Rutgers University Workers Strike of 1934 Essay

TION 7A OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ACT

SEC. 7. (a) Every code of fair competition, agreement, and license approved, prescribed, or issued under this title shall contain the following conditions: (1) That employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; (2) that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing; and (3) that employers shall comply with the maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment, approved or prescribed by the President.

1934:

1. In the spring and summer of 1934, workers engaged in three general strikes and one massive industry wide strike that was centered in textile mills of the South. Why? What happened? What caused hundreds of thousands of workers to suddenly demand that employers recognize and bargaining with their unions?
2. The general strikes of ’34 were violent and bloody affairs, but they did result in partial victories that laid the groundwork for future gains (the Minneapolis Teamsters went on to organize truckers throughout the Midwest and the San Francisco strike led to the formation of the ILWU and they went on to organize all the longshoreman along the Pacific Coast). However, workers suffered a dismal defeat in the industry wide textile mill strike and in many other industries worker efforts to organize failed. The question is why? (Hint: Ask yourself, “What’s wrong with section 7A of the NIRA?”
3. Did the violence help or hinder the worker’s efforts to get employers to recognize unions and negotiate?
4. Up to this point (i.e., from the 1880’s through the early 20^th century), the story of workers and unions is one that is characterized by the near absolute power of employers and their refusal to recognize or respect working people on the job. And more often than not, when workers tried to stand up to employers, they were defeated by the courts and if necessary, the use of force (police, private security, vigilantes or state/federal troops). And very often, when the pressure was too great, workers were not able to stay united. They struggled to get past their own differences in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, language, etc. Then in the 1930s it all changed. Suddenly, workers were able to see past their differences and they united. So what happened? What changed? What brought workers together to the point where they engaged in general strikes and as we will see, sit-down strikes and mass picketing and all of it in a collective effort to demand that employers recognize and bargain with the worker’s unions?
5. In passing the first New Deal, Roosevelt did not challenge the power of Southern elites— to most of them it was communism and as a result, the NIRA excluded agricultural workers (and worth noting here that again because of the South’s resistance, the Fair Labor Standards Act of the second New Deal did not include agricultural or domestic workers). So, the question is why? Why did Roosevelt leave the South to the Southern elites and at the expense of many Southern workers?