Why Teach Labor History?

By James Green

any retired union members I know worry that their struggles have been Mforgotten. They fear that few now understand the sacrifices of their forebears who fought for the eight- hour day and the 40-hour week— “the folks who brought you the week- end,” as one union bumper sticker reads. Like the character in Milan Kundera’s novel,1 who believes the struggle against power “is the struggle of memory against forgetting,” the elder generation of union members and retirees I have spoken with believe that ignorance of labor history will disem- power today’s workers and students. So, the reason for teach- ing labor history in our social Above, the American Labor Studies studies classrooms is obvious Center is dedicated to disseminating labor to these union veterans. They history and curricula. The center maintains want young people to study this site, which features educational the contributions that genera- resources, such as a chronology of tions of union activists have p u s h e d American labor history, information on the made to building a nation and for mine safety laws roles that women and African Americans to democratizing and human- and workers’ compensation laws. They played in the labor movement, labor izing its often brutal workplaces. While fought for the Occupational Safety and quotes and songs, and information on child their predecessors successfully fought for Health Act of 1970, the Pregnancy Dis- labor. www.labor-studies.org monumental changes that benefited all crimination Act of 1978, the Americans Americans (not just union members), with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Fam- such as passing the Social Security Act of ily and Medical Leave Act of 1993.* gain. And so, most of all, our elder workers 1935 and ending child labor, today’s union Of course, their struggles included not hope young people will learn from labor veterans can take pride in their own only legislative activism, but also work-site history that individual workers can accomplishments. For example, they organizing and pushing reluctant state achieve some dignity if they assert their officials, federal officials, and judges to collective power. James Green is professor of history at the Uni- grant workers the right to collectively bar- Looking back, there have been several versity of Massachusetts-Boston and author of obstacles to the inclusion of workers’ his- Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, * Today’s active union members continue in this proud tory in our K–12 classrooms. Until the tradition. In the past couple of years, they helped win the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing 1960s, the history profession included few That Divided Gilded Age America. This article passage of a federal law raising the minimum wage and supported the State Children’s Health Insurance scholars of labor history. Even after the is adapted from Green’s “Why Teach Labor Program. Currently, they are fighting for the passage emergence of the new social and labor History?” in the winter 1997 issue of the OAH of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would Magazine of History. reinforce workers’ right to join a union. history 40 years ago, textbook writers were

30 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 Left and below, a virtual museum displaying “the cultural artifacts of working people,” Labor Arts includes powerful images from labor history and culture, as well as works of art representing labor’s struggles using various media such as photography, painting, and sculpture, and organizing paraphernalia including buttons, fliers, and posters. www.laborarts.org

WOMEN'S Equality Button, 1978 (image courtesy slow to adopt the insights of new scholar- Labor Arts) , page copyright Labor Arts) ship. In other words, for some time, the astor, 2005 specialized studies of labor historians were not incorporated into a wider syn- which outlawed child thesis that fully integrated labor history labor and created the into the national narrative. That challenge 40-hour work week, has now been met by the American Social came after the age of History Project and the excellent text Who industrial violence alls," oil painting by Joe P Built America?† Moreover, in the past few ended—so too did

(image courtesy of Sullivan Goss Gallery decades, labor historians, teachers, stu- health and safety pro- "Raising W dents, and activists have created a profes- tection, and the legalization of orga- sional association of their own, the Labor nizing and collective bargaining by and Working-Class History Association, to federal workers and other public promote civic engagement and encourage employees, including school the study of working people’s history.‡ teachers. Nonetheless, to some of the policymak- Neither the conflicts nor the ers and educators who determine our peaceful victories tell the whole social studies standards and influence the content of our textbooks, it seems that labor history is no longer relevant—that it is a bloody story of conflict, a depressing chapter from the dark ages of America— and thus the union story is not told as thoroughly as it could and should be. These conflicts are, of course, worth study- ing. They raise important questions: Why did so many people who demanded their rights suffer from such violent repression in a free society? Why was American labor history so much more violent than the labor history of other industrial nations? The conflict-free events and issues are, of course, also worth studying. In fact, U.S.

labor history shows that the most impor-

Department ation c u Ed , eum s u M d an Fame f o

Hall all b e s Ba ational N e h t f o y s tant achievements unions have gained for Courte working people have been achieved peacefully. Historic accomplishments like the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Above, this instructional unit, “Hardball and Handshakes,” uses the history of professional baseball to examine the relationship between employer and employee. † To learn more about Who Built America?, go to the Developed by the American Labor Studies Center and the Baseball Hall of Fame, the unit American Social History Project’s Web site at www. ashp.cuny.edu. focuses on collective bargaining and is geared toward high school and college students. ‡ To learn more about the Labor and Working-Class http://education.baseballhalloffame.org/experience/thematic_units/labor_ History Association, go to http://lawcha.org. history.html

AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 31

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American teachersContains in bonus segregated features, including: Southern school � Both short and a full length version of “A Proud Tradition” FEDERATIONAMERICAN OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO � Chapter Selection districts organized� An interactivetheir AFT historyown timeline locals and readily � Historic photographs, with commentary from AFT Archivist Dan Golodner affiliated with the� Additional AF interviewsT. And African American teach-

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This DVD contains over four hours of video and materials relating to the boards. In 1919,history the of the AFT. “AA ProudFT Tradition” is produced by the AFT’s Union Leadership Institute and the public affairs department. demanded equal educational opportuni- ties for African American children and, in 1928, called for the contribu- BACK COVER

tions of African Ameri- FRONT COVER cans to be taught in the © wally mcnamee/corbis public schools. By the middle of the In the 1960s, AFT members 20th century, the AFT and staff helped organize the 1963 March on was taking bolder steps. Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 1964, In 1948, the union 1965, and 1966, hundreds of AFT members stopped chartering traveled to the South to register new African segregated locals. In American voters and to teach in Freedom 1954, the AFT, virtually Schools. The AFT lobbied for passage of key civil alone among teachers’ rights legislation, such as the Equal Employment organizations, filed an Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the amicus brief in support Voting Rights Act. of the plaintiffs in the Over the past few decades the AFT has landmark Brown v. Board continued in this tradition by working to of Education case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately improve public schools, particularly those in high-poverty ruled that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional. neighborhoods, and to close achievement gaps. To learn more And finally, in 1957, the AFT expelled any local unions that about the AFT’s history, go to www.aft.org/about/history/ refused to admit African Americans. The AFT, then only a index.htm. An in-depth video on the AFT’s history, titled “A small union, lost nearly 7,000 members (roughly 14 percent of Proud Tradition,” is available for $10 at www.costore.com/aft/ its membership) during the 1950s, but the result—a fully productenlarged.asp?peid=283&pid=695247. integrated union—was worth it. –EDITORS

story, however. Labor unions should be labor history to college students and sive than universities. Public sector and no more exempt from critical historical union members, I am confident that an service sector labor unions are now study than corporations. Scholars of honest examination of “labor’s untold among the most integrated private insti- union history have fully documented the story” will show that, overall, unions have tutions in the country. (The American ways some labor officials have engaged in been far more democratic than other pri- Federation of Teachers, in particular, has corrupt and undemocratic activity, and vate institutions and less exclusionary much to be proud of; for a brief look at its how labor organizations have actively than businesses or the professions. In fact, history regarding desegregation, see the discriminated against immigrants, union history shows that labor organiza- box above.) women, and workers of color. It is impor- tions have made much more progress at We should teach our students the les- tant for students to understand these fail- including women, immigrants, African sons of how union members helped ings, just as it is for them to understand Americans, and Mexican Americans than democratize America, particularly during the historic failures of business and gov- banks, law firms, or other private corpo- the New Deal era when the labor move- ernment. But after 40 years of teaching rations—they have even been more inclu- ment created active voters and engaged

32 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009

Left, the California Federation of Teachers’ Labor in the Schools Committee maintains this site, which features curricula and educational activities for elementary through high school students. Lesson plans, biographies of union leaders, and photographs of children at work reflect the long struggle by unions to improve the lives of working people. www.cft. org/about/comm/labor/ elementary.html

library of congress www.memory index.html (acc.loessc.egovd N/ovemlearnb/erless 7,on 2008)s/98/built/

library of congre.loc.ssgov /learn/community/ www.memory cc_labor.php (accessed November 7, 2008)

Above, this Library of citizens out of millions of blue collar Congress site features lesson workers, most of them disfranchised Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, plans on child labor and FSA-OWI Collection, LC-USF33-011324-M4 DLC African Americans and Mexican working conditions at the turn of the 20th Americans, as well as immigrants and the consider a lesson on A. Philip Randolph century. The site also provides an extensive children of immigrants. and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Por- list of links to online resources such as films Infusing at least a little labor history ters, and on the Memphis sanitation work- and photographs, as well as a bibliography into American history or government ers’ strike, which brought Dr. Martin of reference books about labor in America. courses need not take a lot of time. For Luther King Jr. to the Lorraine Motel in www.memory.loc.gov/learn/ example, during Black History Month, 1968. Or, while studying the Constitution, community/cc_labor.php

AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 33 Additional Resources for Teaching Labor History

The Dramas of Haymarket Produced by the Chicago Historical Society and Northwest- ern University, this online project examines the Haymarket affair, a riot that began when striking workers clashed with police on May 4, 1886, in Chicago. The site recounts the incident and its aftermath, and contains collections of images, and video and audio clips. www.chicagohistory.org/dramas/overview/over.htm

The Triangle Factory Fire This site tells the story of the fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City on March 25, 1911. The fire claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers. Photographs, illustrations, testimonials, and newspaper and magazine articles posted on the site depict the inhumane working conditions that caused this tragedy. www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire

Child Labor Photographs For a collection of compelling images, visit this site featuring photographs of child labor. Taken by Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and photographer, the black and white images include children working in factories and in the fields in the early 1900s. The site also includes lesson plans that focus on Hines’s photography. www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos

teachers could lead discussions with ques- abundance of fairly recent scholarship on tions engaged in—and that union mem- tions such as: Where do workers’ rights the working class since the Industrial bers are still engaged in today—to extend come from? Should the First Amendment Revolution. As the Web sites shown here human and civil rights to the workplace. be interpreted as protecting free speech demonstrate, high-quality teaching At work, all too many Americans are and the right to free association in the resources on everything from child labor instructed that “democracy stops at the workplace? Why are most American work- in the early 1900s to collective bargaining factory or office door,” as if democracy ers “employees at will” (meaning they can in baseball to labor-related works of art could be “relegated only to evenings and 2 be terminated at any moment without any are readily available. weekends.” Studying the labor movement legal recourse, except in the case of work- Today, with union membership is one good way to counter this limited ers who can hire attorneys to sue employ- reduced, government standards for worker notion of citizenship and this restricted ers for intentionally violating laws against rights and safety under assault, and job concept of democracy. ☐ discrimination based on race, gender, age, security in jeopardy everywhere, young or disability)? people entering the labor market are still Endnotes Teachers who wish to delve deeper into vulnerable to abuse in the workplace. And 1. Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (New York: Penguin Books, 1981), 3. labor history or to look more broadly at yet, most are alarmingly unaware of the 2. Elaine Bernard, “Why Unions Matter,” Open Magazine the history of working people will find an decades of struggle that previous genera- Pamphlet Series 36 (Westfield, NJ: Open Media, 1996).

34 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 The Ongoing Need for Strong Unions A Primer for Your Students

By Fred Glass work force in the United States—are classified as the working poor: people Arturo Perez worked in a large grocery who work hard, but still can’t make ends store in Berkeley, California, famous for its meet and are just one or two paychecks huge selection of fresh produce and from homelessness. healthy foods. In the progressive Berkeley These are the workers at the bottom community, such a reputation attracts of the economy, and they are the people customers. But the workers weren’t as who could benefit the most from pleased with the store as the customers belonging to a union. But over the past were. Confronting low wages, poor few decades, the percentage of union working conditions, and favoritism in members in the work force has shrunk, hiring and promotion, they decided ap p h oto /ch arle s kno b lo c k that they needed a union to represent them. During the union organizing drive, store managers accused Perez of stealing some garbanzo beans, and fired him. Perez was an outspoken supporter of the union campaign. Union organiz- ing is legal. What happened to Perez—being fired on a flimsy pretext, but really for being a union activist—is illegal. It is a common occurrence nonetheless. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, up to 20,000 American workers are fired for union organizing every year. p h oto b y j oe rae d le / getty image s Luckily, Perez did not face store management on his own. His co-workers from about 33 percent to just over 12 defended him, and the union—the United percent. Plenty of new jobs have been Food and Commercial Workers Local created during that time, and a lot of new unions shrink, fewer people know what 120—persuaded the National Labor wealth. But the new jobs have tended to unions are, and do. And fewer remember Relations Board to hold hearings on be either high skill/high wage, or low skill/ what unions have to do with the prosper- whether the store management had low wage. Jobs in the middle—the jobs ity of working people. committed unfair labor practices, includ- that used to be available in manufactur- What Is a Union? ing Perez’s firing, during the organizing ing, with decent wages and benefits, drive. Rather than face the bad publicity enough to support a family—have been A union is a group of workers who have resulting from such hearings, the store disappearing. organized themselves for mutual aid and negotiated agreements to recognize the Coincidentally, these are the jobs that collective action. It is a tool developed by union, pay back wages to Perez (as well as used to belong to union members. So there and for working people, to provide them another fired worker), and post a notice are parallel developments under way. The with a collective voice in their place of inside the store promising not to engage number of workers enrolled in unions is employment and in the broader society. in such practices again. The union shrinking, and so is the number of jobs that Like any tool, it can be used well, badly, or bargained a contract that included health support a middle-class way of life. not at all. Used properly, a union provides benefits for all workers, substantial wage Some people interpret the decline of workers with a means to improve their increases, and regular pay for jury duty. organized labor as if unions belong to the lives in many ways. Perez’s story had a happy ending. Not past, and have no role to play in the Unions bring working people increased all workers are so lucky. Even when the global economy of the 21st century. They pay and benefits, and legal, legislative, laws are observed, work in today’s point to the numbers and say that and political remedies addressing the economy can be rough. As many as 30 workers are choosing not to join unions issues workers and their families care million people—nearly one-quarter of the anymore. The real picture is more about: secure jobs and safe communities; complex, and contradicts this view. Most necessary social services like public workers would prefer to belong to unions education, health care, and public safety; Fred Glass is communications director of the California if they could. But many are being Federation of Teachers (CFT), an affiliate of the AFT; and a measure of support in old age editor of Perspective, the newsletter of the CFT’s prevented from joining, rather than through employee pension plans and Community College Council; and a longtime labor choosing not to join. Unions remain the government programs such as Social educator who has worked with both teachers and best guarantee of economic protection Security and Medicare. museums. and political advocacy for workers. But as The reason why workers need unions

AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 35 © bettmanN/corbis

boils down to this: employers have far workers form a committee, which provides d m c new / getty image s p h oto b y d avi more power than workers do, especially if an effective way of reaching out to more workers have to negotiate with them over workers until a majority has decided to But a union is often much more than wages and working conditions as individu- establish a union in the workplace. This is that. It is a measure of dignity for workers als. On the side of employers, we find the key to effective unionism: it is the on the job. It is a kind of extended family, greater financial resources, favorable result of the democratic process, the where workers take care of each other. laws, and the power that comes from the actions of workers themselves, and the ability to hire and fire people who need backing of an organization with resources. The Meaning of Labor’s to work for a living. However kind or well Once a majority of workers have Decline for Working People intentioned they might be as individual indicated they want a union, the employer The power of collective bargaining human beings, employers are motivated has the opportunity to recognize the supports higher wages and benefits, by maximizing profits in their businesses. organization as the official representative better safety and health conditions, and All too often, that motivation overrides of the workers, and to sit down and greater confidence among workers when fair treatment of employees. negotiate a contract with them. If the they need to speak their minds. With such By forming unions, workers gain the employer does not readily agree to a clear set of advantages, why don’t more power that comes with being part of a recognize the union and bargain, then workers belong to unions? In today’s group created for collective action. As a usually the workers move to an election. political environment, unions are often group, workers can negotiate with their In the private sector, this is overseen by not allowed to function the way they are employers with greater chance of success the National Labor Relations Board meant to. The laws designed to enable than they can as individuals. This is why (NLRB), and in the public sector, by various workers to form unions of their own Cesar Chavez, for example, became a agencies. choosing were passed many years ago. union organizer. After many years of If a majority of those voting cast The workplace has changed, the economy attempting to address the poverty and ballots in favor of the union, and the has changed, and the society has changed. powerlessness of California farm workers employer does not file a challenge to the The laws have not kept up, and no longer through community organizing, Chavez election results, then the union is certified provide the protections they were written decided that a union was the most as the exclusive collective bargaining to provide. A sustained, decades-long effective vehicle for achieving a better agent for the workers. (An alternative to employer offensive has weakened unions, life for farm workers. His singular this method is called “card check,” in and as membership has declined, so has achievement was to build the first farm which the employer recognizes the union awareness of the benefits of unionism. As workers union that lasted more than a through a simple presentation of cards a result, many of the problems that were few years—the United Farm Workers of signed by a majority of workers indicating eradicated when the labor movement was America. As a result, tens of thousands they want representation by the union.) stronger have reemerged. of farm workers enjoy higher salaries, After a union has been elected by the have health insurance and old age workers and certified by the NLRB or a Economic Disparities pensions, and experience a greater public-sector labor agency, the law In 1980, the differential between the measure of safety on the job. requires that the employer begin the average chief-executive-officer salary of collective bargaining process with the Fortune 500 companies and the average How Do Workers Organize? union. Collective bargaining means worker income in his company was 42 to 1. A union is formed when workers agree worker representatives sitting down with By 2004, the differential was 430 to 1. This that they need the strength of numbers management representatives to discuss is the highest ratio of its kind in the world, and a collective voice on the job. In most and decide matters such as how much and demonstrates an alarming trend: an cases, this means that they seek the workers will be paid and how to resolve unequal distribution of wealth worse than assistance of an organizer from an already conflicts, when they arise, in a manner fair the United States has seen since the 1920s. existing union. The organizer helps the to everyone involved. Besides the growing gap between the

36 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 wealthiest class and working families, a similar slope. In 1973, with about a regulations, that little effective machinery there are other signs of an economy quarter of the work force organized, remains to deter employers from engag- tilting against people who work for a health care coverage was nearly universal. ing in such unfair and supposedly illegal living. In the three decades following One of the benefits of widespread activities. When the NLRB finds a com- World War II, the income of all groups collective bargaining was that even pany has engaged in unfair labor rose at more or less the same rate. For nonunion employers were pressured to practices—often after years of legal the past quarter century, there have match union-negotiated wage and benefit maneuvering—the only “remedy” might been growing numbers of poor people levels, or risk losing workers to the be that the company must post a notice at the bottom, substantial numbers (but companies with unions and collective admitting guilt, and promise not to do it comparatively fewer) leading upper- bargaining. Over the three decades since again. Even if an employee is found to middle-class lives, and a diminishing then, the decay of union density has been have been fired for legally protected number of working families in the middle. accompanied by a loss of health care activities such as union organizing, and The very rich remain few, but their share coverage for enormous numbers of the company is forced to hire her or him of the wealth is increasing dramatically. people. As of 2006, employer-based health back with full back pay, years may have More and more jobs can be found in coverage had been jettisoning a million gone by, the other workers involved in low-paying areas of the economy. Fewer people a year for five years. Worse, more the campaign might have moved on to jobs are permanent, or offer health than 45 million people, or about one in new jobs, and the union will have to start benefits or retirement plans. The largest every six people in the United States, have all over again, with no guarantee that private employer in the United States is no health care coverage at all. anything different would happen this now Walmart, where wages are so low time around. d m c new / getty image s p h oto b y d avi that many workers are eligible for and Deteriorating Health and Safety Standards This blatant culture of intimidation receive government assistance. For The Occupational Safety and Health works quite effectively. The surprising instance, in 2005, 24 percent of Walmart Administration (OSHA) was created in thing is that workers keep trying, and workers had no health coverage or were 1970 because unions convinced Congress their election win rate is over 50 percent. enrolled in a public health program. that U.S. workers needed an agency This is a testament not only to the devoted to overseeing their welfare in courage of the workers who persist in the The Return of Forced Labor often dangerous workplaces. At its peak face of such obstacles, but to the continu- Most people in the United States think that in 1980, OSHA employed 2,951 workplace ing need for unions in the American slavery disappeared in the 19th century, inspectors. Today, in a work force that has workplace. Nonetheless, the number of with the end of the Civil War. As a matter grown by nearly 30 million workers, the elections has declined over the years, a of fact, today, here in the U.S., it continues number of OSHA inspectors has been clear sign of the effectiveness of the to exist, just as it does elsewhere in the reduced to just 2,208. anti-union industry and illegal tactics world. This isn’t the slavery of the Old arrayed against workers. According to a South, of course. It looks different—when Employer Coercion recent survey, were it not for the fear of you can see it. Mostly it’s hidden, behind Over half of all union organizing cam- being fired, 57 million workers would the walls of old buildings, where lawbreak- paigns face threats by management or readily join a union. ing employers hold workers against their owners to close the company if the union will for long hours and little pay, where election is successful. Workers are typically hen collective bargaining was minimum wage laws are but a rumor, and harassed, threatened, disciplined, or fired widely recognized as the best common sense health and safety rules—let if they openly support the union. While Wmodel for conflict resolution alone laws—are ignored every moment of precise statistics are not possible to keep, between labor and capital, it had a every day. It is reliably estimated that more somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 leveling effect on income distribution. than 10,000 people in the U.S. are currently workers are fired each year for activities Fewer people were very poor or very rich, employed under conditions of forced related to union organizing. and most working families were not only labor—in restaurants, agriculture, garment Such threats and firings are illegal able to get by, but could expect to factories, and other industries with a high under the National Labor Relations Act, advance beyond their parents’ economic demand for cheap workers. which was originally enacted explicitly to position. “level the playing field” between workers The union advantage continues to give Failing Health Care Coverage and bosses. But over the decades, the act workers an incentive to fight back against As union density has declined, employ- has been amended so many times, and so employers unwilling to pay decent wages, ment-based health coverage has slid down many court decisions have modified the even with all the obstacles to organizing that workers face today. The higher standards of union workplaces, and access This primer on unions is adapted from Work, Money, through collective bargaining to fair, open and Power: Unions in the 21st Century. To read the rules for conflict resolution, provide an full-length version, which also includes information important alternative for workers who on labor history and details on the economic wonder what they can do about unfair benefits of unionization, go to www.cft.org/ bosses. And union values, summed up in uploads/resources/docs/workmoneypower.pdf. Work, Money and Power the slogan, “an injury to one is an injury Work, Money, and Power was published by the to all,” continue to inspire workers to seek UC Berkeley Labor Center. To purchase classroom UNIONSIN THE 21ST CENTURY improvement in their lives by trusting in copies (for $1.25), go to http://laborcenter. the power gained when they stand berkeley.edu/publications/work_money.shtml. together.

AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2008-2009 37