Down by law: Public sector unions and the state in America, World War I to World War II

This dissertation examines unions of government employees in the United States from World War I through World War II. Their history sheds light on a large but ignored segment of the working class, changing our understanding of labor as a whole. It underscores the importance of law to labor, and allows historians to evaluate claims about how different laws have affected the size and character of unions. Also, court decisions in this area provide an opportunity to synthesize theories about judicial decision-making. Further, this history buttresses scholarship which stresses the influence of state structure on social movements.; Chapter 1 begins with a "false dawn" of public sector organizing that the Boston Police strike of 1919 cut short. Chapter 2 addresses the law of public sector labor relations from 1900 to 1950, analyzing both the impact on unions and judicial reasoning. Chapter 3 describes the legal and political battles of a teachers' union in Seattle from 1928 to 1931 against a "yellow dog" rule. Chapter 4 uses locals of the BSEIU around the country to show what public sector unions could do in the absence of formal rights. In chapter 5, the powerful, leftist, and formerly private sector TWU uses mass political protests to fight against legal restrictions after New York City bought the subways in 1940. With the help of an increasing toleration of public sector unions, the TWU achieved a substantial victory.; Judges, concerned with state structure and using a false construction of "union," allowed local public employers to make the law of public sector labor relations. This law turned unions to politics, creating a core of politically active unions in the labor movement while artificially repressing the size of this core. This had a significant impact on all labor and on American politics. Still, these unions achieved real gains. Historians must avoid the limited, inaccurate images of "union" and "worker" that anti-union contemporaries used. As union members realized, many public employees are workers.