Solidarity forever

Solidarity forever

Solidarity forever

For the union makes us strong

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run

There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun

Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one

But the union makes us strong

The New York Times

Vol. XCV ... No. 32,121 | NEW YORK, Thursday, January 3rd, 1946 | Three Cents  

Wire Union Here Votes Strike Jan. 8th

200,000 in Meat Plants out on 16th

Nation-Wide Phone Tie-Up Looming

General Strike In Stamford Today to Protest Use of the State Police

Vol. XCV ... No. 32,122 | NEW YORK, Friday, January 4th, 1946 | Three Cents  

TRUMAN CALLS ON PUBLIC TO SPUR CONGRESS TO ACT IN LABOR CRISIS

Detroit Riot Squads Avert Fight by Pickets, Workers

Vol. XCV ... No. 32,123 | NEW YORK, Saturday, January 5th, 1946 | Three Cents  

42 Pickets Battle 1,000 Non-Strikers at Kearny Plant

CIO Chiefs Share Shutdown Plans

Truman Measures Assailed by Taft

Vol. XCV ... No. 32,124 | NEW YORK, Sunday, January 6th, 1946 | Ten Cents  

Cotton Price Ceilings Planned; Record Butter Shortage Forecast

GM Fights Rule By ‘Union Bosses’

Wage Loss Is Put At $4.43 A Week; Labor Department Reports Decrease Since End of War

Electrical Strike Called For Jan. 15

Chaos in the Land of the Free! Since the end of the war, America has been hit by a wave of labor militancy, as resentments and disputes suppressed during the war have bubbled back up to the surface again. During the war, the government corralled business and labor into a consensus, but with the abrupt end of lucrative government contracts and the resurgence of the private consumer economy, everyone is scrambling to secure their position in the new age.  

Add to that economic headwinds; America has, officially, entered a recession, with GDP dropping precipitously in the last quarter of 1945 and set to fall even further. In reality, the economy is for the most part fine, and the drop in output mostly comes from the temporary disruption due to the end of highly lucrative wartime contracts and the disruption caused by the shift back to consumer production. Most Americans are probably materially better off than they were a year ago, as rationing comes to an end and products again become plentiful.

The main “pocketbook issue” is inflation, which is accelerating rapidly due the widening gap between skyrocketing demand for consumer goods and the more restrained increase in production. Real wages have fallen in many sectors as businesses seek to reverse wartime wage increases and inflation eats away at purchasing power. The strikes have hardly helped the situation. In October 1945, United Autoworkers (UAW) went on strike, followed quickly by meatpackers, telephone workers, and finally, on January 19th, 800,000 steelworkers of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).

As February comes to a close, industrial production in many parts of the United States is grinding to a halt. Further strikes seem likely as unions get a taste of their power. Major labor federations like the AFL and CIO are coordinating millions of members, leading to situations like the one in Stamford Connecticut, where virtually the entire city has gone on strike to support the 10,000 members of the International Machinists Union against the management of the Yale & Towne works. Many union members are even defying orders from above to launch premature wildcat strikes in support of their fellows.

With the postwar recovery under threat, will a reluctant President Truman take action, or will House Republicans, led by anti-labor firebrand Robert Taft, seize the initiative? Will the unions succeed in cementing their wartime gains, or will business succeed in wrestling back control? Is America doomed to several more months of shortages and work stoppages? One thing seems certain — there is more to come.