Labor on the Defensive.

The coming of the Depression hurt the unions as much as it did any other organization. Like everyone else, the unions were unprepared at first to deal with the drastic changes these new conditions brought to the workplace. Membership declined as layoffs increased and shops closed. Without an effective plan or vision, organized labor's response to the desperation many workers felt was erratic and often ineffectual. Disputes between management and the workers, however, continued and even worsened as the availability of a cheap pool of labor grew. President Roosevelt's approach to the problems of labor in the early days of the New Deal was that of a conciliator. He believed that through cooperation the interests of both would be inevitably served, and toward that end he attempted to gain the workers' confidence by acknowledging that they were entitled to a voice in industry. No other piece of legislation more...