Against Labor: How U.S. Employers Organized to Defeat Union Activism (Working Class in American History)

Employers have enjoyed a tremendous amount of power throughout American history. This nine-chapter collection examines that power as it relates to the so-called “labor question” or “labor problem,” defined in the late nineteenth century by academics, clergymen, journalists, lawyers, politicians and employers to describe strikes, boycott campaigns, and union organization campaigns. Employers asserted their power in numerous ways; they organized with one another, busted unions, broke strikes, and blacklisted labor activists. They enjoyed largely favorable political climates; judges regularly granted them injunctions against protesting workers, politicians passed laws making union organizing difficult, and armed forces—police forces and National Guardsman--assisted them during strikes and boycott campaigns staged by workers. These chapters examine class conflicts on the local and national levels, demonstrating how employers contested labor in many different contexts—and usually won. The chapters explore how employers used race to divide the working class, how they sought to deflect attention away from their own privileged class positions, how they used the law to their advantages, and how they settled internal disagreements. Taken together, the chapters reveal a rich history of employer organizing, lobbying politicians, and creating new forms of public relations while enriching themselves at the expense of ordinary people. Against Labor highlights the tenacious efforts by employers to organize themselves as a class to contest labor. Ranging across a spectrum of understudied issues, essayists explore employer anti-labor strategies and offer incisive portraits of people and organizations that aggressively opposed unions. Other contributors examine the anti-labor movement against a backdrop of larger forces, such as the intersection of race and ethnicity with anti-labor activity, and anti-unionism in the context of neoliberalism. Timely and revealing, Against Labor deepens our understanding of management history and employer activism and their metamorphic effects on workplace and society. Contributors: Michael Dennis, Elizabeth Esch, Rosemary Feurer, Dolores E. Janiewski, Thomas A. Klug, Chad Pearson, Peter Rachleff, David Roediger, Howard Stanger, and Robert Woodrum.| Title Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Against Labor / Rosemary Feurer and Chad Pearson 1. Scientific Management, Racist Science, and Race Management / Elizabeth Esch and David Roediger 2. "Free Shops for Free Men"? : The Challenges of Strikebreaking and Union-Busting in the Progressive Era / Chad Pearson 3. Employers' Path to the Open Shop in Detroit, 1903–7 / Thomas A. Klug 4. Race, Unionism, and the Open-Shop Movement along the Waterfront in Mobile, Alabama / Robert H. Woodrum 5. Through a Glass, Darkly: The NLRB, Employer Counteroffensives, Investigative Committees, and the CIO / Dolores E. Janiewski 6. The Strange Career of A. A. Ahner: Reconsidering Blackjacks and Briefcases / Rosemary Feurer 7. A Moderate Employers' Association in a "House Divided": The Case of the Employing Printers of Columbus, Ohio, 1887 - 1987 / Howard R. Stanger 8. Litigating for Profit: Business, Law, and Labor in the New Economy South / Michael Dennis 9. Capital and Labor in the 21st Century: The End of History? / Peter Rachleff Glossary Contributors Index | "Boldly challenges the scholarship that considers employers as a malleable force that often compromises when social movements forge political environments that are inimical to their interests. Contributes enormously to our understanding of business tactics and strategy."—Immanuel Ness, author of Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism "At a time when public sector unions are under renewed attack and private-sector union membership hovers near levels not seen since the early twentieth century, Against Labor offers a potent, powerful reminder that, as Feurer and Pearson put it, 'People, not faceless markets, shaped this story.'" — The Journal of Southern History "An excellent volume. The standard of scholarship and writing is very high, and the editors have worked hard to produce a cohesive collection of essays that shed much light on a still-understudied phenomenon in US and labor history more broadly."— Australasian Journal of American Studies | Rosemary Feurer is an associate professor of history at Northern Illinois University. She is the author of Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950 . Chad Pearson teaches history at Collin College. He is the author of Reform or Repression: Organizing America's Anti-Union Movement . Introduction: against labor -- Rosemary Feurer and Chad Pearson Scientific management, racist science, and race management -- Elizabeth Esch and David Roediger "Free shops for free men"? The challenges of strikebreaking and union-busting in the Progressive era -- Chad Pearson Employers' path to the open shop in Detroit, 1903-7 -- Thomas A. King Race, unionism, and the open-shop movement along the waterfront in Mobile, Alabama -- Robert H. Woodrum Through a glass, darkly : the NLRB, employer counteroffensives, investigative committees, and the CIO -- Dolores E. Janiewski The strange career of A.A Ahner : reconsidering blackjacks and briefcases -- Rosemary Feurer A moderate employers' association in a "house divided" : the case of the employing printers of Columbus, Ohio, 1887-1987 -- Howard R. Stanger Litigating for profit : business, law, and labor in the new economy south -- Michael Dennis Capital and labor in the 21st century : the end of history? -- Peter Rachleff. "Against labor highlights the amazingly successful efforts by employers to control workers while simultaneously shaping themselves into a new class. Ranging across a spectrum of understudied issues, essayists explore employer anti-labor strategies and offer incisive portraits of companies that aggressively opposed unionization. Other contributors examine the anti-labor movement against a backdrop of larger forces, such as the intersection of race and ethnicity with anti-labor activity, and anti-unionism in the context of neoliberalism. A timely and revealing collection, Against labor deepens our understanding of management history and employer activism and their metamorphic effects on the American workplace." --Page 4 de la couverture