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March 1983, Vol. 106, No. 3

Reforming the U.S. system
of collective bargaining

D. Quinn Mills

Can collective bargaining in the United States meet the challenge of the 1980s by tempering traditional confrontation with new cooperative approaches? Can management and labor modify their adversarial, rulemaking relationship by exploring and recognizing mutual needs? This article examines some recent events that suggest affirmative answers to both of these questions.

Labor unions developed in the United States within a generally hostile business and legal environment. As early as 1806, unions in major eastern cities were being prosecuted in court as "combinations in restraint of trade." During the economically turbulent 1870's, industrial workers seeking better pay and conditions of work attempted strikes and public protests, only to be dispersed by police. In 1877, railway strikers throughout the country were repulsed by Federal troops. During the depression of the 1890's, martial law was declared to break strikes in the western mines. And the Federal Government intervened at the railroads' request to defeat the 1894 strike by the American Railway Union against the Pullman Co.; to further assist the company, a Federal court enjoined the railway workers from interfering with interstate commerce.

Following World War I, strong opposition by employer associations and further unfavorable court decisions contributed to a dramatic decline in the labor movement. Revitalization of the unions occurred during the 1930s, but only after lengthy strikes, and the enactment of Federal legislation—the Norris-Laguardia Act (1932) and the Wagner Act (1935)—favorable to the organizing rights of workers.¹

This excerpt is from an article published in the March 1984 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.

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1 For an interesting discussion of the history of U.S. labor relations, see A Brief History of the American Labor Movement, 1970 Edition, BLS Bulletin 1000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1970), and the 1976 supplement to that bulletin (also BLS Bulletin 1000).

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