2004-9-4
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ANNCR:
Welcome to People in America in VOA Special English. At the
beginning of the twentieth century, American laborers often worked
long hours for little pay. Many worked under extremely dangerous
conditions. About five-hundred-thousand workers, however, had joined
groups called labor unions, hoping to improve their situation.
Today, Rich Kleinfeldt and Sarah Long tell about five labor
leaders who worked to improve conditions for American workers.
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VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Hundred, the largest
national organization of labor unions was the American Federation of
Labor. Its head was Samuel Gompers.
Gompers had moved to New York with his parents when he was
thirteen years old. He was twenty-four when he began working for the
local union of cigar makers. He worked for the labor movement for
sixty years.
VOICE TWO:
Samuel Gompers had helped create the A-F-L in the late
Eighteen-Eighties. He led the organization for all but one year
until his death in Nineteen-Twenty-Four. Gompers defined the purpose
of the labor movement in America. He also established the method
used to solve labor disputes.
Gompers thought unions should work only to increase wages,
improve work conditions and stop unfair treatment of workers. He
called his method pure and simple unionism.
Samuel Gompers sought immediate change for workers. He used group
actions such as strikes as a way to try to force company owners to
negotiate.
VOICE ONE:
Gompers was criticized for going to social events with industry
leaders, and for compromising too easily with employers. But Gompers
believed such actions helped his main goal. He believed if workers
were respected their employers would want to make working conditions
better.
Under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, the labor movement won
its first small gains. For example, the federal government
recognized the right of workers to organize. That happened when
union representatives were part of the National War Labor Board
during World War One.
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VOICE TWO:
John L. Lewis expanded the American labor movement with a
campaign he called organizing the unorganized.Lewis was the head of
the United Mine Workers of America. He also was the vice-president
of the A-F-L.
In Nineteen-Thirty-Five, Lewis formed the Committee for
Industrial Organization within the A-F-L. He wanted the C-I-O to
organize workers in mass production industries, such as automobile
industry. The A-F-L mainly organized unions of workers who had the
same skills. But Lewis believed skilled and unskilled workers in the
same industry should be organized into the same union.
Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act in
Nineteen-Thirty-Five. It gave workers the legal right to join unions
and to negotiate with employers. John L. Lewis thought it was the
right time to press the large industries to recognize workers'
rights.
The A-F-L, however, decided not to support such action and
expelled the unions that belonged to the C-I-O. In
Nineteen-Thirty-Six, the C-I-O began operating as another national
labor organization. Lewis was its leader.
VOICE ONE:
John L. Lewis was an extremely colorful and effective speaker. He
had worked as a coal miner and could relate to the most terrible
conditions workers faced. More than three million workers joined the
C-I-O in its first year as a separate organization. For the first
time, labor won many strikes and permanent improvements in workers
conditions.
For many years, presidents, members of Congress, and business
leaders considered John L. Lewis the voice of labor. And, American
workers saw Lewis as their hero. By the Nineteen-Fifties, the labor
movement an established part of American life.
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VOICE TWO:
Walter Reuther was the vice-president of the C-I-O under Lewis,
and became its president in Nineteen-Fifty-Two. Reuther believed
unions had a social responsibility. His ideas were partly influenced
by his German father who was a socialist.
Walter Reuther was trained to make tools to cut metal. He joined
the United Automobile Workers union when it first formed in
Nineteen-Thirty-Five.
VOICE ONE:
Walter Reuther was president of the United Auto Workers for
twenty-three years beginning in Nineteen-Forty-Six. He shaped the
U-A-W into one of the most militant and forward-looking unions. He
held strikes to gain increased wages for workers, but, at the same
time, he expected workers to increase their rate of production. He
was the first to link pay raises to productivity increases. Reuther
also was greatly concerned about civil rights and the environment.
In Nineteen-Fifty-Five, Reuther helped the A-F-L and C-I-O
re-join as one organization.
Reuther's ideas were recognized worldwide. But they also brought
him enemies. He survived three murder attempts. He said, "You have
to make up your mind whether you are willing to accept things as
they are or whether you are willing to try to change them."
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VOICE TWO:
A. Philip Randolph is known for combining the labor and civil
rights movements. Randolph became involved with unions in
Nineteen-Twenty-Five. A group of black workers on passenger trains
asked him to organize a union, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters.
Randolph was not a laborer. He was the college-educated son of a
minister. He published a socialist magazine in New York City. He was
known as a fighter for black rights. Randolph strongly believed that
economic conditions affected rights and power for African-Americans.
For twelve years, Randolph fought the Pullman Company that
employed the passenger train workers. In 1935, Pullman finally
agreed to negotiate with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Two years later, the porters' union signed the first labor agreement
between a company and a black union.
A. Philip Randolph led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
for forty-three years. In Nineteen-Fifty-Seven he became
vice-president of the A-F-L--C-I-O.
Randolph used large group protests
to change work conditions. He planned marches on the capital in
Washington to protest the unequal treatment of black workers by the
government.
In Nineteen-Sixty-Three, Randolph planned the 'March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom.' At this huge peaceful gathering,
civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Junior, made his famous "I
have a dream" speech. Within a year the civil rights amendment
passed guaranteeing equal rights for blacks and other minorities.
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VOICE ONE:
Cesar Chavez created the first farmers union in
Nineteen-Sixty-Two. That union later became the United Farm Workers
of America.
Farm workers had been considered too difficult to organize. They
worked during growing seasons. Many farm workers did not speak
English or were in the country illegally.
Farm workers earned only a few dollars each hour. They often
lived in mud shelters and had no waste removal systems. Many farm
workers were children.
VOICE TWO:
Cesar Chavez went to school for only eight years. But he read a
lot. He was greatly influenced by the ideas of famous supporters of
non-violence such as Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Chavez led his workers on marches for better pay and conditions.
Workers walked hundreds of miles carrying cloth banners with the
Spanish words Viva la Causa -- long live our cause.
VOICE ONE:
Cesar Chavez created a new strike method called a boycott. People
refused to buy products of a company accused of treating farm
workers badly. Chavez also publicized the dangers of some farm
chemicals.
Cesar Chavez improved the conditions of farm workers by making
their mistreatment a national issue.
VOICE TWO:
Union membership has dropped sharply since its highpoint in the
Nineteen-Forties. Yet conditions for American workers continue to
improve as employers realize that treating their workers well is
good for business. The efforts of leaders of the American labor
movement during the past one hundred years continue to improve the
lives of millions of workers.
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ANNCR:
This Special English program was written by Linda Burchill and
produced by Paul Thompson. The announcers were Rich Kleinfeldt and
Sarah Long. I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another
People In America program in VOA Special English.
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