Karl Marx invented Labor Unions

In 1848, Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto stating that the struggle between labor and management was a political struggle. Labor conditions during the industrial revolution were not good because there was an oversupply of unskilled labor that produced low wages and some work required dangerous processes.

Marxism taught Samuel Gompers and his fellow socialists that trade unionism was the indispensable instrument for preparing the working class for revolution. Union tactics included violence, property damage and intimidation.

In the history of America's trade and labor unions, the most famous union remains the American Federation of Labor (AFL), founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers. At its pinnacle, the AFL had approximately 1.4 million members.

Labor unions were created in order to help the workers with work-related difficulties such as low pay, unsafe or unsanitary working conditions, long hours, and other situations. Workers often had problems with their bosses as a result of membership in the unions.

The US Department of Labor was created in 1913 without an Amendment to the US Constitution authorizing this addition to the “enumerated powers”.

The Wagner Act of 1935, gave employees the right to unionize, strike and negotiate working conditions, benefits and compensation.

Ever since industrial unions worked to reelect President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, organized labor and the Democratic Party have worked together in U.S. politics. Unions provide votes, money, and volunteer time, and Democrats offer policy benefits when they take office.

Florida was the first state to pass right-to-work legislation, in 1943, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arizona and South Dakota followed in 1946. Then Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia did so in the right-to-work boom year of 1947.

The Taft Hartley Act of 1947

It allows the president to appoint a board of inquiry to investigate union disputes when he believes a strike would endanger national health or safety, and obtain an 80-day injunction to stop the continuation of a strike. It declares all closed shops illegal. It permits union shops only after a majority of the employees vote for them. It forbids jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. It ends the check-off system whereby the employer collects union dues. It forbids unions from contributing to political campaigns.

Executive Order 10988 is a United States presidential executive order issued by President John F. Kennedy on January 17, 1962 that recognized the right of federal employees to collective bargaining. This executive order was a breakthrough for public sector workers, who were not protected under the 1935 Wagner Act. They also continued to benefit under the Civil Service System that was devised to make unionization unnecessary. This put the Democrats on steroids.

The act also required union leaders to take an oath stating that they were not communists. Although many people tried to repeal the act, the Taft-Hartley Act stayed in effect until 1959 when the Landrum-Griffin Act amended some of its features.

The Landrum Griffin Act 1959 aka Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act deals with the relationship between a union and its members. It requires labor unions to disclose their expenses and supply audited financial reports.

By the 1970s, US automobile companies were stymied by union contracts and foreign competitors were producing better cars.

In 1980, President Reagan ended the Airport Controller’s strike, fired the strikers and hired non-union replacements.

In 1993, NAFTA allowed unionized manufacturing companies to escape US unions and off-shore their manufacturing jobs. 

At their peak in 1954, 34.8% of all U.S. wage and salary workers belonged to unions.  By 1983 union membership was down to 20.1%.  As of 2016 only 11.3% of wage and salary workers belonged to unions.

Now in 2018, most union employees are government employees and employees working for utilities and monopolies.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader