Lava

1108 Words3 Pages

The 1930-50’s golden era of organized labor is over and has lost the energy it had once had as a unifying factor in the lives of workers in the U.S. There are many factors to this decline, but image is very influential in the creation and influence of unions in two ways: externally and internally. Externally, the union’s ideology and actions attract workers into becoming members of a union and how government responds to a union’s beliefs and actions. Internally, union’s are run democratically, where workers choose who will represent them in negotiations with employers, which should give some benefits to the majority of the workers in the union. Organized crime's infiltration into labor unions has rotted the image of unions who represent workers looking to defend themselves against employers and achieve a stable livelihood. The history of labor and organized crime are undoubtedly linked because at times they would use each other to further their own means: the most famous of these links would have to be on James Hoffa. Organized crime and corrupt union officials influence on unions will still exists and although crackdowns throughout the decades have made some progress I doubt that they will be removed entirely from labor. At first union corruption was not specifically a mafia influenced occurrence.One example being IATSE(International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), the union was made up of theater professionals throughout the country in the late 1890s. Local leaders within the union began exploiting theater owners by threatening them with strikes unless they were given financial compensation. The owners were forced to comply because the industry was heavily reliant on skilled workers who were a part of the union.This cri... ... middle of paper ... ... Indiana, where he was the child of John and Viola Hoffa. The Hoffa’s socioeconomic status placed them in the the lower working class. Losing his father at the age of seven, Hoffa’s mother struggled through low paying service jobs throughout her life. Hoffa was working from a young age in the service industry as well. His first experience with labor organizing came when he was a leading member in a strike against Kroger’s grocery in 1932 . He then became a career labor organizer after he was fired from Kroger’s. Although his role was not as great as the other four members of the leadership in organizing the strike, his ability to convince fellow workers to organize was recognized by those around him and he was invited to join the Local 299 of the Teamsters in Detroit. Hoffa was the poster boy for the hardened worker that fought for better treatment in the workplace.

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