National Federation of Public and Private Employees

was to eliminate “labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standards of living necessary for health, efficiency and well-being of workers.” It established the maximum working hours of 44 per week for the first year, 42 for the second and 40 thereafter. The Fair Labor Standards Act also established minimum wages and prohibited child labor in all industries engaged in producing goods in inter-state commerce and placed a limitation on the labor of boys and girls between 16 and 18 years of age in hazardous occupations.

Four years later, the Fair Employment Act initiated by Frances Perkins and Vice-President Harry S. Truman was passed. This act required all federal agencies to include in their contracts with private employers a provision obligating such employers not to “discriminate against persons of any race, color, creed or nationality in matters of employment”. This act set up the Committee on Fair Employment Practice (FEPC), a group whose mandate was to investigate all complaints of discrimination, take steps to eliminate the discrimination, and then make any recommendations to Roosevelt concerning discrimination.

In 1947 Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act due to the Republican Party and right-wing elements in the Democratic Party that objected to what they believed was the pro-trade union legislation of the Roosevelt administration. The Taft-Hartley Act declared that the closed shop was illegal and permitted a union shop only after the affirnmative vote of a majority of the employees. Under this act, jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts were prohibited. Unions were no longer able to contribute to political campaigns and union leaders were required to claim that they were not supporters of the Communist Party. In 1950 the Supreme Court upheld this act.

The National Labor Relations Board was also established under the Taft-Hartley Act.
This body had the power to determine the issuance or prosecution of a complaint. Under the terms of the act the United States Attorney General had the power to obtain an 80-day injunction when a threatened or an actual strike “imperiled the national health or safety”.

William Greene remained president of the AFL until his death in 1952 when George Meany replaced him. In 1955, George Meany was at the helm of unifying the CIO and the AFL. Walter Reuther, the president of the CIO became vice-president of the AFL-CIO. George Meany was unanimously elected president of this new organization that now had a membership of 15,000,000. During his 25 years leading the AFL-CIO, George Meany modernized and expanded the national AFL-CIO, making it a powerful voice in our nation’s political and legislative arena. He is considered the builder of the modern AFL-CIO. In 1979 George Meany stepped down from his presidency of the AFL-CIO and turned its presidency over to Lane Kirkland. George Meany died in 1980.
Kirkland held the AFL-CIO presidency from 1970 – 1995. With labor unions in a decline he quickly initiated significant innovations and secured the re-affiliation of the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers, the United Mine Workers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. He also took up the cause of Solidarity and funneled more than $6 million in aid to Poland in the form of cash and communications equipment. This aid was considered instrumental in Poland’s effort to end 50 years of Communist Party rule. He nominated the first woman to the AFL-CIO’ Executive Council and increased the role of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans in the organization. By upgrading the AFL-CIO’s media and public relations departments he was able to get the union message out to the wider public. In 1994, President Bill Clinton presented Kirkland with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Lane Kirkland retired from office in 1995 and died at the age of 77 in 1999. READ MORE