Employers' Association of Greater Chicago
Encyclopedia
The Employers' Association of Greater Chicago (EA) was a nonprofit association
of employers based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded as the Employers' Association of Chicago in 1903, although it was also known colloquially as the Chicago Employers' Association. Its goal was to oppose the unionization of companies in the Chicago area, and assist unionized companies in deunionization.
Over time, the organization's commitment to union avoidance lessened greatly and the organization became more heavily involved in traditional human resources
training and consulting. The organization changed its name to the Employers' Association of Greater Chicago in 1959, and merged with the Midwest Industrial Management Association in 1981.
against telephone equipment manufacturers.
In January 1902, Brass Molder's Union Local 83 struck Stromberg-Carlson
and Western Electric
, seeking to win the closed shop
in collective bargaining
negotiations. The employers locked out
the workers and brought in strikebreaker
s. Union members began attacking the strikebreakers. On May 7, 1903, the union struck the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company
. Kellogg Switchboard, too, locked out 90 percent of its workforce and hired strikebreakers. The Teamsters Joint Council of Chicago
began a sympathy strike
on June 24, 1903. The three employers sought injunctions against the sympathy strike, which they won on July 20, 1903. The Brass Molders' strike collapsed soon afterward.
During the summer of 1902, the Employers' Association of Chicago was formed. John G. Shedd
, vice-president of Marshall Field & Company, was the primary force behind the organization of the group. Shedd became the first president. Montgomery Ward
manager (later president) Robert J. Thorne
was the first vice-president; grocery store president Frank H. Armstrong of Reid, Murdoch & Company the second vice-president; and William E. Clow, president of plumbing manufacturer J.B. Clow & Co. Its goal was to secure the open shop
, resist unionization, and break unions in workplaces where they existed. The group kept its membership secret for fear of generating strikes by the Teamsters. By the end of the year, the EA's existence had become public knowledge and the organization had hired its first staff person, former labor arbitrator Frederick W. Job. The EA was heavily funded by the city's banks, and by other large companies such as Rand McNally
.
The EA took its first active role in a labor dispute during the 1902-03 telephone equipment strike. The Teamsters and team owners had formed a body known as the Chicago Board of Arbitration (CBA) in early 1903. Ostensibly, the CBA was established to mediate disputes between drivers and their employers. But the CBA quickly asserted jurisdiction over all labor disputes in the city. The Teamsters could force employers to the table by striking, where the team owners would win decisions which enabled them to profit at the expense of other business owners. When the CBA attempted to intervene in the telephone equipment strike, the EA retaliated. The EA threw its entire support behind Kellogg Switchboard, which subsequently refused to bargain with the union. The EA also supplied funds and legal expertise which enabled Kellogg Switchboard to win a court injunction forcing the Teamsters to end their sympathy strike. These actions helped break the strike.
The Teamsters quickly became the biggest target of the EA. In early 1904, the Teamsters aligned all their contracts to expire simultaneously on May 1, 1905. The EA then passed a resolution on June 16, 1904, declaring that no employer would sign a contract with the Teamsters after May 1, 1905.
The EA's biggest anti-union push came in 1905. On December 15, 1904, 19 clothing cutters at Montgomery Ward went on strike to protest the company's use of nonunion subcontractors. The Montgomery Ward quickly locked them out. Sympathy strikes by several tailors' unions broke out, as did sympathy strikes by other unions. By April, 5,000 workers were on the picket line. The Teamsters engaged in a sympathy strike on April 6, 1905, adding another 10,000 members to the strike. The EA collected $250,000 (about $6.2 million in 2007 dollars) from its members to hire strikebreaker
s. The EA also raised $1 million (about $25 million in 2007 dollars) to establish the Employers' Teaming Association-a new company which, within a matter of weeks, bought out a large number of team owners and imported hundreds of African American
strikebreakers from St. Louis
to drive the wagons. Mark Morton
, president of Morton Salt
and an EA member, convinced the railroads to pressure the remaining team owners to lock out their Teamster members as well. The Teamsters upped the ante, and another 25,000 members walked off the job on April 25, 1905, paralyzing grocery stores, warehouses, railway shippers, department stores and coal companies. The EA and its members sued nearly every union as well. Local and state courts issued numerous injunctions against the unions, ordering them to stop picketing and return to work. When a wagon owner refused to do business with Montgomery Ward for fear that the Teamsters would picket him, a court forced the team owner to do business with the retailer. Few courts were impartial in their administration of justice. One judge seated a grand jury
whose foreman was A. A. McCormick, the reactionary publisher of the Chicago Evening Post
.
The strike ended not through the efforts of the EA or the unions, but due to the allegations of John C. Driscoll. In June 1905, the grand jury led by foreman McCormick heard testimony by Driscoll, who at the time was secretary of the team owners' association. Driscoll claimed that he had taken at least $10,000 in bribes from Thorne and executives at other companies to force the unions out on strike. Driscoll also alleged that the Teamsters and other unions had demanded bribes to end the strike, and that Driscoll had skimmed portions of these bribes into his own pocket. $50,000 in cancelled checks were produced in court to support Driscoll's claims. Although Driscoll's testimony undercut both sides, public support for the unions suffered most. Although nearly every union continued to support the strike publicly, most sent their members back to work by the end of June. The Teamsters continued to support the strike, but various divisions of the union also went back to work in June and July. By August 1, 1905, the strike was over and the employers ended the lockout.
. It helped expose efforts to extort
money from property owners in 1921, which led to the indictment and eventual imprisonment of BSEIU president William Quesse
. In 1921, the EA attacked nascent unions in grocery stores and food industries, accusing them of vandalism, bombings and extortion as well. In the early and mid 1920s, the EA put pressure on unions in the city's milk and ice industries, accusing unions of blackmail, extortion, and establishing anti-competitive trusts and price fixing
.
The focus on illegal activities by unions proved so effective that the EA's main priority became attacking labor racketeering
. The term "racketeering" was, in fact, coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime
in the Teamsters
union. Reports about rackets and other illegal activities by labor unions and employers were issued annually by the EA. In 1928, for example, the Employers' Association claimed that exactly 46 rackets were operating in Chicago. The EA reported on the use of thugs and gunmen by both unions and employers, and excoriated the public and government officials for not prosecuting rackets more often or more successfully. EA reports also focused on bombings in the city. These reports provide statistical documentation of the level of organized crime-related violence in the city (although the EA reports rarely distinguish between union- or employer-instigated violence and violence undertaken by mob-dominated unions or employers). The Association's October 1928 report, which documented an astonishing 727 bombings in Chicago in the previous year, led to the formation of the city's first arson unit.
In October 1928, Employers' Association president James W. Breen was linked to the rackets himself. Chicago police investigators alleged that Breen had helped form a battery makers' cartel, and that this trade group was shaking down non-members. Breen promptly resigned as president of the association. A year later, organized crime figures bombed Breen's home for fear that the ongoing investigation might lead to Breen's indictment and that he might inform on his associates. But Breen was never indicted, however.
The Employers' Association made its first foray into legislative lobbying in 1928 as well. That year, it called for repeal of the state of Illinois' "horse thief law," which permitted posses to form legally so long as they were in hot pursuit
of criminals. The EA claimed that the law led citizens and employers to mistakenly believe gangs of union members were legal deputies when they were not. Three months later, the Association campaigned for a new city ordinance which would ban the resale of seized weapons to the public. The sale of the guns, the EA claimed, merely put more weapons in the hands of criminals while inducing law enforcement personnel to seize the weapons of law-abiding citizens.
The Employers' Association campaign against rackets remained strong through 1935. In 1929, the EA issued a report estimating the costs of racketeering in the city of Chicago at $136 million a year (about $1.6 billion in 2007 dollars). In August 1929, the Association reported 67 bombings in the past year, compared to 46 in 1928. The organization also posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any bomber, and a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any racketeer who assaulted an Employers' Association member. The bombing campaign only intensified, however, with another 30 bombings in August and September 1929. In 1931, the Association went public with a report which estimated the cost of bombings at $500 million ($6.8 billion in 2007 dollars), and the cost of racketeering at $145 million ($1.9 billion in 2007 dollars). By 1932, the Employers' Association was claiming that the bombings and rackets cost the city more than the taxes it paid to fight World War I
. Whether the EA's anti-racketeering campaign had any effect is unclear. The Great Depression
had caused union membership to drop significantly, and the end of Prohibition in the United States
largely ended organized crime's primary motive for engaging in widespread violence. But the EA campaign had also led to strengthened anti-racketeering laws and stronger enforcement as well. By 1934, the number of bombings had dropped to their lowest since 1923.
(the Wagner Act) in 1935 energized the Employers' Association, and drew it into a new field of activity. Although the EA had long opposed collective bargaining
, federal legislation protecting labor unions took the organization by surprise. The Association vociferously attacked President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
's labor policies. But like many employers, the EA took a "wait and see" attitude until the U.S. Supreme Court
had ruled on the Wagner Act's constitutionality. The court upheld the constitutionality of the statute in 1937 in National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation
301 U.S. 1 (1937). The EA rarely attacked the act for the remainder of the 1930s or during World War II
.
However, in the post-war period it once more blasted unions and the federal government's labor policies. The EA undertook a campaign to influence Congressional opinion, and pushed strongly for repeal of the Wagner Act. When repeal seemed out of reach, the EA supported the Taft-Hartley Act
and the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
(LMRDA). It also sponsored a program to take advantage of the provisions of both acts by bolstering the role foremen played in the workplace.
By the late 1930s, labor-related disruptions and violence in Chicago had been greatly reduced. Chicago law enforcement was also cracking down heavily on labor violence and racketeering, which won high praise from the Employers' Association.
The Association became much less active in labor relations in the 1950s and 1960s. The organization undertook a brief resurgence of interested in rackets in 1951, however. It attacked the Chicago Retail Druggists Association for "forcing" pharmacies to pay dues to the group, accused the restaurant workers' union of extorting money from cafes, threatened to sue the Teamsters union for violations of the LMRDA, and more. It even went so far as to hire a former FBI
agent, Frederick W. Turner, Jr., to investigate labor racketeering in the city. But none of these campaigns had the impact of its 1920 efforts, and Turner's investigations produced next to nothing. No indictments or grand jury investigations occurred, either. By November 1951, the EA dropped its pretense of "fair play" and announced it openly opposed unionization of every workplace. But this militaristic stand did little to revive the group.
The EA tried again to focus public attention on labor racketeering in 1962. Once more, it hired an ex-FBI agent to investigate racketeering in the city of Chicago, and accused unions of using simple picketing as a means of extortion. But the legal and political climate had changed, and these efforts were often unsuccessful. In November 1964, Chicago City Council
Alderman
Thomas E. Keane accused the EA of anti-union bias—a charge the Association roundly denied.
The EA played a role in three more strikes, both of them affecting mechanics at auto dealerships. In 1968, the Association acted as a spokesperson for the auto dealers in their attempt to resist unionization. The mechanics unionized, and struck the auto dealers in 1975, 1978 and 1981. During each strike, the EA strongly and publicly supported the dealerships and continued to act as their primary spokesperson. But the EA played little role other than that of public relations.
consulting in 1918. That year, it undertook a very successful campaign to encourage local businesses to hire middle-age managers with experience rather than discharge them.
The EA did little in this field, however, until the 1940s. As its anti-union campaigns flagged, the organization began to become more of a human resources consulting agency for its members. In 1941, it released its first survey of workforce needs. Some of its human resources educational efforts remained linked to its traditional anti-unionism, however. In 1942, it campaigned for a longer workweek—ostensibly to meet wartime production demands, but which also violated union demands for shorter work periods. In 1949, the group denounced fringe benefits such as health insurance, pensions, and life insurance as "unnecessary" and "unwise" and exorbitantly expensive. It also declared unemployment insurance to be too costly and unnecessary, and demanded dismantling of public welfare programs.
The EA also became involved in broader social issues. Its leadership, always concerned with the spread of collectivist ideals, denounced President Harry S. Truman
as a socialist and demanded that Congress rein in the president's economic policies. The organization also attacked the publishers of elementary and junior high school textbooks for allowing "communist
" influences.
Long-time Association executive director (now president) Gordon L. Hostetter died in 1962, depriving the Employers' Association of its most active leadership. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the organization quietly worked with its members to improve their human resources capacities. It defended employers when they were accused of racial bias in the administration of employment tests. But the EA abandoned most of its anti-union programs. The organization's membership, which had hovered at the 1,000-member mark for 60 years, remained stable. But the Association became less and less of an important political and workplace player in Chicago. In 1971, EA president Roland E. Fulton was elected president of the Employer Association Group of the National Association of Manufacturers
. But this was the last major role the EA played in either local or national labor relations.
In 1981, the Employers' Association of Greater Chicago (as the group was now known) merged with the Midwest Industrial Management Association. In 1989, MIMA changed its name to become the Management Association of Illinois. The group still has about 1,000 member companies, roughly half of which are in manufacturing and half in the service sector.
Voluntary association
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...
of employers based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded as the Employers' Association of Chicago in 1903, although it was also known colloquially as the Chicago Employers' Association. Its goal was to oppose the unionization of companies in the Chicago area, and assist unionized companies in deunionization.
Over time, the organization's commitment to union avoidance lessened greatly and the organization became more heavily involved in traditional human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
training and consulting. The organization changed its name to the Employers' Association of Greater Chicago in 1959, and merged with the Midwest Industrial Management Association in 1981.
Founding and early years
The group was founded as the Employers' Association of Chicago (the EA) in 1902 during a strikeStrike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
against telephone equipment manufacturers.
In January 1902, Brass Molder's Union Local 83 struck Stromberg-Carlson
Stromberg-Carlson
Stromberg-Carlson was a telecommunications equipment and electronics manufacturing company formed in 1894 as a partnership of Alfred Stromberg and Androv Carlson. Along with four other companies, it controlled the United States national supply of telephone equipment until after World War...
and Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
, seeking to win the closed shop
Closed shop
A closed shop is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed....
in collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
negotiations. The employers locked out
Lockout (industry)
A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
the workers and brought in strikebreaker
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
s. Union members began attacking the strikebreakers. On May 7, 1903, the union struck the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company
Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company
Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company was a major manufacturer of telephone exchange equipment. It was founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Milo G. Kellogg, an electrical engineer...
. Kellogg Switchboard, too, locked out 90 percent of its workforce and hired strikebreakers. The Teamsters Joint Council of Chicago
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
began a sympathy strike
Sympathy strike
Secondary action is industrial action by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in another, separate enterprise...
on June 24, 1903. The three employers sought injunctions against the sympathy strike, which they won on July 20, 1903. The Brass Molders' strike collapsed soon afterward.
During the summer of 1902, the Employers' Association of Chicago was formed. John G. Shedd
John G. Shedd
John Graves Shedd was the second president and chairman of the board of Marshall Field & Company.Born on a New Hampshire farm, Shedd arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1871 and began working as a stock clerk for Marshall Field. By 1901, he had worked his way up to a vice-presidency and took over as...
, vice-president of Marshall Field & Company, was the primary force behind the organization of the group. Shedd became the first president. Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
manager (later president) Robert J. Thorne
Robert J. Thorne
Robert Julius Thorne was an American businessman who was president of Montgomery Ward from 1917 to 1920.-Life:...
was the first vice-president; grocery store president Frank H. Armstrong of Reid, Murdoch & Company the second vice-president; and William E. Clow, president of plumbing manufacturer J.B. Clow & Co. Its goal was to secure the open shop
Open shop
An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union as a condition of hiring or continued employment...
, resist unionization, and break unions in workplaces where they existed. The group kept its membership secret for fear of generating strikes by the Teamsters. By the end of the year, the EA's existence had become public knowledge and the organization had hired its first staff person, former labor arbitrator Frederick W. Job. The EA was heavily funded by the city's banks, and by other large companies such as Rand McNally
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is an American publisher of maps, atlases, textbooks, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data...
.
The EA took its first active role in a labor dispute during the 1902-03 telephone equipment strike. The Teamsters and team owners had formed a body known as the Chicago Board of Arbitration (CBA) in early 1903. Ostensibly, the CBA was established to mediate disputes between drivers and their employers. But the CBA quickly asserted jurisdiction over all labor disputes in the city. The Teamsters could force employers to the table by striking, where the team owners would win decisions which enabled them to profit at the expense of other business owners. When the CBA attempted to intervene in the telephone equipment strike, the EA retaliated. The EA threw its entire support behind Kellogg Switchboard, which subsequently refused to bargain with the union. The EA also supplied funds and legal expertise which enabled Kellogg Switchboard to win a court injunction forcing the Teamsters to end their sympathy strike. These actions helped break the strike.
The Teamsters quickly became the biggest target of the EA. In early 1904, the Teamsters aligned all their contracts to expire simultaneously on May 1, 1905. The EA then passed a resolution on June 16, 1904, declaring that no employer would sign a contract with the Teamsters after May 1, 1905.
The EA's biggest anti-union push came in 1905. On December 15, 1904, 19 clothing cutters at Montgomery Ward went on strike to protest the company's use of nonunion subcontractors. The Montgomery Ward quickly locked them out. Sympathy strikes by several tailors' unions broke out, as did sympathy strikes by other unions. By April, 5,000 workers were on the picket line. The Teamsters engaged in a sympathy strike on April 6, 1905, adding another 10,000 members to the strike. The EA collected $250,000 (about $6.2 million in 2007 dollars) from its members to hire strikebreaker
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
s. The EA also raised $1 million (about $25 million in 2007 dollars) to establish the Employers' Teaming Association-a new company which, within a matter of weeks, bought out a large number of team owners and imported hundreds of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
strikebreakers from St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to drive the wagons. Mark Morton
Mark Morton (businessman)
Mark Morton was an American businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded the Morton Salt Company.-Early life:...
, president of Morton Salt
Morton Salt
Morton Salt is a United States company producing salt for food, water conditioning, industrial, agricultural, and road/highway use. Based in Chicago, the business is North America's leading producer and marketer of salt. It is a subsidiary of the German company K+S.-History:The company began in...
and an EA member, convinced the railroads to pressure the remaining team owners to lock out their Teamster members as well. The Teamsters upped the ante, and another 25,000 members walked off the job on April 25, 1905, paralyzing grocery stores, warehouses, railway shippers, department stores and coal companies. The EA and its members sued nearly every union as well. Local and state courts issued numerous injunctions against the unions, ordering them to stop picketing and return to work. When a wagon owner refused to do business with Montgomery Ward for fear that the Teamsters would picket him, a court forced the team owner to do business with the retailer. Few courts were impartial in their administration of justice. One judge seated a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
whose foreman was A. A. McCormick, the reactionary publisher of the Chicago Evening Post
Chicago Evening Post
The Chicago Evening Post was a daily newspaper published in Chicago from March 1, 1886 until 1932. The newspaper was founded as a penny paper during the technological paradigm-shift created by the invention of linotype technology, and failed during the Great Depression...
.
The strike ended not through the efforts of the EA or the unions, but due to the allegations of John C. Driscoll. In June 1905, the grand jury led by foreman McCormick heard testimony by Driscoll, who at the time was secretary of the team owners' association. Driscoll claimed that he had taken at least $10,000 in bribes from Thorne and executives at other companies to force the unions out on strike. Driscoll also alleged that the Teamsters and other unions had demanded bribes to end the strike, and that Driscoll had skimmed portions of these bribes into his own pocket. $50,000 in cancelled checks were produced in court to support Driscoll's claims. Although Driscoll's testimony undercut both sides, public support for the unions suffered most. Although nearly every union continued to support the strike publicly, most sent their members back to work by the end of June. The Teamsters continued to support the strike, but various divisions of the union also went back to work in June and July. By August 1, 1905, the strike was over and the employers ended the lockout.
1920s and 1930s
The EA pressed its advantage against Chicago's unions. It added building owners as members in 1913, and supported them in their fight with the Building Service Employees International UnionService Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
. It helped expose efforts to extort
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
money from property owners in 1921, which led to the indictment and eventual imprisonment of BSEIU president William Quesse
William Quesse
William Fred Quesse was an American labor leader and president of the Building Service Employees International Union, the precursor of the Service Employees International Union, from 1921 to 1927. He was the union's founding president.-Early life:His parents were Christ and Shirley Quesse, and he...
. In 1921, the EA attacked nascent unions in grocery stores and food industries, accusing them of vandalism, bombings and extortion as well. In the early and mid 1920s, the EA put pressure on unions in the city's milk and ice industries, accusing unions of blackmail, extortion, and establishing anti-competitive trusts and price fixing
Price fixing
Price fixing is an agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand...
.
The focus on illegal activities by unions proved so effective that the EA's main priority became attacking labor racketeering
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...
. The term "racketeering" was, in fact, coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
in the Teamsters
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
union. Reports about rackets and other illegal activities by labor unions and employers were issued annually by the EA. In 1928, for example, the Employers' Association claimed that exactly 46 rackets were operating in Chicago. The EA reported on the use of thugs and gunmen by both unions and employers, and excoriated the public and government officials for not prosecuting rackets more often or more successfully. EA reports also focused on bombings in the city. These reports provide statistical documentation of the level of organized crime-related violence in the city (although the EA reports rarely distinguish between union- or employer-instigated violence and violence undertaken by mob-dominated unions or employers). The Association's October 1928 report, which documented an astonishing 727 bombings in Chicago in the previous year, led to the formation of the city's first arson unit.
In October 1928, Employers' Association president James W. Breen was linked to the rackets himself. Chicago police investigators alleged that Breen had helped form a battery makers' cartel, and that this trade group was shaking down non-members. Breen promptly resigned as president of the association. A year later, organized crime figures bombed Breen's home for fear that the ongoing investigation might lead to Breen's indictment and that he might inform on his associates. But Breen was never indicted, however.
The Employers' Association made its first foray into legislative lobbying in 1928 as well. That year, it called for repeal of the state of Illinois' "horse thief law," which permitted posses to form legally so long as they were in hot pursuit
Immediate pursuit
Immediate pursuit is a common law principle describing rules of engagement to enter into combat with or apprehend and forcibly detain another, invade one's privacy, etc. Immediate pursuit enables, for example, a citizen to arrest a person committing some offence, without incurring legal liability...
of criminals. The EA claimed that the law led citizens and employers to mistakenly believe gangs of union members were legal deputies when they were not. Three months later, the Association campaigned for a new city ordinance which would ban the resale of seized weapons to the public. The sale of the guns, the EA claimed, merely put more weapons in the hands of criminals while inducing law enforcement personnel to seize the weapons of law-abiding citizens.
The Employers' Association campaign against rackets remained strong through 1935. In 1929, the EA issued a report estimating the costs of racketeering in the city of Chicago at $136 million a year (about $1.6 billion in 2007 dollars). In August 1929, the Association reported 67 bombings in the past year, compared to 46 in 1928. The organization also posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any bomber, and a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any racketeer who assaulted an Employers' Association member. The bombing campaign only intensified, however, with another 30 bombings in August and September 1929. In 1931, the Association went public with a report which estimated the cost of bombings at $500 million ($6.8 billion in 2007 dollars), and the cost of racketeering at $145 million ($1.9 billion in 2007 dollars). By 1932, the Employers' Association was claiming that the bombings and rackets cost the city more than the taxes it paid to fight World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Whether the EA's anti-racketeering campaign had any effect is unclear. The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
had caused union membership to drop significantly, and the end of Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
largely ended organized crime's primary motive for engaging in widespread violence. But the EA campaign had also led to strengthened anti-racketeering laws and stronger enforcement as well. By 1934, the number of bombings had dropped to their lowest since 1923.
Attacks on federal labor policy
The passage of the National Labor Relations ActNational Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act , is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions , engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in...
(the Wagner Act) in 1935 energized the Employers' Association, and drew it into a new field of activity. Although the EA had long opposed collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
, federal legislation protecting labor unions took the organization by surprise. The Association vociferously attacked President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's labor policies. But like many employers, the EA took a "wait and see" attitude until the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
had ruled on the Wagner Act's constitutionality. The court upheld the constitutionality of the statute in 1937 in National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation
National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation
National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, 301 U.S. 1 , was a United States Supreme Court case that declared that the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was constitutional...
301 U.S. 1 (1937). The EA rarely attacked the act for the remainder of the 1930s or during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
However, in the post-war period it once more blasted unions and the federal government's labor policies. The EA undertook a campaign to influence Congressional opinion, and pushed strongly for repeal of the Wagner Act. When repeal seemed out of reach, the EA supported the Taft-Hartley Act
Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor–Management Relations Act is a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S...
and the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 , is a United States labor law that regulates labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers.-Background:...
(LMRDA). It also sponsored a program to take advantage of the provisions of both acts by bolstering the role foremen played in the workplace.
By the late 1930s, labor-related disruptions and violence in Chicago had been greatly reduced. Chicago law enforcement was also cracking down heavily on labor violence and racketeering, which won high praise from the Employers' Association.
The Association became much less active in labor relations in the 1950s and 1960s. The organization undertook a brief resurgence of interested in rackets in 1951, however. It attacked the Chicago Retail Druggists Association for "forcing" pharmacies to pay dues to the group, accused the restaurant workers' union of extorting money from cafes, threatened to sue the Teamsters union for violations of the LMRDA, and more. It even went so far as to hire a former FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agent, Frederick W. Turner, Jr., to investigate labor racketeering in the city. But none of these campaigns had the impact of its 1920 efforts, and Turner's investigations produced next to nothing. No indictments or grand jury investigations occurred, either. By November 1951, the EA dropped its pretense of "fair play" and announced it openly opposed unionization of every workplace. But this militaristic stand did little to revive the group.
The EA tried again to focus public attention on labor racketeering in 1962. Once more, it hired an ex-FBI agent to investigate racketeering in the city of Chicago, and accused unions of using simple picketing as a means of extortion. But the legal and political climate had changed, and these efforts were often unsuccessful. In November 1964, Chicago City Council
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
Thomas E. Keane accused the EA of anti-union bias—a charge the Association roundly denied.
The EA played a role in three more strikes, both of them affecting mechanics at auto dealerships. In 1968, the Association acted as a spokesperson for the auto dealers in their attempt to resist unionization. The mechanics unionized, and struck the auto dealers in 1975, 1978 and 1981. During each strike, the EA strongly and publicly supported the dealerships and continued to act as their primary spokesperson. But the EA played little role other than that of public relations.
Human resources and other initiatives, 1950-1980
The Employers' Association had engaged in its first human resourcesHuman resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
consulting in 1918. That year, it undertook a very successful campaign to encourage local businesses to hire middle-age managers with experience rather than discharge them.
The EA did little in this field, however, until the 1940s. As its anti-union campaigns flagged, the organization began to become more of a human resources consulting agency for its members. In 1941, it released its first survey of workforce needs. Some of its human resources educational efforts remained linked to its traditional anti-unionism, however. In 1942, it campaigned for a longer workweek—ostensibly to meet wartime production demands, but which also violated union demands for shorter work periods. In 1949, the group denounced fringe benefits such as health insurance, pensions, and life insurance as "unnecessary" and "unwise" and exorbitantly expensive. It also declared unemployment insurance to be too costly and unnecessary, and demanded dismantling of public welfare programs.
The EA also became involved in broader social issues. Its leadership, always concerned with the spread of collectivist ideals, denounced President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
as a socialist and demanded that Congress rein in the president's economic policies. The organization also attacked the publishers of elementary and junior high school textbooks for allowing "communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
" influences.
Long-time Association executive director (now president) Gordon L. Hostetter died in 1962, depriving the Employers' Association of its most active leadership. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the organization quietly worked with its members to improve their human resources capacities. It defended employers when they were accused of racial bias in the administration of employment tests. But the EA abandoned most of its anti-union programs. The organization's membership, which had hovered at the 1,000-member mark for 60 years, remained stable. But the Association became less and less of an important political and workplace player in Chicago. In 1971, EA president Roland E. Fulton was elected president of the Employer Association Group of the National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Manufacturers
The National Association of Manufacturers is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C. with 10 additional offices across the country...
. But this was the last major role the EA played in either local or national labor relations.
In 1981, the Employers' Association of Greater Chicago (as the group was now known) merged with the Midwest Industrial Management Association. In 1989, MIMA changed its name to become the Management Association of Illinois. The group still has about 1,000 member companies, roughly half of which are in manufacturing and half in the service sector.
Presidents
The known presidents of the EA are:- John G. Shedd, general manager, Marshall Field & Co.
- Mark Morton, president, Morton Salt
- James W. Breen, attorney
- Earl H. Macoy, president, National Printing and Engraving Co., 1927-1932
- Joseph C. Belden
- Raymond L. Koch
- Gordon L. Hostetter
- Roland E. Fulton
Other Staff
- Frederick W. Job, executive director
- Gordon L. Hostetter, executive director
- Joseph Nielson, assistant director, 1923-1943