Hormel and theChicago Tribunein 1985; Colt and
Trans World Airlines in 1986; International Paper in
1987; and Eastern Airlines, Pittston Coal Company,
and Greyhound Lines in 1989. These strikes were
among the bitterest and most violent of the post-
World War II period. During the 1980’s, thousands
of strikers lost their jobs to permanent replacement
hires, sending a profound chill through union ranks.
Strike activity declined sharply. The number of ma-
jor walkouts (defined as involving 1,000 or more
workers) plummeted from an average of 290 per
year in the 1970’s to 35 per year in the early 1990’s.
Firings for Legally Protected Activities In 1984,
pro-union workers were fired at a rate four times
greater than in 1960. Legally, workers had the right
to form unions, and an employer could not fire a
worker for union activity. However, because the pen-
alties were modest (illegally fired workers received
no punitive damages), employers increasingly re-
sorted to firing union supporters, leaving it up to the
workers to seek redress.
In the 1950’s, the NLRB ruled that workers were
illegally fired in only 4 percent of union-organizing
drives; by the early 1980’s, that percentage had soared
to 32 percent. In 1985, an average of one of every
thirty-eight workers who voted for a union was ille-
gally fired (and later reinstated by NLRB order),
compared to one worker in six hundred during the
1950’s. However, a far greater number of illegally
fired workers simply gave up and failed to request re-
instatement. According to a 1990 Government Ac-
counting Office (GAO) study, it took three years
for the average worker to complete the prolonged
NLRB appeals process. When illegally fired workers
were finally rehired, they returned to a very different
workplace: The union organizing drive they had
been fired for supporting had typically collapsed.
Hostile Legal and Judicial Climate From 1981 to
1983, the Reagan administration failed to fill two
seats on the NLRB, creating a backlog of cases.
When appointments were made, openly probusi-
ness candidates were selected. Under the chairman-
ship of corporate lawyer Donald Dotson, the NLRB
issued a string of antiunion decisions. For example,
inMeyers Industries, Inc.,the NLRB overturned a
1975 decision by upholding the firing of a truck
driver who had complained about an unsafe truck.
InRossmore House, the NLRB overturned previous
precedents by ruling that an employer could inter-
rogate workers about a union organizing drive. In a
series of decisions on plant closings and runaway
shops, the board removed barriers to employer relo-
cation to nonunion, low-wage areas.
Meanwhile, since the 1940’s the Supreme Court
had been redefining labor law. Nearly all of the tac-
tics used by unions during the great upsurge of the
1930’s—including sit-down strikes, factory occupa-
tions, mass picketing, secondary boycotts, wildcats
(strikes without formal union authorization), and
strikes over grievances—had been declared uncon-
stitutional. Whereas corporations faced no punitive
damages for illegally firing workers for their union
activity, during the 1980’s unions faced severe penal-
ties and hefty fines if they engaged in any of these ac-
tivities. Meanwhile, employers hired antiunion con-
sulting firms in more than half of organizing drives.Unions Adopt a Cautious Approach For the most
part, union leaders adopted a conciliatory stance.
Many unions responded to their declining numbers
by either merging with other unions or competing
to win over independent employee associations, ne-
glecting the critical yet time-consuming task of orga-
nizing and recruiting new members. Although coali-
tions against plant closings sprang up across the
nation, such as the “Save Our Valley” coalition in
Youngstown, Ohio (which saw the closing of three
steel mills and loss of ten thousand union jobs by
1980), few enjoyed any significant success.
Lane Kirkland’s presidency of the AFL-CIO
(1979-1995) began with high hopes that were
quickly dashed. Although he appeared more open-
minded and exuded a more professional persona
than his burly, cigar-chomping predecessor, George
Meany (AFL-CIO president, 1955-1979), as the 1980’s
wore on it became apparent that little had changed.
Kirkland devoted few resources to recruiting and
new outreach initiatives until 1989, when an AFL-
CIO “Organizing Institute” was created.
While Kirkland played a major financial role in
supporting the Polish trade union Solidarity, he also
embraced the movement against communism and
lent labor’s support to various right-wing groups and
institutes abroad, further alienating the federation
from other progressive movements. The AFL-CIO
continued to hold itself aloof from potential new
constituencies and social movements. Although Kirk-
land did expand the executive council to include its
first woman and more minorities, in 1989 there wereThe Eighties in America Unions 1003