The Ghost of Times Past

by Stephen Fleischman

A spectre is haunting America—the spectre of Taft-Hartley.

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, otherwise known as The Labor-Management Relations Act, became law in the Truman Administration after World War II, restricting the power of labor unions and clobbering the working class.

During the war, labor had won many victories, achieving higher wages, better working conditions, health benefits and pension plans. Even women were working in defense industries. Remember “Rosie the riveter”?

A real “labor movement” was built in the United States, with the strengthening of the AFL and the creation of the CIO. It contributed to the broadening of the middle class. The workers were winning a round in the class struggle.

Labor’s standing was uplifted a decade earlier, in the depth of The Great Depression, when a Senator from New York ushered a bill through Congress that became known as the Wagner Act, officially the National Labor Relations Act, and created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to act on labor matters.

The Act protected the rights of workers in the private sector, establishing the legality to organize labor unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activities in support of their demands. It was the best thing that had happened to labor in a long time, tending to level the playing field and allowing for a more equitable distribution of wealth. Workers gained the purchasing power with which to buy the products they produced. It kept the economy afloat.

The NLRB was given the power to investigate and decide on charges of unfair labor practices and to conduct elections in which workers would have the opportunity to decide whether they wanted to be represented by a union. The government was on the side of the people, for a change.

Then, Taft-Hartley hit—a McCarthy period bill sponsored by Republican right-wingers, Senator Robert Taft and Rep. Fred Hartley. Taft-Hartley was designed to put labor back in its hole. It was enacted by Congress, overriding President Truman’s veto. Labor leaders called it the “slave-labor bill”. It pulled the teeth and tore the claws out of the Wagner Act.

Corporate power went on a crusade to crush the organized labor movement in this country. Taft-Hartley was the weapon.

According to the Wall Street Journal they succeeded nicely, “In the US, just 7.5% of private-sector workers are union members.” (8-22-08 A11) Now, the economy is down in the hole with the work force.

Instead of building on our industrial and manufacturing base, our greedy and grave-digging capitalists have off-shored their plants and out-sourced our jobs to places where labor costs are lowest; where profits are the only thing that matters. A race to the bottom. We are now importing the products our own workers should be producing.

If you didn’t know we’ve been in a recession for over a year, you haven’t been paying attention. The economic collapse facing this country is spreading world-wide.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly,” Obama told reporters on Friday (1-23-09) as he met with lawmakers at the White House. He’s trying to get a stimulus package of around $825 billion out of Congress by mid-February. He thinks he can rescue the economy by throwing money at it. The Republicans, of course, want tax cuts.

The first thing Obama should do is get Congress to repeal Taft-Hartley and it wouldn’t cost him a dime. If he could help revive the union movement he might get some higher wages in the hands of the working class and create some purchasing power.

The second thing he should do is get the Employee Free Choice Act through Congress. Under the Act, the NLRB would recognize a union’s role as an official bargaining agent if a majority of employees authorized representation via a card check (signing a card stipulating their preference), without requiring the cumbersome secret ballot election that has cracked many a union when the employer has purposely tied it up in bureaucratic red tape.

The Employee Free Choice bill got through the House in 2007 and had majority support in the Senate, but was never voted on due to a Republican-led filibuster. President Obama has expressed his support of the measure.

The third thing President Obama should do is make “close shop” and “union shop” mandatory for all infrastructure projects financed by the current stimulus package. Encourage collective bargaining and strengthen the unions. That’s been a long-standing tradition on government financed jobs.

The fourth thing the President should do is to make bread and milk free to all families with children living below the poverty line.

It would show that the President cares about people.

What he does with the rest of the 825 Billion dollar stimulus package may help the economy in the short term.

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