Chapter 12

THE Johnson Administration early in its career produced one of the most fruitful legislative periods in American history from the viewpoint of organized labor. This appraisal by union leaders rested on the fact that the goals of major labor unions and those of President Johnson's “Great Society” coincided in many respects. And for a time those goals found a highly responsive Congress. The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) called the 89th Congress “the most outstanding Congress in the history of this nation.” Paradoxically, it was nonlabor legislation which evoked the plaudits of the AFL-CIO and other leading elements of organized labor.

The lawmakers' actions in the fields of civil rights, anti-poverty, education and other social welfare areas under Mr. Johnson's energetic and experienced leadership generally followed the unions' longstanding stance on social legislation. The forces of organized labor comprised a major bulwark in the coalition which produced what was sometimes termed the legislative and political “consensus” of the early Johnson years. Those years, particularly 1965, were marked for the quantity and variety of legislation enacted in the health, education and welfare categories which was supported and in many instances strongly pushed by labor. From the mid-sixties on, Congress and the Administration—like the American people at large—became increasingly preoccupied with problems created by the growing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, inflation, racial upheaval in American cities and campus unrest. Both social and labor legislation met rising competition in the lawmaking and budgetary arenas.

Several head on confrontations between business and labor interests occurred during Mr. Johnson's Presidency. In contrast to organized labor's high batting average in the field of social legislation, its record on labor matters was mixed.

Two developments long held the limelight in the field of labor legislation. One was the proposed repeal of Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, which permitted states to enact laws banning the union shop. Repeated attempts to repeal 14(b), commonly known as the “right-to-work” issue, generated considerable controversy both on Capitol Hill and among opposing pressure groups throughout the country. The Senate twice rebuffed repeal attempts by the Administration and organized labor, although the issue was used to provide political leverage on other legislation. In each case Southern Democrats and Republicans joined forces in successful filibusters which prevented the repeal measure from coming before the Senate.

By contrast, the other major piece of proposed labor legislation produced an important victory for the labor unions. This was a bill proposed by the Administration providing far-reaching extension of minimum wage coverage and increases in the pay floor.

Business forces and their allies emerged victorious over both the labor unions and the Administration with Congress' refusal to enact laws expanding unemployment compensation and lifting restrictions on construction site picketing by striking unions.

The period also saw Congress and the Administration faced with the recurrent problem of how to deal with work stoppages which disrupted the nation's economy. The issue arose twice during the Johnson Administration, each time in the area of transportation. Congress followed the President's lead in requiring compulsory arbitration, over the objections of labor leaders, to avert a threatened nationwide railroad walkout. A strike which grounded more than half the nation's commercial air carrier service for several weeks, on the other hand, was permitted to run its course without decisive intervention on the part of either Congress or the President.

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