THE POLITICS OF UNION DECLINE: BUSINESS POLITICAL MOBILIZATION AND RESTRICTIVE LABOR LEGISLATION, 1938 TO 1960 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Marc Dixon, M.A. The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Professor Vincent Roscigno, Advisor Approved By Professor Randy Hodson Professor J. Craig Jenkins ___________________ Advisor Graduate Program in Sociology ABSTRACT This dissertation considers how business groups mobilized politically to deal with the “labor question” that exploded within various regions of the U.S. during the 1930s. I extend organizational, political, and cultural framing perspectives on social movements to address how a seemingly ascendant union movement suffered such a series of political setbacks during a period of unparalleled strength. Drawing on event history techniques as well as historical case study methods, I analyze the surge of restrictive labor legislation that spread across states between 1938 and 1960, and especially the growth of the Right-to-Work movement that sought to limit union activity and contain labor to a narrow geographic space. The analyses speak to the enduring question for political sociologists and social movement scholars of how social movements and their opponents affect the political process. Event history results reveal that business and labor organization are meaningful for policy adoption in their own right. Political opportunities, and the presence of sympathetic law-makers in particular, are also influential in determining where and when social movement actors may be successful in securing favorable legislation. Just how business and labor actors attempt to sway policy, however, is more complex. Findings indeed reveal distinct regional variation in the unfolding of Right-to-Work struggles during these pivotal years, and suggest that there are multiple routes to policy change. Historical case studies of representative anti-labor campaigns extend these insights further, and inform our understanding of how social movements matter. The cases suggest a number of mechanisms though which social movements and countermovements may influence the political process, and point to the importance of framing in particular. The historical insights also extend the quantitative findings ii by bringing focus to, and illustrating the importance of, the interaction of these contenders at a more proximate level in addition to their presence or absence across states. This study advances social movement perspectives by probing the political mobilization and cultural work of more elite actors, employers, and their associations, and their bearing on a range of movement processes. The project also provides an important historical window into the political relations of business groups and labor unions in the U.S., and demonstrates the relative success of employer efforts to curtail labor organization. iii Dedicated to My Parents iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people assisted me throughout the research and writing of this dissertation. Some of the research was supported by a Human Rights Research Award from the Department of Sociology at Ohio State University, and by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Award. I am also indebted to the assistance of several archivists and librarians, particularly those at the George Meany Archives, the Hagley Archives, the Ohio Historical Society, and the Walter Reuther Archives. Several friends, colleagues, and scholars who provided encouragement, read portions of the work, and otherwise helped me along the way are Dennis Condron, David Jacobs, Nella Van Dyke, James Moody, Dan Tope, Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Greg Hooks, Zhenchao Qian, Brian Kowalski, Andrew Martin, Steve Lopez, Ryan Light, Warren Van Tyne, Bill Form, and Seth Feinberg. I wish to thank my committee for the invaluable insight and support they provided throughout the process. Randy Hodson and Craig Jenkins helped me think broadly about social movements, business groups, and political change. And I am especially grateful to my advisor, Vincent Roscigno. He read countless drafts, provided critical insight, and always reminded me of the larger goals of the research. This support helped me improve the project at every step of the way. Finally, I thank Melissa Horwitz, who listened patiently, critiqued, read drafts, and provided the encouragement that enabled me to finish this project. v VITA October 26, 1974............................................Born – St. Johnsbury, Vermont 2001................................................................M.A., Sociology, The Ohio State University 1999 to Present...............................................Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS Dixon, Marc, Vincent J. Roscigno and Randy Hodson. 2004. “Unions, Solidarity, and Striking.” Social Forces 83: 3-33. Dixon, Marc. 2004. “Status Divisions and Worker Mobilization.” Sociological Spectrum 24: 369 – 396. Dixon, Marc and Vincent J. Roscigno. 2003. “Status, Networks, and Social Movement Participation: The Case of Striking Workers.” American Journal of Sociology 108: 1292 - 1327. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Sociology vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract....................................................................................................................ii Dedication................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments....................................................................................................v Vita..........................................................................................................................vi List of Tables...........................................................................................................xiii List of Figures..........................................................................................................ix Chapters: 1. Introduction...................................................................................................1 2. Approaches to the Labor Question Following the New Deal.......................15 3. The Politics of Social Movements................................................................51 4. Data and Analytic Strategy...........................................................................82 5. Event History Analysis of Right-to-Work....................................................110 6. Business Mobilization and Labor Defeat......................................................134 7. Right-to-Work in the Industrial Heartland....................................................163 8. Discussion and Conclusion...........................................................................193 Appendix A. Descriptive Statistics...........................................................................210 Appendix B. Archival and Quantitative Data Sources..............................................212 References.................................................................................................................214 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 4.1 Right-to-Work Victories, 1944 - 1960...............................................................106 4.2 Key Independent Variables................................................................................107 4.3 Texas and Ohio Cases.........................................................................................118 5.1 Discrete Time Event History Estimates of Right-to-Work.................................129 5.2 Discrete Time Event History Estimates of Right-to-Work.................................130 5.3 Discrete Time Event History Estimates, Excluding the South Region...............131 5.4 Discrete Time Event History Estimates, Within the South Only........................132 A.1 Descriptive Statistics for Control Variables.......................................................210 A.2 Correlation Matrix..............................................................................................211 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 States Passing Early Restrictions on Union Organizing Tactics.........................48 2.2 Business Appeals for Right-to-Work..................................................................49 2.3 States With Right-to-Work Laws in 1947..........................................................50 4.1 Continuum of Political Struggle........................................................................109 5.1 Expected Probability of Right-to-Work Passage...............................................133 6.1 Labor Divisions in the Postwar Years...............................................................161 6.2 Business Claims in Texas..................................................................................162 7.1 Right-to-Work Battleground States in the late 1950s.......................................190 7.2 The New Labor Response.................................................................................191 7.3 Right-to-Work Advocates Target Women and Families..................................192 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This study examines how business groups mobilized politically to reshape the New Deal to their advantage, and particularly how they dealt with the “labor question” that exploded on the scene in the 1930s. The turbulent decade saw the birth of the modern industrial union movement and the emergence