsky & McCartin 141). Along with that businesses conceived public relation efforts to portray unions as poor representations of the interests of workers. Under the American Plan, businesses encourage the establishment of “open shops” (Dubofsky & McCartin 150) where employees are not required to join labor unions. As businesses enticed workers and discouraged unionizing, organized labor suffered as “overall union membership fell between 1920 and 1929” (Martínez-Matsuda 6 October 2015). Despite some government support in political reform, effective labor organizing
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As the size of the American economy was “cut in half” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142) during the Great Depression, it resulted in widespread unemployment and severe economic and social conditions that eventually led to election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. Not only did the Great Depression result in the turn of public opinion against businesses, the election of Roosevelt marked the transformation of federal intervention in labor. Under Roosevelt and his policies of the New Deal, federal intervention altered the American labor movement and ushered in a new era of improvement working conditions and effective union organizing. While the government did rule in favor of some labor regulations in the past decade, the profound transformation of the New Deal led to a greater impact that helped ensure the rise of unions. In The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, workers were guaranteed the right to “join unions and bargaining collectively” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142). Along with that, it established the National Labor Relations Board which “banned employer-dominated company unions from engaging in collective bargaining, and outlawed a variety of anti-union tactic” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142). Armed with support from …show more content…
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the government regulated the maximum working hours and minimum wage for workers. “Child labor for children under the age of 16 was abolished while working conditions were standardized for children under the age of 18” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142). These regulations can be attributed to the shift in government policy that favored intervention in labor relations and regulations. Furthermore, these changes in government intervention on political reform demonstrate the power of federal actions in helping workers achieve improved working conditions. Under past circumstances, workers had to demonstrate and often sacrifice their lives for marginal or nonexistence gains in working conditions. As seen in the Ludlow Massacre, without the support of the government, there would be no reform in working conditions. Under the government’s transformation in the New Deal, the workers’ plea for political reform was finally heard as the government shifted its focus towards ensuring fair treatment of
As the size of the American economy was “cut in half” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142) during the Great Depression, it resulted in widespread unemployment and severe economic and social conditions that eventually led to election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. Not only did the Great Depression result in the turn of public opinion against businesses, the election of Roosevelt marked the transformation of federal intervention in labor. Under Roosevelt and his policies of the New Deal, federal intervention altered the American labor movement and ushered in a new era of improvement working conditions and effective union organizing. While the government did rule in favor of some labor regulations in the past decade, the profound transformation of the New Deal led to a greater impact that helped ensure the rise of unions. In The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, workers were guaranteed the right to “join unions and bargaining collectively” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142). Along with that, it established the National Labor Relations Board which “banned employer-dominated company unions from engaging in collective bargaining, and outlawed a variety of anti-union tactic” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142). Armed with support from …show more content…
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the government regulated the maximum working hours and minimum wage for workers. “Child labor for children under the age of 16 was abolished while working conditions were standardized for children under the age of 18” (Dubofsky & McCartin 142). These regulations can be attributed to the shift in government policy that favored intervention in labor relations and regulations. Furthermore, these changes in government intervention on political reform demonstrate the power of federal actions in helping workers achieve improved working conditions. Under past circumstances, workers had to demonstrate and often sacrifice their lives for marginal or nonexistence gains in working conditions. As seen in the Ludlow Massacre, without the support of the government, there would be no reform in working conditions. Under the government’s transformation in the New Deal, the workers’ plea for political reform was finally heard as the government shifted its focus towards ensuring fair treatment of