112 Pressure politics
Furthermore, the labour movement has been riven by internal dissension
and personal rivalries. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was formed
in 1886 as a federation of unions largely organised upon a craft basis, and for
much of its history it was firmly opposed to the intervention of government
in labour matters. It favoured laissez-faire, and was squarely capitalistic in
philosophy. With the growth of mass production industries, however, and in
particular the car industry, industrial unions became increasingly important,
and resulted in the establishment of the Congress of Industrial Organisa-
tions (CIO) in 1938.
The built-in conflict between the principles of craft and industrial unions
naturally led to great hostility between AFL and CIO, but they differed also
in terms of their philosophy of government. The CIO, born of mass produc-
tion industry and the years of the Depression, was more dependent upon
government support than the AFL and consequently was in favour of govern-
ment intervention in labour affairs. In 1943 the CIO established a Political
Action Committee to provide for the organisation of labour’s political arm.
Whereas the AFL had avoided outright endorsement of presidential candi-
dates, the CIO executive endorsed Truman as the Democratic candidate in
1948 and four years later the AFL followed with their endorsement of Adlai
Stevenson.
The weakness of the labour movement as a political force was demon-
strated in 1947, when Congress passed the Taft–Hartley Act with provisions
restrictive of organised labour, including a clause that allowed state gov-
ernments to outlaw the closed shop. The passage of the legislation, which
was supported by the National Association of Manufacturers, emphasised
the disruption of the unions, for the AFL and the CIO were at odds about
the strategy for opposing the Bill, and internal dissension within the CIO
threatened that organisation itself. In 1955 the two federations combined
into the AFL–CIO, but this remains a loose federation of unions each with
autonomous powers. The new federation set up a Committee on Political
Education which worked on behalf of candidates who received its endorse-
ment, particularly by carrying out registration campaigns, coordinating the
collection of campaign contributions and organising canvassing on behalf of
the candidates it chose to support. However, again the weakness of union
power is illustrated in that the federal minimum wage has not been raised
since 1997 and stands at a mere $5.15 an hour.
The orientation of the unions towards Democratic presidential candidates
in recent years is clear enough, but officially the AFL–CIO has a non-partisan
approach towards legislative elections, a policy that is described as reward-
ing labour’s friends and punishing its enemies whatever their party label.
In practice, only very few Republican senatorial or congressional candidates
receive union endorsement, compared with the large number of Democratic
candidates who do so. However, endorsement by the unions is not an au-
tomatic matter for Democrats, and the views and record of the individual
candidate become crucial. Similarly the unions make large contributions to