World War II and Aftermath 

Read: Dubofsky and Dulles, chapters 18-19;

Bruno, Steelworker Alley

Write: How would you characterize blue-collar America during post World War II affluence?

1. Begin with describing a summary of affluence starting with World War II (Dubofsky and Dulles. Labor in America: A History Chapter 18 (outline below))
2. Characterize blue collar America according to Robert Bruno. Steelworker Alley: How Class Works in Youngstown
3. Please use many in text citations with page numbers in each of the books as points to support the writing

Sources

Melvyn Dubofsky and Foster Rhea Dulles. Labor in America: A History. (Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley and Blackwell, 2010). ISBN: 9780882952734

Robert Bruno. Steelworker Alley: How Class Works in Youngstown. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999). ISBN: 9780801486005

Labor in America: A History Chapter 18 The Second World War

• 1942-1945 highest level of full employment p.303
  • labor surplus
  • workers had steady jobs, security of employment and rising incomes
• War created increasing number of men and women from the secondary to primary labor market p.303
  • by peak of the war 36% of labor force was women
  • three to five million blacks moved north and west from the south for better paying defense work between 1941-1945 p.304
  • The transformation in the labor force was not smooth and easy p.304
    • better jobs found easier by white women than black men and women
    • AFL craft unions refused membership to blacks to try to prevent them from skilled work
    • white workers in CIO unions threatened to strike if blacks received more skilled jobs
• The war rescued the CIO and mass-production from the doldrums p.304
  • by the end of 1941 Ford, “Little Steel”, and major meat packing firms were organized by the CIO p.304
  • American people were united behind the government p.304
  • the federal government was ready to intervene regularly in labor-management relations p.305
  • Labor representatives were appointed to the federal agencies created to deal with the wartime economy; Office of Production Management, War Production Board, Office of Civilian Defense, Office of Price Administration, Office of Economic Stabilization, and the War Manpower Commission p.305
  • President Roosevelt set up the Office of Production Management in 1941 p.305
  • The National War Labor Board was created with representatives of labor, management, and the public and an agreement of no strikes or lockouts and a peaceful settlement of all industrial disputes. The NWL Board was empowered to manage all labor issues affecting the war effort. p.305
  • “The key to labor’s wartime history was the National War Labor Board” p.306
  • The National War Labor Board instituted the maintenance of membership principle to combat the union security issue created by the old Defense Mediation Board. This applied to nearly three million workers or 20% covered by collective bargaining agreements and increased union security.p.306
  • The War Labor Board faced a large problem of inflation and union demands for wage increases. The board created a formula that would justify wage increases equivalent of the increase in the cost of living.p.307
  • According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of living rose 15 points and the War Labor Board awarded the workers at Little Steel plants 44 cents a day. p.308
  • The War Labor Board continued to revise the cost of living adjustment formula as living costs continued a rapid rise. p.308
  • The passage of the Economic Stabilization Act in 1942, restricted wage increases beyond the 15% straight-line increase that had been granted for the steel industry. p.308
  • Organized labor protested the wage increase freeze and blamed the government that the workers were enduring the most of the inflation. p.308

Steelworker Alley: How Class Works in Youngstown

• Bruno describes steel workers in Youngstown recognize their class in four ways 1) the way they lived amongst each other 2)their common dispositions and attitudes 3) material conditions of their economic life 4) the collective action and resistance they took p.17

Book Chapters

• Introduction
• 1. Steel Paved Streets
• 2. Santa Claus Was A Steel Worker
• 3. Fried Onions and Steel
• 4.Making “Good Money” on Time and Credit
• 5. How to Steel a Wheelbarrow
• 6. A vote for a Steelworker is a Vote for Yourself