Prelude

Our History
Before 1896

Part One
Part Two

A Union is Born
1880 - 1906

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The Turbulent Years
1906 - 1912

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

The Conspiracy Trials
and Aftermath

1912 - 1918

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

The Beginning of the Morrin Era
1918 - 1929

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

The Depression and a New Deal For Labor
1930 - 1940

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

World War II
and the Post War Struggles

1941 - 1952

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Ironworkers Grow in the 1950's
1953 - 1961
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

John H. Lyons Jr. Elected President
1961 - 1976
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The Tradition Continues
1977 - 1988
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Pathways to the 21st Century Under The Leadership of General President Jake West
1989 - Present
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

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Part One

he year 1941 opened with the world at war but the United States still at peace.  All that would change on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  For the next four years the labor movement would dedicate itself to the winning of the war.  Workers would work long hours without any vacations, be relocated far from their hometown, live in poor housing, and experience high prices while their salaries were frozen.  Yet, with the exception of one major labor strike, union workers stayed on the job.

Yet, during the war, anti-labor newspapers spread rumors about workers striking in great numbers.  Businessmen were crying for repeal of the Wagner Labor Act, the Wage and Hour Law, and even child labor legislation.  One pro-labor writer wrote that management was more afraid of the union movement in America and more anxious to fight that war than to fight Germany and Japan.

Then, when the war ended, instead of rewarding labor with those things that were promised to them during the war, such as a national plan for free medical care, higher wages and shorter hours, and better housing and schools, Congress passed anti-labor legislation such as the Taft-Hartley Act which President Truman vetoed, only to have his veto overridden by the Republican Congress.

Before we could even enjoy the fruits of peace we found ourselves involved in the cold war and the Korean Conflict.  President Truman who had finished President Roosevelt's fourth term, would be attacked by Republicans and some Dixiecrats but would still be successful in gaining reelection in a huge upset in 1948 when he was challenged by Republican Governor Tom Dewey of New York.

PREPARING FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE

With France conquered and England under attack, President Roosevelt was able to convince Congress to agree on the draft and a Lend-Lease program to aid Great Britain.  Although America still had about eight million workers unemployed, the war in Europe was producing more and more jobs.  M any defense plants were now producing at full capacity, and many workers were working overtime under the new wage and hour laws, receiving time and a half and double time on Sundays.  Management was making big profits on defense contracts but didn't want to pay higher wages.  The skills of the Ironworkers were in great demand.  Most of the plants that produced products for domestic use needed to be converted to producing war material and equipment, therefore, these plants had to be renovated.

Management complained to Colonel Philip B. Fleming, the wage and hour administrator.  His reply to management was printed in the January, 1941 issue of the Bridgemen's Magazine.

 
"If there are to be days of sacrifice ahead, such sacrifices should be borne equally by all classes, so far as possible.  It seems reasonable to me, that if we are going to ask labor to sacrifice some of its leisure time in the interest of national defense, we have a right to ask capital to make a corresponding sacrifice in terms of slightly higher labor cost."
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Mounting attention was being directed toward apprenticeship, as a result of the efforts to solve the problem of training skilled workers for defense industries.  A survey conducted in early 1941 by the Department of Labor revealed that the number of apprentices in training in all trades , including the Ironworkers, had jumped by approximately twenty percent.  There were 125,000 apprentices, however, Labor Secretary Perkins said the number, based on demands, should be twelve times that number or 1,500,000.

ANTI-LABOR ACTIONS IN CANADA

Canada had entered the war with Great Britain in 1939, and until 1941 the situation for labor was bad.  Although over a million Canadian men and women were engaged directly in war industry and production was high, wages were still low.  In 1941, 32.9% of Canadian workers were earning less than $450.00 dollars per year, and only 6.8% were earning over $1,949.00.

Until 1941, union membership in Canada was below what it had been in 1919.  Canada did not have a "New Deal" in the 1930's like that in the United States.  Workers were also divided into three large organizations.  The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) included unions that in the U> S> were affiliated with the AFL.  In 1940, the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) was founded, and it included many of the unions that in the U. S. were affiliated with the CIO.  Lastly, in Quebec, as well as other parts of Canada workers were organized into the Canadian and Catholic Confederation of Labour (CCCL).

However, the war gave labor an opportunity to make demands for higher wages and the right to organize the unorganized.  By 1941 membership was finally greater than it had been in 1919.  There were some strikes in Canada during the war and there was debate in the house of Commons in Ottawa to pass anti-labor legislation, but Mr. McLarty, the Canadian Federal Minister of Labour, ended the debate by saying these words:

 
"While it may be true that compulsion may be the most expeditious way of settling a labor dispute, it is not the true corrective method or the one that in the final analysis , will prove effective in producing stability in the relationship between labor and industry."
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The Bridgemen's Magazine pointed out at this time that with the bombs dropping on England, workers still had the right to strike.  In 1942 Britain had 29% more strikes, involving 61% more workers and causing 7% more worker lost days than in the United States.  The conservative Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, appointed a great labor leader, Ernest Bevin, as Minister of Labour.  This had helped to bring harmony to England during the war.  The Bridgemen's Magazine felt that America could learn a lesson from Britain and Canada if war came to the United States.

THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR:
THE WAR BEGINS FOR THE UNITED STATES

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  On the following day, General President Morrin wrote a letter to President Roosevelt and sent the following message to all affiliated Local Unions.  It stated the position we would take throughout World War II.

 

St. Louis, Missouri, December 8, 1941

ALL AFFILIATED LOCAL UNIONS;

Inasmuch as our country has been unjustifiably attacked by Japan, our International Association, through its officers, has pledged our complete cooperation and support to President Roosevelt, our commander-in-chief.  In fulfillment of this pledge to the President of the United States of the United States and of the publicly established policy of this association by delegates to our last convention to cooperate with the National Defense Commission to bring the national program to a successful conclusion.  I as General President must insist that there shall be no strikes or stoppages of work by any local union, its officers or members of this Association during  this national emergency.

P. J. Morrin,        
General President

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1941 - 1952 - Part Two

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