Summary Workers: OCR A-Level History - Civil Rights in the USA ()

Civil Rights in the USA 1865-1992

Workers, Trade Union, and Labour Rights:

1865-1914 1950-1969

 Industrialisation – rise of capitalists  First nuclear power plant 1957
 Small union membership  Chemical industry boomed
 Limited to skilled workers only  Electronic expansion
 Restricted by employers  Union membership slows down
 ‘Closed shop unions’ (Knights of Labour)  More women in work
 ‘Laissez-faire’ approach by gov.  Decrease in blue collar work (factories)
 Lochner v. NY 1905  Increase in white collar work (offices)
 Gov. supported big businesses  Better pay
 Often sacked workers, cut hours and pay  JFK – Equal Pay Act 1963 😊
w/out consultation  LBJ – ‘Great Society’ 😊
 Haymarket Affair 1886 ☹  Employers matched union gains in pay,
 Homestead Strike 1892 ☹ vacations etc.
 Pullman Strike 1894 ☹  AFL-CIO merge (16million members)
 Workers not treated fairly  Minorities remain unrepresented (AA/NA
 Dangerous conditions etc) ☹
 Long hours BUT little pay  No significant strikes
 Some Americans still in poverty
1915-1950
1970-1992
 WW1 – demand for workers
 1930s – depression  1970s – slower economic growth
 WW2 – demand for workers  Fall in wages, increase in unemployment
 Increase in union membership (WW1-  Many companies moved to rural areas
5million, WW2-15million) (cheaper)
 CIO 1937  Women reluctant to join unions
 Taft Hartley Act 1947 (limited union  Lack of union representation
powers, no ‘closed shop’) ☹  Nixon – Occupational Health & Safety Act
 Change in gov. attitudes (needed workers) 1970 😊
 National War Labour Board  Carter – min. wage (from $2.65/hr to
 Wagner/NLRA $3.35/hr) 😊
 NIRA (UNCONSTITUTIONAL)  Salad Bowl Strike 1970 😊
 Yellow Dog Contracts  PATCO strike ☹
 Welfare capitalism  AA remained in low-paid jobs
 Henry Ford  Reagan – less supportive ☹
 Depression – highlighted divides
 General Motors strike 1936
 US Steel strike 1937
 20% wage increase (WW1), 70% (WW2)
 Min. wage, paid overtime, 8hr working
day
 No child labour