Curriculum

Overview:

Labor Related Issues of the Period

Labor Related Events of the Period

1921

The Supreme Court held that nothing in the Clayton Act legalized secondary boycotts or protected unions against injunstions brought against them for conspiracy in restraint of trade.

The Presidential Commission on Unemployment placed the main responsibility for unemployment relief upon local communities.

In Truax v. Corrigan, the Supreme Court ruled that an Arizona law forbidding injunctions in labor disputes and permitting picketing was unconstitutional under the 14 amendement.

1922

The United Mine Workers was held not reponsible for local str ike action, and strike action was held not a conspiracy to restrain trade within the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. (Coronado Coal Co. v. UMMA)

In southern Illinois, coal strikers kill twenty guards and strikebreakers in the "Herrin Massacre".

1924

AFL President Samuel Gompers dies. William Green becomes the AFL president.

An amendment to the Constitution is proposed restricting child labor but not enough states passed the measure.

1926

The Railway Labor Act required employers to bargain collectively and not discriminate against employees who wanted to join a union. The act also provided for mediation and voluntary arbitration in labor disputes.

1927

The Longshoremen's and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act was passed.

The Journeymen Stone Cutters' action in trying to prevent purchase of nonunion cut stone was held to be an illegal restraint of interstate trade. (Bedford Cut Stone Co. v. Journemen Stone Cutters' Association, et al.)

1929

The Hayes-Cooper Act regu lating the shipment of prison labor goods in interstate commerce was approved.

The stock market crash in October began the longest economic period in American history.

Important Concepts.

Integrating Labor History into Effective Teaching of the Period.