The Velvet Glove: Union Avoidance and Union Substitution, 1919 Through 1935

Posted: 12 Dec 2019

See all articles by Amy Bromsen

Amy Bromsen

Wayne State University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

The nineteenth century strategy of union avoidance was almost universally to fire, arrest, beat, and use military methods against organizers and strikers. However, World War I labor turnover and the post-war industrial warfare caused corporate management to reconsider the efficacy of autocratic control of all power and authority in the workplace. While in practice brutality continued, some employers sought stabilization of the employment relationship through corporate welfare and employee representation plans.

Union avoidance was supplemented by substituting non-adversarial company-controlled organizations. By the end of 1919, “roundtables” including capital, labor, management and communities were introduced Standard Oil and General Electric; welfare capitalism was implemented at Goodyear and Endicott-Johnson. Two of the most long lasting and effective were the Employee Representation Plan at U.S. Steel, and the International Harvester Works Council. Each of these for decades successfully channeled grievances and discontent into company-controlled venues. In the end, however, both were swept away by the late 1930s by CIO activists. The Farm Equipment Workers Union became the bargaining representative at International Harvester; William Z. Foster, later to play a central role in devising the organizing strategy for the 1930s CIO Steel Workers Organizing Committee, advocated taking over the ERP as early as the 1919 national steel strike.

In this paper, I analyze why company unions in these industries were effective for so long, and why they ultimately failed. A deeper understanding of the strength and interplay of class forces, the role of the government, and the vitality of working class upsurges helps put in perspective reasons for the long-standing success of some of the more sophisticated union avoidance and substitution strategies that are being implemented today, most notably at the Toyota Motor Company and other foreign-owned “transplants” in the US.

Keywords: union substitution, company union, works council, anti-union

Suggested Citation

Bromsen, Amy, The Velvet Glove: Union Avoidance and Union Substitution, 1919 Through 1935 (2013). APSA 2013 Annual Meeting Paper, American Political Science Association 2013 Annual Meeting, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2301269

Amy Bromsen (Contact Author)

Wayne State University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Detroit, MI
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
252
PlumX Metrics