204 ChaPter^4
the senate on March 1st, 1934. It outlawed company unions, required employ-
ers to recognize independent unions voted upon by the workers, guaranteed
the right to strike, endorsed Department of Labor conciliation during disputes,
established 7-person boards for grievances, and allowed the closed shop if
state law said it was legal. Since the NIRA had allowed corporations to form
trade associations, Wagner pointed out, workers deserved the same right to
organize collectively too.
Corporations opposed Wagner’s bill immediately, especially the auto indus-
try. The NRA code for the carmakers gave them the right to hire and fire “on
merit” so they were able to dismiss union advocates at will. Ford, GM, and
the others could do more-or-less as they wished without any fear of legal
consequences. In fact, FDR lectured labor, not industry, on its responsibilities
and ethical industrial behavior. Corporations and their allies posed the
Wagner bill in alarmist, political terms: “class conflict” or “harmony.” For
Americans, the choice was easy; class struggle was not part of the U.S. politi-
cal tradition and the myth of harmony was accepted in education and media
institutions. Still, after a series of strikes, in May Wagner amended his bill to
exempt domestics [maids, nannies, and such], agricultural workers, and any
establishment with 10 or fewer workers—that is to say, he excluded millions
of workers from basic labor rights. One of Wagner’s allies, Senator David
Walsh of Massachusetts, eased Americans who feared class conflict [meaning
labor protest; corporate power was not usually considered class-oriented],
explaining “the policy of the Government is founded upon the theory of col-
lective bargaining, not upon the theory of class war, a conception foreign to
industrial conditions in this country.” Even this amended version was too
strong for FDR, who in June established a Steel Labor Relations Board, like
the auto board, so that the steel manufacturers could establish their own codes
for business, not be subject to federal laws. FDR’s goal was to achieve indus-
trial peace, not help unions. The Vice-President of U.S. Steel was thrilled.
“My guess is that” FDR’s actions “will end for the time being at last many of
the troubles in that respect.”
But, once more, workers took to the streets to use the leverage they had—
the ability to withhold their labor and stop production. In 1934, there was
one of the largest strike waves in U.S. history, and this forced FDR and the
Democrats to move back closer to labor. Over 350,000 workers from Maine
to Alabama went on strike, and many radicals took on leading roles as the