I was amazed to see zero, zippo, nada, on John L. Lewis in the standard Wall Street history books, including all of the latest entries. Lewis is arguably the most important labor union figure in American history, and, since labor is the predominant cost of any product, and, with Wall Street being all about American business, ergo, John L. Lewis is a pretty important figure. So the next few weeks we'll delve into his role in the shaping of not only the modern American labor union, but also the fiscal health of the average worker in this country.

Lewis made his mark in leading the United Mine Workers (UMW), so we are also picking up the story of the union, as detailed the previous three weeks in this space.

While the UMW had made a series of strides in the early 1900s, the coal industry came upon hard times in the 1920s, and between 1920 and 1932, membership in the UMW declined from 500,000 to 150,000. The membership increasingly perceived that their gains of the previous twenty years were being whittled down.

Enter John L. Lewis. Lewis was born in 1880, the son of Welsh immigrant parents who had settled in a coal-mining town in Iowa. John followed his father and brother into the mines, building up firsthand experience, and, in his spare time, he was an actor at the local theater, something that would also aid in his development as a labor leader.

Lewis became president of the UMW in 1920, a tough time to do so. Little is written of him over the next decade or so. The American public had grown impatient with unions, overall, and the UMW was certainly no exception. But when the Depression hit, Americans of all stripes found themselves in the same boat, especially miners. Those who had earned $7 per day before the crash, begged for the opportunity to work for $1. And they also begged for a lump or two of coal to help heat their homes. With the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, however, there was some light at the end of the dark shaft.

Soon after taking office, Roosevelt approved the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA), which attempted to improve the lot of the working man by raising wages, reducing hours, eliminating sweatshop conditions and safeguarding the right to organize as well as collective bargaining.

A key passage of the NRA was embodied in section 7a:

"Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively, through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representative or in self-organization or in other concerted activities…and that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining…a labor organization of his own choosing."

Lewis and other labor leaders took this passage as their signal to let loose with the message. 7a was quickly translated to mean, "The President wants you to join the union." For its part, the UMW gained back almost all of its losses since 1920, adding over 300,000 in just two months. The situation was similar in other industries.

John L. Lewis quickly became a player. Historian David Kennedy described Lewis as follows:

"Dour-visaged, thickly eyebrowed, richly maned, his 230-pound bulk always impeccably tailored, Lewis was a man of ursine appearance and volcanic personality, a no-holds barred advocate for labor and a fearsome adversary."

From author Harold Evans:

"There was method in Lewis's florid style beyond the compulsions of his colossal ego. He judged the average union worker wanted a man who could stand toe to toe with the big business tycoons. He was ruthless, cunning, opportunistic."

It was said that Lewis's ego "stretched as far as the undulating Iowa corn fields of his youth." And he certainly was known for his rhetoric, which was like no other, before or since.

Commenting on an ally who was waffling on a key issue, Lewis once said, "Mr. Dubinsky, whom I highly esteem, is apparently giving an imitation of Eliza crossing the ice. Like Lot's wife he is looking backward. He must decide for himself whether he is fish, fowl or good red herring."

While he was often accused of being a demagogue, John L. Lewis mostly pursued a moderate agenda. Asked what rights the average workingman ought to have, he once said, "The right to organize, (as well as) shorter hours, the prohibition of child labor, equal pay for men and women doing substantially the same kind of work, (and a guarantee) that all who are able to work and willing shall have the opportunity for steady employment." [David Kennedy] In other words, every worker should be able to have a middle-class existence. More often, though, Lewis's oratory was more on the lines of testimony he gave to a Senate panel in 1933.

"American labor stands between the rapacity of the robber barons of industry…and the lustful rage of the communists, who would lay waste to our traditions and our institutions with fire and sword."

After NRA was passed, while the unions gained in membership, they still had a hard time winning actual concessions. Big business, of course, was intimidated by Labor's gains. So it was up to New York Senator Robert Wagner to reinvigorate the Labor friendly NRA with the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, better known as the "Wagner Act." This established an independent National Labor Relations Board authorized to conduct plant elections and issue "cease and desist" orders against unfair practices, including interference with or coercion of employees in collective bargaining.

A re-energized Lewis then set about expanding the role of Labor beyond specific trade unions. But in 1935, he took the UMW out of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) due to the AFL's hesitancy to unionize factory workers. So Lewis formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

[There was a certain "snob factor" at work here. The AFL viewed itself as the union for the "skilled worker," and thus saw no room for the new immigrants who were coming to America and taking the menial factory jobs. These were the ones that Lewis wanted to target.]

As the 1936 election approached, Lewis, a staunch Republican who had supported Hoover in 1932, backed FDR, as did countless millions in American Labor who saw Roosevelt as its champion. Lewis opened up his treasury and the UMW contributed nearly half a million dollars to the Democrat's campaign. Of course, Lewis expected something in return. And it's here, boys and girls, where the modern Labor movement became inextricably intertwined with politics.

But while Roosevelt was seen as pro-Labor, he really sought to give workers an increased chance to live the good life (by improving their purchasing power, in other words), as opposed to granting them political leverage. The issue was to be pensions, wages, and work rules versus collective bargaining powers.

By 1937, FDR, while supporting the Labor movement, was growing increasingly disenchanted with its behavior. That year, Lewis had been trying to organize a union for steelworkers at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago. Unrest followed and police killed ten strikers. FDR was furious. Said Lewis, "It ill behooves one who has supped at Labor's table and who has been sheltered in Labor's house to curse with equal fervor and fine impartiality both Labor and its adversaries when they become locked in a deadly embrace." In 1940, Lewis would back the Republican candidate for president. [But, afterwards, as workers became more organized they were closely identified with the Democrats.]

Next week, more on John L. Lewis and we will finally wrap-up this series on the UMW.

Sources:

"The American Century," Harold Evans
"The Growth of the American Republic," Morison, Commager, Leuchtenburg
"America: A Narrative History," Tindall and Shi
"American Heritage: The Presidents," Michael Beschloss
"Freedom From Fear," David Kennedy

Brian Trumbore