Organized Labor and the New Deal

Report Outline
Rift in Relations on Administration with Labor
Organized Labor and the National Recovery Act
New Deal Machinery for Settling Labor Disputes
Increasing Unionization and Threat of Strikes

Rift in Relations on Administration with Labor

Labor's Opposition to Renewal of Automobile Code

The open clash of the American Federation of Labor with the Roosevelt administration at the beginning of February, over renewal of the automobile code and continuation of the Automobile Labor Board, served to indicate the existence of a broad rift between organized labor and the New Deal. Dissatisfied with the limited realization of the gains which it had anticipated under the National Industrial Recovery Act and disappointed because it had not been accorded a more prominent place in formulating the labor policies and executing the labor provisions of the recovery program, the A. F. of L. had found itself more and more at odds with the President and his principal advisers on labor matters. Its main fire in the automobile case was directed against S. Clay Williams, chairman of the National Industrial Recovery Board, Leo Wolman, chairman of the Automobile Labor Board, and Donald R. Richberg, executive director of the National Emergency Council, the latter being denounced by John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, as a “traitor to organized labor.”

Following this outburst, the members of the executive council of the A. F. of L. were received on February 11 at the White House, where at least the semblance of cordial relations with the administration was reestablished. President Roosevelt on that occasion declared that “cooperation with labor as well as with business is essential to the continuation of the programs we are working out for a more stable and more satisfactory industrial life in this country.” He praised the principle of collective bargaining, advocated the voluntary organization of both employees and employers, and counseled patience in treatment of the difficulties which had arisen chiefly in the totally unorganized field.

Labor Policies and Impending Revision of N. I. R. A.

Whether or not the renewed amity between the administration and organized labor endures, the flare-up over the automobile code gave a hint of the difficulties which may be expected to attend revision of existing emergency legislation during the present session of Congress. Both the National Industrial Recovery Act and the legislation under which the National Labor Relations Board was established expire by limitation on June 16, 1935. The problems raised by the automobile code will come before Congress in framing new or revised statutes to take their place. In addition, a fight on the floor of the Senate is in prospect over organized labor's demand that employees engaged on the administration's new work-relief projects be paid at prevailing rates of wages rather than at the proposed $50 monthly figure. The whole question of the relations of government and labor under the New Deal is thus due for a thorough airing in the weeks to come. The threat of strikes in several major industries, including the automobile industry, raises the possibility that this task may have to be undertaken in an atmosphere of tension.