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And if unions grow strong, then, well, they try to go on the offensive, by asking for higher wages.īusiness owners, on the other hand, don't like unions for a variety of reasons.

In the United States, as we will see, the early trade unionists also wanted the same kind of rights at work that they already had as independent citizens. More generally, they want more certainty, which eventually means a contract that lasts for a specified period of time. They also want a way to force management to change what they see as dangerous working conditions or overly long hours. By then the figure was as low as it was in 1916.īut why do workers want unions in the first place, and why do business owners resist them so mightily? Workers originally want unions primarily for defensive purposes - to protect against what they see as arbitrary decisions, such as sudden wage cuts, lay-offs, or firings. The account ends in 2012 through a quick overview of a failed legislative issue initiative in 2009 and information on the declining figures on 'union density' (the percentage of wage and salary workers in unions). Then the document goes on to explain how and why the act was all but dead by 1978 due to an all-out and unrelenting battle against it by the entire corporate community from the day it was passed, and then finally killed in the 1980s. In telling this story, the document shows that corporate moderates had more of a role in creating the legislation than is usually understood, even though they fiercely opposed its final form. Whatever the NLRA's shortcomings and long-term failures, it changed the American power structure for the next 50 years. The NLRA was a major turning point in American labor history because it was supposed to put the power of government behind the right of workers to organize unions and bargain collectively with their employers about wages, hours, and working conditions. The heart of this document focuses on the unlikely set of events leading to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA). The Rise and Fall of Labor Unions In The U.S.

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