Strikes, such as the 1936-1937 Flint strike, ended in victory for the UAW and further increased their power and influence. Encouraged by the success of these actions, the CIO successfully pressured the Roosevelt administration to push leftward on labor rights and for more substantial union power. And it often found a sympathetic ear. In 1938, Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which created a minimum wage and standardized time-and-a-half overtime pay laws.
These labor and economic policies strengthened the labor movement. In the eight years between Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1932 and America’s entry into World War II, union membership in the United States increased from approximately 3 million to almost 10 million.
During and after World War II, Michigan and specifically Detroit were economic centers that represented the dreams of the New Deal and how intertwined they were with labor unions. Detroit became the epitome of the “Arsenal of Democracy,” an example of unionized workers living out the American Dream and fulfilling the promise of American exceptionalism. In the immediate post-World War II era, unions helped create the middle class by raising the standards of living and shrinking income inequality.
But the aggressive tactics of the CIO and the growing might of unions made conservatives and business leaders determined to curb their power at the first available opportunity. It came in 1947, when a Republican Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act over President Harry S. Truman’s veto. The law eliminated unions’ right to engage in wildcat strikes and other more militant forms of protest. In addition, the act empowered individual states to establish right-to-work laws. These laws allowed individual workers covered under union contracts to opt out of paying dues — while forcing unions to give them the same benefits and services anyway. This arrangement left unions with less money to spend on contract negotiations, political organization or legal defenses, reducing their power and ability to demand change.
Many of the first states to adopt right-to-work laws were in the South, where industry was more sparse and, even during the New Deal, support for unions was lower. The conservative Democrats who dominated the region feared that the labor movement and union power would lead to Black radicalization and increased efforts to end Jim Crow segregation.
Unions continued to maintain more power in the industrial Midwest. But even there, union strength faded during the second half of the 20th century. Deindustrialization, suburbanization and racial tensions weakened cities, which had formed the bedrock of labor union influence. The decline of union power was accompanied by a deterioration of the middle class and a new rise in economic inequality.