Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword, David Montgomery
- Preface and acknowledgments
- 1 Labor's fragmentation and the industrial relations context in 1945
- 2 Searching for coexistence: The Management-Labor Charter and the Labor-Management Conference
- 3 The great strike wave of 1946 and its political consequences
- 4 The Taft-Hartley legislative scene
- 5 The aftermath of Taft-Hartley: Real behavior versus union rhetoric
- Postlude
- Index
5 - The aftermath of Taft-Hartley: Real behavior versus union rhetoric
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword, David Montgomery
- Preface and acknowledgments
- 1 Labor's fragmentation and the industrial relations context in 1945
- 2 Searching for coexistence: The Management-Labor Charter and the Labor-Management Conference
- 3 The great strike wave of 1946 and its political consequences
- 4 The Taft-Hartley legislative scene
- 5 The aftermath of Taft-Hartley: Real behavior versus union rhetoric
- Postlude
- Index
Summary
This chapter deals mainly with de facto union behavior in the immediate aftermath of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, a turning point in U.S. labor history. One can approach this period of labor change from a variety of perspectives: cultural, economic, political, social. For the present analysis of labor's behavior, I have chosen to focus on the unions' political action. Since a portrayal of political behavior requires at least some consideration of other societal features, I will be referring to a variety of nonpolitical, nonlabor phenomena that I think contributed to labor's political responses.
The Veto Message
I begin with the veto message of the president of the United States – a decidedly political event cited as important by both the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in their support of Truman in 1948. Both decided to campaign for Harry Truman's reelection largely on the basis of that veto.
President Truman's controversial veto of the new legislation, which both houses voted to override, appears to have been a straightforward pro-labor analysis of H.R. 3020, the final conference bill. The ten-page message shows Truman's labor expertise and covers the major legislative features of interest to the AFL and CIO. It exhibits a rare frankness about congressional and other fears. And it reflects the ambivalence and contradictions in the Truman administration. Truman directly addressed what he regarded as the central political danger confronting the country in 1947: communism.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Labor's Struggles, 1945–1950A Participant's View, pp. 96 - 133Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994