On January 31, 1985, the Republican-controlled Idaho Legislature overrides Democratic Governor John Evans’ veto to enact so-called “Right-to-Work” legislation, making Idaho the 21st state to prohibit union security agreements that require workers to pay union dues or fees as a …
Idaho Republican PartyIdaho LegislatureGovernor John EvansIdaho Department of LaborMining unions+1 morelabor-suppressionright-to-workanti-unionwage-suppressionlegislative-capture
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 1964 Barry Goldwater presidential campaign galvanizes a grassroots coalition of businesspeople, Southerners, Midwesterners, and libertarians who feel sidelined by the Republican establishment, establishing political infrastructure and strategies that become standard tenets of Republican politics …
Barry GoldwaterJohn M. AshbrookWilliam A. RusherF. Clifton WhiteJohn Birch Society+1 moreconservative-movementgoldwaterbusiness-political-mobilizationjohn-birch-societysouthern-strategy+1 more
At the dawn of the 1960s, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce membership has grown to over 2.5 million dues-paying members, unified behind the organization’s aggressive support of capitalism and anti-communist mobilization in the face of what it characterizes as domestic and foreign threats. The …
U.S. Chamber of CommerceAmerican Legionchamber-of-commerceanti-communistanti-unionred-scarecorporate-lobbying+1 more
The Supreme Court rules that the Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by declaring stone from Bedford Cut Stone Company and 23 other Indiana limestone producers “unfair” and prohibiting its 5,000 members from working on buildings using …
George SutherlandU.S. Supreme CourtJourneymen Stone Cutters AssociationBedford Cut Stone Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionantitrust
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
The Supreme Court unanimously reverses its 1922 Coronado decision, ruling that the United Mine Workers local union violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by conspiring to restrain interstate commerce in coal. After the Court’s first ruling favored the union by finding insufficient evidence of …
William Howard TaftU.S. Supreme CourtUnited Mine Workers of AmericaCoronado Coal Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionantitrust
Attorney General Harry Daugherty secured a sweeping federal injunction that prohibited virtually any action by railway shop craft workers in furtherance of the largest railway strike in U.S. history. The 1922 strike involved hundreds of thousands of workers fighting wage reductions ordered by the …
Harry DaughertyWarren G. HardingRailroad Labor Boardlabor-suppressionjudicial-captureexecutive-corruptionanti-union
The Supreme Court rules in United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Co. that unincorporated labor unions can be sued in federal court as legal entities, establishing a precedent that exposes unions to potentially devastating civil liability. The case arises from Arkansas’s Sebastian County Union …
William Howard TaftU.S. Supreme CourtUnited Mine Workers of AmericaCoronado Coal Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionantitrust
The Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Truax v. Corrigan that an Arizona law prohibiting state courts from issuing injunctions against peaceful labor picketing violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, writing for the majority, holds that the Arizona …
William Howard TaftU.S. Supreme CourtArizona State Legislaturelabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionsupreme-court
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