Question

From its beginnings in the 1860s until the Great Depression of the 1930s, the US labor movement faced strong opposition from the government. In the lesson, we discussed how government officials sided with business owners in labor disputes. Some state governments passed laws making strikes illegal. State and federal governments sent troops to break up strikes. Finally, no federal labor laws were passed until the second half of the 1930s.

Why do you think government officials (and the public in general) were opposed to labor unions in the beginning? Why do you think things began to change during the hard economic times of the 1930s?

Answer 1

Government officials, and the public in general, were initially opposed to labor unions because they believed them to be a threat to the existing economic power structure. They feared that labor unions would give too much power to workers, and that this could disrupt the balance of power between employers, workers, and government.

Things began to change during the hard economic times of the 1930s because people began to understand the need for workers to have more rights and protections. With the rising unemployment and poverty caused by the Depression, many saw the potential benefits of labor unions when it came to negotiating better wages and working conditions for workers. This shift in public opinion eventually led to the passage of labor laws in the second half of the 1930s.