George W. Taylor (professor)
Encyclopedia
George W. Taylor was a notable professor
of industrial relations at the Wharton School
at the University of Pennsylvania
, and is credited with founding the academic field of study known as industrial relations. He served in several capacities in the federal government, most notably as a mediator
and arbitrator
. During his career, Taylor settled more than 2,000 strikes
.
In 1967, he helped draft the New York
state civil service
law which legalized collective bargaining
in that state but which also banned strikes by public employees—legislation widely known today as the Taylor Law
.
, on July 10, 1901. His uncle owned a textile mill, and his father, Harry Taylor, was a superintendent at a hosiery mill. He graduated from Frankford High School
in 1919. Taylor intended to go into the mills after graduating from high school, but his high school principal persuaded him to attend college instead.
In 1921, Taylor graduated with a bachelor's degree
in economics
from the Wharton School. His senior thesis was on the history and overdevelopment of the hosiery industry in Pennsylvania. He became a professor in the department of business administration at Albright College
, and obtained his doctorate
in economics from the Wharton School in 1929.
theory, which holds that hemlines on women’s dresses fluctuate with the economy, measured by stock prices or gross domestic product. The "theory" still receives regular attention in the media and, in 2010, some academic validation.
In 1930, Taylor received an appointment as an assistant professor at his alma mater, the Wharton School. In his first years as a professor at Wharton, Taylor founded the academic field of industrial relations, which covered labor arbitration, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution
. In his lifetime, he became known as the "Father of American Arbitration."
Teaching was Taylor's first love throughout his life. He often said that he "had chalk in his veins" and hated to leave the classroom. He was recognized as a dynamic speaker and excellent lecturer, and remained a highly sought-after public speaker even at the time of his death.
Taylor was named a full professor in 1944, and was eventually named to the Gaylord P. and Mary Louise Harnwell Professor of Industry. Upon his retirement from active teaching in 1964, the University of Pennsylvania named the endowed chair after him. He continued to lecture and speak to students on campus until his death in 1972.
, president of a Pennsylvania hosiery workers' union, to seek his help as an umpire in an organizing dispute. In 1929, he settled his first strike, at the Aberle Hosiery Mill near Reading, Pennsylvania
.
Taylor received national acclaim for helping mediate an end to a strike at Apex Hosiery in Philadelphia in 1932. Under the terms of the 1931 collective bargaining
agreement between the Full Fashioned Hosiery Manufacturers of America and the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, he was appointed "impartial chairman" for the independent arbitration committee established by the contract. The position became a model for similar collective bargaining clauses nationwide. During his 10 years as impartial chairman, Taylor established a national minimum wage in the hosiery industry.
In 1935, after a period of service to the federal government, Taylor become impartial chairman for a labor arbitration committee established by the Men's Clothing Manufacturers' Association and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
. He held that position until 1961.
By 1940, Taylor had settled roughly 1,400 labor disputes without a strike.
In 1941, Taylor served as an impartial arbitrator between the United Auto Workers
(UAW) and General Motors
. During this time, he became close with UAW president Walter Reuther
.
Taylor entered federal service again in 1951. He left it in 1952, and although he continued to teach at the Wharton School he also was the official arbitrator of internal Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) jurisdictional disputes. He served in this capacity for three years, and his work became a model for handling inter-union disputes after the American Federation of Labor
(AFL) and CIO merged in 1955.
During his lifetime, Taylor was credited with coining a number of common collective bargaining terms, including "tandem," "escalator clause," "productivity improvement," "interplant inequity," and "ability to pay."
Taylor was a strong advocate of private sector collective bargaining, but believed that governments had the right to significantly restrict collective bargaining and the right to strike in the public sector. He was a strong advocate of the National Labor Relations Act
, and vehemently condemned the Taft-Hartley Act
as poor public policy and an improper restriction on the right to strike. In many important labor disputes, however, Taylor often took positions opposed to those advocated by labor unions
because Taylor believed strikes should serve the public and not a private good. As he once noted:
. Later that year, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
appointed him assistant deputy administrator of the National Recovery Administration
. Taylor left federal service in 1935, although he continued to serve as an advisor to the Fair Labor Standards Administration throughout the 1930s.
President Roosevelt appointed Taylor vice chairman of the National War Labor Board
in 1942. He became the board's chairman in 1945. In July 1942, Taylor wrote the wage decision popularly known as the "Little Steel formula" which gave workers employed by smaller steel companies only modest pay increases for the duration of the war. The board applied the "Little Steel formula" to nearly every American industry during World War II
. The decision was severely criticized by organized labor, but Taylor considered it to be one of the most significant, well-written, and well-founded policy decisions he ever made.
President Harry S. Truman
named Taylor secretary of the National Labor-Management Conference in 1946. The same year, Truman appointed Taylor chairman of the Advisory Board of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion. Taylor also served as a consultant to the Commission on Reorganization of the Executive Branch from 1948 to 1949.
In 1951, Truman appointed Taylor director of the Wage Stabilization Board
.
During the steel strike of 1959
, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Taylor chairman of the Presidential Board of Inquiry created when Eisenhower invoked the cooling-off provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act. Despite Taylor's role in helping Eisenhower win a court injunction stopping the strike for 90s days, Taylor became involved in helping end the strike. He assisted United Steelworkers of America counsel Arthur Goldberg
and Kaiser Steel
heir Edgar Kaiser
negotiate an agreement which later formed the basis for the national collective bargaining agreement which settled the strike.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy
appointed Taylor to the President's Advisory Committee on Labor Management Policy. During his tenure on the committee, Taylor helped craft a long-term contractual solution to a series of wildcat strikes which had plagued the aerospace industry since World War II. Taylor also resolved railroad disputes in 1964 and 1967, and in 1968 settled the long-running copper mining strike.
In 1961, Taylor led a commission appointed by New York City Mayor
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
which crafted a settlement that led to collective bargaining for teacher
s in New York City
. The subsequent election led to the founding of the United Federation of Teachers
(UFT). In 1965, Taylor led a fact-finding board which the UFT used to win its first collective bargaining agreement with the city.
But Taylor's most famous (and, according to New York state labor leaders, notorious) act as a public official was his role in crafting New York's "Taylor Law." In the wake of the formation of the UFT and (more immediately) a 1966 New York City transit strike
, Governor Nelson Rockefeller
appointed a Committee on Public Employment Relations to study the state's public employee collective bargaining laws. Taylor led the other five members of the panel in proposing new legislation which gave New York's public employees significantly stronger collective bargaining rights. On April 25, 1967, Gov. Rockefeller signed the Public Employees Fair Employment Act into law. Popularly known as the "Taylor Law," the Act is considered a model for public sector labor legislation. The law established collective bargaining rights for state-employed workers, and set up procedures and mechanisms for county and local public workers to establish unions and bargain collectively.
Two aspects of the law, however, drew harsh criticism from organized labor. Section 210 prohibits public employees from striking, and fines the union double the amount of each striking employee's salary for each day the strike lasts. Section 201, Part 4, of the law prohibits employers from negotiating benefits provided by a public retirement fund or providing income to public sector retirees.
awarded Taylor the Presidential Medal of Freedom
on December 3, 1963.
On January 5, 1995, Taylor was inducted into the U.S. Department of Labor
Hall of Fame for his contributions to industrial relations.
During his life, Taylor became close friends with many of the most important labor and government officials of his day: Frances Perkins
, Cyrus Ching, George Meany
, Philip Murray
, Clark Kerr
, Walter Heller
, Henry J. Kaiser
, John L. Lewis
, George Schultz, John Dunlop
, and W. Willard Wirtz
.
Taylor retired from the Wharton School in 1971. He died at his home in Philadelphia on the evening of December 15, 1972. He was survived by his wife, the former Edith Ayling; he had no children.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of industrial relations at the Wharton School
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and is credited with founding the academic field of study known as industrial relations. He served in several capacities in the federal government, most notably as a mediator
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
and arbitrator
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
. During his career, Taylor settled more than 2,000 strikes
Strike 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...
.
In 1967, he helped draft the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
law which legalized 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...
in that state but which also banned strikes by public employees—legislation widely known today as the Taylor Law
Taylor Law
The Public Employees Fair Employment Act refers to Article 14 of the New York State Civil Service Law, which defines the rights and limitations of unions for public employees in New York....
.
Early life
Taylor was born in the Kensington industrial neighborhood of Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, on July 10, 1901. His uncle owned a textile mill, and his father, Harry Taylor, was a superintendent at a hosiery mill. He graduated from Frankford High School
Frankford High School
Frankford High School is a public high school in the School District of Philadelphia. It is located at Oxford Avenue and Wakeling Street in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States....
in 1919. Taylor intended to go into the mills after graduating from high school, but his high school principal persuaded him to attend college instead.
In 1921, Taylor graduated with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
from the Wharton School. His senior thesis was on the history and overdevelopment of the hosiery industry in Pennsylvania. He became a professor in the department of business administration at Albright College
Albright College
Albright College is a private, co-ed, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1856 and is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States.-Overview:...
, and obtained his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in economics from the Wharton School in 1929.
Academic career
In 1926, George Taylor introduced the Hemline indexHemline index
The Hemline Index is a theory presented by economist George Taylor in 1926. Recent research suggests it is valid.The theory suggests that hemlines on women's dresses rise along with stock prices...
theory, which holds that hemlines on women’s dresses fluctuate with the economy, measured by stock prices or gross domestic product. The "theory" still receives regular attention in the media and, in 2010, some academic validation.
In 1930, Taylor received an appointment as an assistant professor at his alma mater, the Wharton School. In his first years as a professor at Wharton, Taylor founded the academic field of industrial relations, which covered labor arbitration, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution
Alternative dispute resolution
Alternative Dispute Resolution includes dispute resolution processes and techniques that act as a means for disagreeing parties to come to an agreement short of litigation. ADR basically is an alternative to a formal court hearing or litigation...
. In his lifetime, he became known as the "Father of American Arbitration."
Teaching was Taylor's first love throughout his life. He often said that he "had chalk in his veins" and hated to leave the classroom. He was recognized as a dynamic speaker and excellent lecturer, and remained a highly sought-after public speaker even at the time of his death.
Taylor was named a full professor in 1944, and was eventually named to the Gaylord P. and Mary Louise Harnwell Professor of Industry. Upon his retirement from active teaching in 1964, the University of Pennsylvania named the endowed chair after him. He continued to lecture and speak to students on campus until his death in 1972.
Industrial relations career
In 1928, Taylor received his first commission as an industrial relations specialist. His thesis on the hosiery industry in Pennsylvania led Emil RieveEmil Rieve
Emil Rieve was a Polish American labor leader. He was president of the Textile Workers Union of America from 1939 to 1956, a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations from 1939 to 1955, and a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 to 1960.Emil Rieve was born in Poland and...
, president of a Pennsylvania hosiery workers' union, to seek his help as an umpire in an organizing dispute. In 1929, he settled his first strike, at the Aberle Hosiery Mill near Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
.
Taylor received national acclaim for helping mediate an end to a strike at Apex Hosiery in Philadelphia in 1932. Under the terms of the 1931 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...
agreement between the Full Fashioned Hosiery Manufacturers of America and the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, he was appointed "impartial chairman" for the independent arbitration committee established by the contract. The position became a model for similar collective bargaining clauses nationwide. During his 10 years as impartial chairman, Taylor established a national minimum wage in the hosiery industry.
In 1935, after a period of service to the federal government, Taylor become impartial chairman for a labor arbitration committee established by the Men's Clothing Manufacturers' Association and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Industrial Organizations...
. He held that position until 1961.
By 1940, Taylor had settled roughly 1,400 labor disputes without a strike.
In 1941, Taylor served as an impartial arbitrator between the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
(UAW) and General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
. During this time, he became close with UAW president Walter Reuther
Walter Reuther
Walter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...
.
Taylor entered federal service again in 1951. He left it in 1952, and although he continued to teach at the Wharton School he also was the official arbitrator of internal Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO) jurisdictional disputes. He served in this capacity for three years, and his work became a model for handling inter-union disputes after the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
(AFL) and CIO merged in 1955.
During his lifetime, Taylor was credited with coining a number of common collective bargaining terms, including "tandem," "escalator clause," "productivity improvement," "interplant inequity," and "ability to pay."
Taylor was a strong advocate of private sector collective bargaining, but believed that governments had the right to significantly restrict collective bargaining and the right to strike in the public sector. He was a strong advocate of the National Labor Relations Act
National 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...
, and vehemently condemned 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...
as poor public policy and an improper restriction on the right to strike. In many important labor disputes, however, Taylor often took positions opposed to those advocated by labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
because Taylor believed strikes should serve the public and not a private good. As he once noted:
- There is too much talk about the right to strike and too little about the purpose of strikes and whether they serve their purpose. But what really is thrilling is when representatives of labor and management finally come to an agreement and realize the immense satisfaction of having created order out of conflict. I think that's the essence of democracy.
Public service
In 1933, Taylor was appointed chairman for the Philadelphia regional office of the National Labor BoardNational Labor Board
The National Labor Board was an independent agency of the United States Government established on August 5, 1933 to handle labor disputes arising under the National Industrial Recovery Act .-Establishment, structure and procedures:...
. Later that year, 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...
appointed him assistant deputy administrator of the National Recovery Administration
National Recovery Administration
The National Recovery Administration was the primary New Deal agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The goal was to eliminate "cut-throat competition" by bringing industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices...
. Taylor left federal service in 1935, although he continued to serve as an advisor to the Fair Labor Standards Administration throughout the 1930s.
President Roosevelt appointed Taylor vice chairman of the National War Labor Board
National War Labor Board
The National War Labor Board was a federal agency created in April 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson. It was composed of twelve representatives from business and labor, and co-chaired by Former President William Howard Taft. Its purpose was to arbitrate disputes between workers and employers in...
in 1942. He became the board's chairman in 1945. In July 1942, Taylor wrote the wage decision popularly known as the "Little Steel formula" which gave workers employed by smaller steel companies only modest pay increases for the duration of the war. The board applied the "Little Steel formula" to nearly every American industry 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...
. The decision was severely criticized by organized labor, but Taylor considered it to be one of the most significant, well-written, and well-founded policy decisions he ever made.
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...
named Taylor secretary of the National Labor-Management Conference in 1946. The same year, Truman appointed Taylor chairman of the Advisory Board of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion. Taylor also served as a consultant to the Commission on Reorganization of the Executive Branch from 1948 to 1949.
In 1951, Truman appointed Taylor director of the Wage Stabilization Board
Wage Stabilization Board
The Wage Stabilization Board was set up by President Harry Truman within the United States Department of Labor, in December 1945, to take over the work of the National War Labor Board...
.
During the steel strike of 1959
Steel strike of 1959
The steel strike of 1959 was a 1959 labor union strike by the United Steelworkers of America against major steel-making companies in the United States....
, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Taylor chairman of the Presidential Board of Inquiry created when Eisenhower invoked the cooling-off provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act. Despite Taylor's role in helping Eisenhower win a court injunction stopping the strike for 90s days, Taylor became involved in helping end the strike. He assisted United Steelworkers of America counsel Arthur Goldberg
Arthur Goldberg
Arthur Joseph Goldberg was an American statesman and jurist who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations.-Early life:...
and Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Ventures is an American corporation, headquartered in Ontario, California. It was founded by Henry J. Kaiser to provide steel plate for the Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry, which expanded during World War II, then shrank, then expanded again during the Korean War...
heir Edgar Kaiser
Edgar Kaiser
Edgar Fosburgh Kaiser, Jr is a Canadian financier and a former owner of the Denver Broncos American football team. He was born in Portland, Oregon on 5 July 1942 and is the grandson of shipbuilding industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. He earned a BA degree from Stanford University and an MBA degree...
negotiate an agreement which later formed the basis for the national collective bargaining agreement which settled the strike.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
appointed Taylor to the President's Advisory Committee on Labor Management Policy. During his tenure on the committee, Taylor helped craft a long-term contractual solution to a series of wildcat strikes which had plagued the aerospace industry since World War II. Taylor also resolved railroad disputes in 1964 and 1967, and in 1968 settled the long-running copper mining strike.
In 1961, Taylor led a commission appointed by New York City Mayor
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
Robert Ferdinand Wagner II, usually known as Robert F. Wagner, Jr. served three terms as the mayor of New York City, from 1954 through 1965.-Biography:...
which crafted a settlement that led to collective bargaining for teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The subsequent election led to the founding of the United Federation of Teachers
United Federation of Teachers
The United Federation of Teachers is the labor union that represents most educators in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service educators and 17,000 paraprofessionals in the union, as well as about 54,000 retired members...
(UFT). In 1965, Taylor led a fact-finding board which the UFT used to win its first collective bargaining agreement with the city.
But Taylor's most famous (and, according to New York state labor leaders, notorious) act as a public official was his role in crafting New York's "Taylor Law." In the wake of the formation of the UFT and (more immediately) a 1966 New York City transit strike
1966 New York City transit strike
The 1966 New York City transit strike was a strike in New York City called by the Transport Workers Union and Amalgamated Transit Union after the expiration of their contract with the New York City Transit Authority . It was the first strike against the TA; pre-TWU transit strikes in 1905, 1910,...
, Governor Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
appointed a Committee on Public Employment Relations to study the state's public employee collective bargaining laws. Taylor led the other five members of the panel in proposing new legislation which gave New York's public employees significantly stronger collective bargaining rights. On April 25, 1967, Gov. Rockefeller signed the Public Employees Fair Employment Act into law. Popularly known as the "Taylor Law," the Act is considered a model for public sector labor legislation. The law established collective bargaining rights for state-employed workers, and set up procedures and mechanisms for county and local public workers to establish unions and bargain collectively.
Two aspects of the law, however, drew harsh criticism from organized labor. Section 210 prohibits public employees from striking, and fines the union double the amount of each striking employee's salary for each day the strike lasts. Section 201, Part 4, of the law prohibits employers from negotiating benefits provided by a public retirement fund or providing income to public sector retirees.
Personal life and honors
President Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
awarded Taylor the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
on December 3, 1963.
On January 5, 1995, Taylor was inducted into the U.S. Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
Hall of Fame for his contributions to industrial relations.
During his life, Taylor became close friends with many of the most important labor and government officials of his day: Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins , born Fannie Coralie Perkins, was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition...
, Cyrus Ching, George Meany
George Meany
William George Meany led labor union federations in the United States. As an officer of the American Federation of Labor, he represented the AFL on the National War Labor Board during World War II....
, Philip Murray
Philip Murray
Philip Murray was a Scottish born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee , the first president of the United Steelworkers of America , and the longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations .-Early...
, Clark Kerr
Clark Kerr
Clark Kerr was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and twelfth president of the University of California.- Early years :...
, Walter Heller
Walter Heller
Walter Wolfgang Heller was a leading American economist of the 1960s, and an influential advisor to President John F. Kennedy as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, 1961-64....
, Henry J. Kaiser
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
, John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
, George Schultz, John Dunlop
John Dunlop
John Dunlop may refer to:*John Boyd Dunlop , Scottish/Irish inventor of the pneumatic tyre and founder of the Dunlop rubber company*John Colin Dunlop , Scottish historian*John L...
, and W. Willard Wirtz
W. Willard Wirtz
William Willard Wirtz was a former U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. At the time of his death, he was the last living member of...
.
Taylor retired from the Wharton School in 1971. He died at his home in Philadelphia on the evening of December 15, 1972. He was survived by his wife, the former Edith Ayling; he had no children.