Organized labor and the Depression, the New Deal, and World War II - World War II

Overall, workers in South and the rest of the country entered the World War II years in a strong state. As Congress and Roosevelt began a program of aiding Germany's enemies, workers labored long hours to keep up with demand. Both the CIO and AFL grew more aggressive, organizing workers and pushing for more demands. On the eve of World War II, 2.3 million workers engaged in 4,200 strikes, more strikes than in any other era in United States history.

Bell Bomber Plant: 1940's, Marietta, Georgia. Courtesy of the Atlanta Historical Society (L1984-34/8).

The war brought tremendous changes to Georgia and the rest of the South. Plants and military bases sprang up overnight across the country. In February of 1942 Bell Aircraft started construction in Marietta on a huge plant designed to build the famous B-29 bombers. About 800 construction workers labored to build the plant, which covered 2 million square feet. At peak wartime production an estimated 40,000 people, 6,000 of them women, worked in the "Bell Bomber" factory. "I worked over there for two years, [building] the B-29," remembered Catherine Cohen. "I used to work with electricity, I used to solder. I used to solder plugs. The money was better."
Women and African-Americans entered the workforce in the highest numbers ever. In 1940, women made up 25 percent

of the workforce. Five years later they made up 36 percent. They were paid less and kept from many skilled jobs. Often unions failed to offer them the same job protections they offered their male members.

In 1941 A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, convinced Roosevelt to set up the Fair Employment Practices Committee. The respected labor leader won the concession from the president after he threatened to call a march of 100,000 African-Americans on Washington, D.C. Black employment grew by 150 percent by the end of the war. In 1945, 1.25 million African Americans worked in manufacturing. Unions like the UMWA and the UAW fought for the rights of their black members. These unions reflected the heritage of the CIO, which sought to organize workers regardless of color.

Other unions, however, were not so committed to the rights of minorities. Thirty-one AFL affiliates barred black members, as did the railroad brotherhoods. Many unions, including CIO organizations, had segregated locals. The International Association of Machinists barred blacks from becoming members. The heritage of discrimination against blacks and women in many unions and the missed opportunities for broadening the appeal of the labor movement would come back to haunt it in the decades that followed World War II.

Though production levels spurred by the war increased labor's numbers, the seeds for a backlash against unions also were planted during this time. Workers found themselves hard pressed to meet the war's demands for goods. They worked long hours and sacrificed safety restrictions to help soldiers on the battlefield. Their wages often remained stagnant while prices increased.

A series of strikes swept American industries during the early years of the war. Workers went on strike 2,970 times in walkouts that idled 840,000 workers in 1942. The country's coalfields became hotbeds of discontent as miners, who watched conditions in already-dangerous mines decline in favor of high production levels, engaged in a wave of strikes. Congress responded with the Smith-Connally Act in 1943, a law that made it harder to strike and restricted the activities of labor unions.

With the passage of the Smith-Connally Act, the backlash against labor had begun. John L. Lewis, who had helped create the CIO, and militant coal miners became the focus of anger over their committment to the war effort. This anger and additional problems affected the UMWA and other unions. As World War II drew to a close and millions of workers faced unemployment a demand dropped, labor unions faced a hostile public and political leaders anxious to roll back the rights they had won under the New Deal.