Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (USA)

Abstract

Wartime mobilization in the United States involved supportive federal government policies in labor relations, enabling the labor movement to extend its influence into previously unorganized sectors of the economy. Unprecedented levels of labor conflict characterized the wartime experience as workers pressed employers, union leaders, and government officials for living wages and democracy in industry. Labor’s wartime gains proved short-lived, but the experience set in place precedents that would shape American industrial relations for much of the 20th century.