Introduction

The rise of American trade-union membership to unprecedented heights in 1937 has made the influence of workers, as a group, on the determination of policies in industry potentially very much greater than it has been before in this country. Policies in regard to the use of national resources in production will increasingly reflect the result of joint consideration by labor and management of many details in the operation of industry. For an understanding of the operation of the American economy, it is essential, therefore, to consider the nature and extent of labor organization, and the methods through which organized workers participate in the determination of economic policies.

Labor organization, for the purpose of this survey, may be defined as any association of wage earners concerned with the industrial interests of its members. The trade union, traditionally defined as a continuing association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their working lives, is the predominant type of labor organization. The company union, together with its successor, the "independent union", is included, because among its purposes are attention to working conditions and protection of individual worker's interests, although its scope is narrower than that of the trade union. The fact that some company unions have been employerdominated and for the primary purpose of preventing trade-union organization does not exclude the entire group from the category of labor organization.

The trade union movement in the United States throughout its history has reflected the character of the economic environment. The first unions, local groups of skilled craftsmen, were organized in the 1790's and early 1800's when the market had broadened enough to introduce merchant-middlemen between consumers and the producer group of craftsmen and their employers, with the resultant competitive pressure on prices and wages. As time went on, the widening of the market brought with it the development of the factory system, competition on a nation-wide basis, and larger scale operations under corporate control. Trade unions reflected these changes, in the development first of local trades unions, through which various craft unions cooperated on local issues; then the establishment of national unions of the various crafts, especially after 1 Appendix 14 was prepared by Emily C. Brown, assisted by Jean M. Massel.

the Civil War; and finally the federation of the national unions in the American Federation of Labor in 1886.

Labor organization throughout the century had its periods of resurgence and decline, of experimentation with political action and with utopian panaceas. The Knights of Labor, which rose to its peak in 1886 and rapidly declined thereafter, attempted organization to include all workers, and had broad social and political as well as industrial aims. By the end of the century, however, the American Federation of Labor was dominant among American labor organizations. Its policies of business unionism, hard-headed attention to the wage and hour problems of its members, and organization of the more skilled workers in the type of unions which could deal effectively with their problems, were well established, and resulted in a stability and strength unknown before.

The World War, with its demand for production, scarcity of labor, rising prices, and a generally high level of profits, put organized labor in a strategic position. Membership rose to over five million by 1920, and temporarily included large groups of the less skilled workers who had been unorganized before, especially in the metals, machinery, shipbuilding, transportation, and clothing industries. The gains proved unstable, however, and through most of the decade of the 1920's trade union membership stood again only a little above its pre-war level.2

A striking fact of the American labor movement is that it embraced so small a proportion of the workers before 1935. The best estimates 3 indicate that the percentage of all employees organized rose from 8.6 in 1910 to 17.5 in 1920, and fell to 9.3 in 1930. For all nonagricultural employees the percentage rose from 9.9 in 1910 to 19.4 in 1920, and fell to 10.2 in 1930. In the manufacturing field 12.7 percent of the wageearners were organized in 1923, 10.9 in 1929, and 16.2 in 1933, while in 1935 the percentage had increased to 17.6.

The upturn from the depression in 1933 opened a new chapter in trade-union history. The expansion of union membership which began in that year, and by 1937 had reached perhaps 7,000,000 members, appeared to be a response to long-run underlying factors as well as to more immediate influences. The increase in business Leo Wolman. Ebb and Flow in Trade Unionism, New York, 1936, pp. 16, 28. 3 Ibid., pp. 116, 227; Wolman, Union Membership in Great Britain and the United States, National Bureau of Economic Research Bulletin 68, December 27, 1937, p. 11.

activity, rising employment, and rising prices provided a stimulus and an increasing opportunity for tradeunion activity. Federal legislation encouraging and protecting labor organization, especially the National Industrial Recovery Act and the National Labor Relations Act, were influential in the movement. The widespread character of the movement, however, in areas hitherto entirely unorganized and among unskilled and semiskilled workers, seemed to reflect a new attitude of American workers-a demand for organization through which all workers, skilled and unskilled, could participate in the determination of the industrial policies directly affecting them. The insecurities met during the long depression and accumulated resentments against particular industrial policies contributed to the vigor with which this demand was pushed.

The consequent establishment of trade unionism on a wider scale than ever before, functioning under trade agreements in industries hitherto without experience in this sort of joint control, makes necessary a consideration of present-day trade unionism and its place in the American economy.

Current Labor Organizations in the United States

An attempt to describe the current structure of American labor organizations is confronted by grave difficulties. At a time of rapid development and change, the problem of securing the facts is serious, while facts once obtained rapidly become out of date. Nevertheless, the general outlines of the picture are of more than momentary significance and may be drawn with some definiteness. The details are presented only as the best information available as of SeptemberOctober 1937.

A number of differentiations must be made in describing American labor organization at this time. The most generally recognized is that between the American Federation of Labor and the Committee for Industrial Organization. A second, not entirely coincident with the first, is that between craft and industrial unionism. In each of these categories are the local, the international union, and the federation. Finally, there are the "unaffiliated" unions, the company unions, and the socalled independent unions.

Craft and Industrial Unionism

A craft union is a union of workers who perform a certain type of work, with special skills, using tools characteristic of this craft or trade. The jurisdiction is over a rather narrow range of jobs, although the members may work in a considerable number of industries, producing a variety of products. Pure craft unions are relatively rare, most of the so-called craft unions covering several related types of work. Examples of pure

craft unions are those of pattern-makers, window-glass cutters, and locomotive engineers. The unions of carpenters, machinists, printing pressmen, and teamsters are examples of "craft unions" having a jurisdiction broader than single crafts.

The industrial union, on the other hand, has a jurisdiction covering all the workers in an industry, whatever their occupation. The basis of this jurisdiction is the product. Whether the union includes all workers, even office workers and teamsters, however, differs from case to case. Examples of industrial unions are the unions of the men's and women's clothing workers, the mine workers, tobacco workers, and automobile workers. The lines between craft and industrial unionism are blurred by a number of developments. In certain fields, craft unions are organizing on an industrial basis. The American Federation of Labor awarded jurisdiction over the radio and electrical manufacturing industry to the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; over the lumber industry to the Carpenters and Joiners; and over the manufacture of aircraft to the International Association of Machinists. The machinists frequently organize on a semi-industrial basis, making agreements to cover all workers in auto repair shops and in many machine shops, and in locomotive building covering all workers except such other skilled groups as pattern-makers and molders. Such tendencies to expand toward industrial organization can be found among other craft unions.

The development of cooperative action by craft unions is another move toward a type of industrial action, while maintaining actual organization on a craft basis. The Pacific Coast Maritime Federation, local building trades councils, and metal trades councils, railroad shop crafts, and the entire group of standard railroad unions, all are examples of arrangements for joint action by craft unions, although the crafts maintain their separate identity.

From the standpoint of industrial structure it is clear that unions cannot be classed simply as craft or industrial. Rather there is a wide range of forms, from the pure craft union which makes craft agreements, through various joint-craft and semi-industrial forms, to the union which organizes and bargains collectively for all workers in the industry as a unit. Experimentation with all these forms is active at the present time, and different types appear to be proving themselves suited to different conditions.

Local and International Unions and the Federation

The local union is the basic unit of American trade unionism. The great majority of these local unions are members of a national or international union of the same craft or industry. During the years of rapid organization following the National Recovery Admin

istration the federal local also has been of importance— a local union, directly affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and usually of industrial form, in an industry or group of industries in which there was not at the time a national union. Similar local unions, directly affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, made their appearance more recently. The international unions, made up of the local units, take their title from the fact that most of them include Canada within their jurisdiction, and a few Mexico, Cuba, and other areas. The international union is the seat of power in the American labor movement. The degree of control over local unions varies, but always is considerable. Autonomy is jealously maintained as against the power of the federation to which the international belongs, although it is the federation which lays down the lines of jurisdiction. On all matters within its jurisdiction, however, the international has authority. It is the international, or its local unions, which engages in collective bargaining, makes agreements, pays strike benefits, and in general carries on the industrial functions of a trade union.

The federation is formed by the affiliation of international or local unions. It sponsors State and city federations or councils of its affiliated unions. Its chief functions are the establishing of jurisdictional lines, the encouragement and support of organizing campaigns, the formulation of general policies for trade union action, and the promotion of legislation and governmental action favorable to the interests of labor. The American Federation of Labor has been for many years the central organization with which the great majority of organized workers are affiliated. The Committee for Industrial Organization functioned from 1936 to 1938 as a loose federation, and in 1938 established itself as a formal organization under a constitution, taking the name: Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor had its beginning in 1881 in the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, and in 1886 was formally organized under its present title. From the beginning it has been a federation of autonomous unions. In 1937 it included 100 national and international unions with their 28,642 local unions, and 1406 local trade and Federal unions directly affiliated with the Federation. The members of these locals were affiliated also through 738 city federations or "central labor unions" and 49 State federations. There were four departments also in the Federation: the Building Trades Department, Metal Trades Department, Railway Department, and a Union Label Trades Department.

4

4 American Federation of Labor. Report of Proceedings of Fifty-seventh Annual Convention, 1937, p. 76.

The American Federation of Labor, throughout its history, has included craft, industrial, and intermediate forms of unions, but the craft type has been predominant. A satisfactory estimate of proportionate membership is difficult to make, because of the uncertainties as to the type of many unions. However, it is clear that the industrial form came to have a larger share than previously during the upswing of union membership after 1933, because of the disproportionate increases in the mining, clothing, and later in the heavy industries.5

The American Federation of Labor has not, as a matter of official policy, preferred either the craft or the industrial form under all circumstances. It has held, however, that jurisdiction rights granted to a union by the American Federation of Labor must not be infringed upon by another union. In practice there have been numerous conflicts over jurisdiction between craft and industrial unions within the Federation. Problems of this sort came to the fore when organization developed on an industrial basis in industries which had been largely unorganized, but in parts of which various craft unions held jurisdiction according to their charters, as in the automobile, rubber, and electrical manufacturing industries.

The Committee for Industrial Organization

Before 1935 American trade unionism, with its predominatingly craft character, had not organized the heavy manufacturing industries. In 1934 about twothirds of all American trade-union members were concentrated in the mining, quarrying and oil, building, transportation and communication, clothing, and paper and printing industries. In manufacturing industries other than clothing and paper and printing, there were only 14 percent of all trade union members. Organization in the heavy industries-automobiles, steel, rubber, and others was very limited. In order to cover the important gaps in labor organization, the Committee for Industrial Organization was established in November 1935. It was initiated by the presidents of eight international unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, under the chairmanship of John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers. Its purpose was stated in its first official publication:

It has been formed for the purpose of encouraging and promoting the organization of the unorganized workers in mass production and other industries upon an industrial basis. Its aim is to foster recognition and acceptance of collective bargain

Dr. Wolman estimated that for all American trade unions the approximate percentage of craft unions in all trade union membership was as follows: 1914, 75 percent; 1929, 83 percent; 1933, 73 percent; 1934, 67 percent. (Wolman, Ebb and Flow in Trade Unionism, p. 92.) These figures were obtained by deducting from total membership the membership of certain clearly industrial unions, in mining, clothing, shoe, textile, brewing, ship-building, and electrical industries. They probably overestimate the craft percentage.

Wolman, Ebb and Flow in Trade Unionism, p. 87. 1 Ibid., p. 91.