Progressive LawI. Progressivism
A. CharacterB. The Labor Problem
II. Protective LegislationA. Child laborB. Minimum wage-maximum hoursC. Social Insurance
III. Capital’s ResponseA. Open-shop driveB. Litigation
IV. Judicial ReactionA. Laissez-faireB. PolicingC. Criminal LawD. Injunction
V. Law’s Effect on the Labor MovementA. OrganizingB. IdeologyC. Outlaws
Character• People
– Professional class
– Educated
• Values– Public interest– Rule of law– Science,
expertise– Thrift,
efficiency
• Policies– Public services– Regulation
Representatives of the National Civic Federation, 1917
The “Labor Problem”
• Progressive goals– Help workers raise wages
– End violent strikes & lockouts
– Create cross-class political coalition to enact protective legislation
• Obstacles– Many reformers see unions
as selfish, tyrannical, & corrupt
– Unions see reformers as elitist, unrealistic Typical progressive view of
labor unions from Puck (1903)
Child labor• Extent
– In 1900, 2M children worked for wages
– 1/5th of all kids aged 10-16
– Percentage rose between 1880-1900
• Laws– North– Federal:
1916 Miner boys, Hughestown, Pa., circa 1908-12
Wages & Hours• Reformers seek laws
limiting the workweek
• AFL opposes
• Focus on classes of workers vested with some public interest– Bakers– Women
• Enforced by newly aggressive factory inspectors
Curt Muller’s laundry, Portland, Ore., c. 1900
Social Insurance
• Workers’ Compensation
• Unemployment insurance
• Pensions– Widows & orphans– Retirement (not until
1930s)
AALL founder, Prof. John Commons
Capital’s Response
• “Open-shop” drive– 1902-1905– Organizations
• National Association of Manufacturers
• American Anti-Boycott Association
– Seeks to uproot unions in metal, construction, trucking, & printing
• Litigation– Void protective
legislation– Gain anti-union
precedents
Corporate attorney Levy Mayer
Laissez-Faire
• USSC invalidates– Child labor laws– Wage-hours laws
• Principles– Federalism– Freedom of
contract– Right to property
U.S. Supreme court, 1921-30
Policing• Police
torn between powerful political groups
• Generally choose employers, property, & replacement workers
Police arrest injured striking teamster, 1903
Criminal Law• Elite controls
indictment process– Grand jury– State’s
attorney
• Try union officials for conspiracy
• Defendants appeal to trial juries
• Avoid prison, but court costs are prohibitive
Injunction• Judges prohibit
picketing, boycotts, & sympathy strikes
• Enforced by federal marshals or sheriff’s deputies
• Violators held without jury trial for contempt of court
• Punishable by jail time ARU head, Eugene Debs, 1894
Organizing
• AFL growth stalls in 1904
• Unions fail to organize semi-skilled factory labor
• But employers fail to uproot craft unions Packinghouse strike, 1904
Ideology
• Frustrated with the state, the AFL becomes even more committed to private agreements, privately enforced
• Anti-injunction law becomes main policy objective
AFL president Samuel Gompers
Outlaws• Labor
movement exists in legal limbo
• Unions permitted to exist, but not to fight employers
Labor slugger Charles Gilhooley, on trial for manslaughter, 1905