Roger Blough, the 65-year-old retired chairman of U.S. Steel, founds the Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable (CUAIR) in 1969, “affectionately known” as “Roger’s Roundtable,” with the explicit goal of breaking construction union power. Blough’s intention …
Roger BloughConstruction Users Anti-Inflation RoundtableU.S. SteelGeneral MotorsGeneral Electric+3 morebusiness-roundtable-precursoranti-unioncorporate-coordinationlabor-suppressionceo-coordination
The National Association of Manufacturers launches a massive multi-faceted propaganda campaign in response to the unprecedented 1946 strike wave, when nearly 10 percent of the US workforce goes on strike including major actions by the United Auto Workers against General Motors, United Steel Workers …
National Association of ManufacturersNational Industrial Information CouncilGeneral MotorsU.S. SteelGeneral Electric+3 morepropagandalabor-suppressioncorporate-lobbyingnamunion-busting+1 more
The Senate Subcommittee on Education and Labor, chaired by Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. of Wisconsin, begins hearings on June 6, 1936, launching a four-year investigation that systematically exposes the violent and illegal tactics American corporations use to suppress union organizing. The La …
Robert La Follette Jr.U.S. SenatePinkerton Detective AgencyBurns Detective AgencyRepublic Steel+3 morelabor-rightscorporate-surveillanceunion-bustingcongressional-investigationprivate-security
The La Follette Civil Liberties Committee subpoenas records from major private detective agencies in early 1936, exposing the vast scale of corporate labor espionage in American industry. The investigation reveals that the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, Burns International Detective Agency, …
La Follette CommitteePinkerton Detective AgencyBurns Detective AgencyCorporations Service BureauRailway Audit and Inspection Company+2 morelabor-surveillancecorporate-espionageunion-infiltrationprivate-securitylabor-rights
On August 22, 1934, the American Liberty League is announced in Washington, D.C., as a purportedly bipartisan organization to defend the U.S. Constitution against “radical” New Deal policies, with Jouett Shouse appointed as president. The League’s formation represents the first …
Irénée du PontJohn Jacob RaskobJouett ShouseAl SmithJohn W. Davis+4 morecorporate-resistancenew-dealpropagandainstitutional-capturethink-tanks+2 more
Major American corporations deployed company-sponsored unions, benefits programs, and internal grievance systems as sophisticated anti-union strategies during the peak of 1920s welfare capitalism. Rather than negotiating with outside union representatives, companies like Goodyear Tire and U.S. Steel …
Goodyear TireU.S. SteelNational Association of ManufacturersSamuel Gomperslabor-suppressioncorporate-captureanti-unioninstitutional-capture
Business leaders including Henry Clay Frick, Judge Elbert Gary, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. launched a coordinated campaign to roll back labor gains by promoting the “open shop” as patriotic while branding union membership as “un-American.” Meeting in Chicago in 1921, …
National Association of ManufacturersChamber of CommerceU.S. SteelHenry Clay FrickElbert Gary+1 morelabor-suppressioncorporate-captureanti-unionsystematic-corruption