United States strike wave of 1945–1946

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Part of a series on
Organized labor
Labor movement
    • National-syndicalism
Labor rights
Trade unions
Strike action
Labor parties
Academic disciplines

The US strike wave of 1945–1946 or great strike wave of 1946

American labor history.[3][4] Other strikes occurred across the world including in Europe and colonial Africa.[5][6]

Background

Throughout the Second World War, the National War Labor Board gave trade unions the responsibility for maintaining labor discipline in exchange for closed membership. This led to acquiescence on the part of labor leaders to businesses and various wildcat strikes on the part of the workers. The strikes were largely a result of tumultuous postwar economic adjustments; with 10 million soldiers returning home, and the transfer of people from wartime sectors to traditional sectors, inflation was 8% in 1945, 14% in 1946, and 8% in 1947. Many of the protests from 1945 to 1946 were for better pay and working hours, but only one study done by Jerome F. Scott and George C. Homans of 118 strikes in Detroit from 1944 to 1945, found that only four were for wages, with the rest being for discipline and company policies or firings.[citation needed]

The strikes

Large strikes in 1945 included:

In 1946, strikes increased:

Others included strikes of railroad workers and general strikes in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Stamford, Connecticut; Rochester, New York; and Oakland, California. In total, 4.3 million workers participated in the strikes. According to Jeremy Brecher, they were "the closest thing to a national general strike of industry in the twentieth century."[11]: 248 

Aftermath

Number of striking workers each year, after 1946.
See also: Second Red Scare (1947-1957)

In 1947, Congress responded to the strike wave by enacting, over President Truman's veto, the Taft–Hartley Act, restricting the powers and activities of labor unions. The act is still in force as of 2024.

The strike also caused a rally in support for the Labour Party, prior to the 1945 United Kingdom general election.[12][13]


See also

  • List of US strikes by size
  • Strike wave of 1919
  • Striking US workers by year
  • Winter of Discontent, similar period of widespread strikes in 1978–1979 Great Britain that led to the election of a Conservative government that passed new restrictions on union activities

References

  1. ISBN 9780521414128
    .
  2. ISBN 9780691005898
    .
  3. ^ Brecher, Jeremy (1997). Strike!. South End Press.
  4. ^ "From Class War to Cold War Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine", John Newsinger
  5. S2CID 153992454
    .
  6. doi:10.1080/00083968.1990.10803857
    .
  7. ^ "Wages and Working Conditions: The Railroad Strike of 1946". The National WWII Museum. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  8. ^ Universal Newsreels. "Rail Strike Paralyzes Entire U.S." archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  9. ^ Denson, John (May 25, 1946). "'Run Trains or Army Will - Today!' - Truman". Milwaukee Sentinel. No. Final. Retrieved 22 December 2014.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ digital.library.pitt.edu http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/chronology/chronology_driver.pl?searchtype=ybrowse;year=1946;start_line=45%7B%7Bdead+link%7Cdate=June+2021%7D%7D. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ISBN 978-0-89608-569-5
    .
  12. ^ McCartin, J. A. (2009). Unexpected Convergence: Values, Assumptions, and the Right to Strike in Public and Private Sectors, 1945-2005. Buff. L. Rev., 57, 727.
  13. JSTOR 4370840
    – via JSTOR.

Further reading
  • Wolman, Philip J. "The Oakland general strike of 1946." Southern California Quarterly 57.2 (1975): 147-178. online
  • Zetka Jr, James R. "Work organization and wildcat strikes in the US automobile industry, 1946 to 1963." American Sociological Review (1992): 214-226. online

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_strike_wave_of_1945–1946&oldid=1225331760"