![]() ![]() Lewis, demanded higher pay and safer conditions for the workers they represented, and the strikes did lead to important union wins. Union leaders, including Walter Reuther and John L. By its end, over 5 million Americans would participate, making it the largest and longest labor dispute in US history. What was the beginning of a nationwide strike wave only continued to grow into 1946. By November 1945, the United Auto Workers called a general strike against General Motors, prompting almost 250,000 workers to walk off the job. The following month, thousands more including lumber workers and teamsters joined in their own strikes. On the heels of Japan’s surrender in September 1945, thousands of workers went on strike, including 43,000 petroleum workers and 200,000 coal miners. With the end of WWII, the no-strike pledge also came to an end, and the frustrations that had been building over the four years of war-time production quickly came to a head. By promising to withhold labor’s greatest act of leverage, workers faced the hazards of factory floors for longer hours all to contribute to the broader war effort. Union leaders and members, too, stepped up by taking a no-strike pledge that lasted throughout the war. Throughout WWII, industries met President Roosevelt’s call to build the arsenal of democracy, but industrialists were not alone. Just about the biggest, deepest, up and down, wide and across strike America ever saw. There was nothing left to do but go out on strike. I suppose the $52 billion the companies stored up during the war made them indifferent to this spot we were in. How could we manage now? From our ranks rose one common cry: “defeat the cut!” We waited. Almost overnight, take home pay shrank from 30 to 50 percent. I’ll never forget V-J Day as long as I live, and I’ll never forget the day after either. Lewis, Lillian Hatcher, and Caroline DavisĪrchival Audio - “We served on the front line” United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).Catch up on all episodes of “To the Best of My Ability” and be sure to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. ![]() New episodes are released every other Friday. Culminating in the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 - vetoed by President Truman, but overridden by Congress - the power of labor unions was permanently limited and the act opened the door to restrictive “right to work” laws. As workers in several industries did win gains as a result of going on strike, the widespread wave of labor strike turned political and public opinion against labor unions. However, the strike wave had unforeseen repercussions. These men, among several other union leaders, helped elevate the demands made by millions of American workers. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). Such leaders featured in this episode include Walter Reuther, head of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and John L. Kristen Burton, explores the causes behind the massive strike wave of 1945-1946, including a few of the leaders who sought to secure higher pay and better working conditions for American laborers. ![]() This week’s episode, written and hosted by the Museum’s Dr. With the end of the wartime no-strike pledge, workers expressed their frustration through a series of strikes that came to involve over 5 million Americans from the end of 1945 and into 1946. After upholding a no-strike pledge during the war, many workers expected a return to regular hours, pay, and benefits that existed before the start of the war, but industries - including petroleum, coal mining, automobiles, and public utilities - failed to returning working conditions to the expected status quo, in spite of rising profits. In the weeks and months after the end of WWII, Americans working in industries across the country began to walk off the job in protest of poor wages and unsafe working conditions. ![]()
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