Union Busting Quotes
The great union leader had been shot at though his home window in an attempted assassination. Fortunately, the bullet missed, but national tension was very high. In the half of the 20th century a not uncommon way of busting unions was to hire goons to assault and/or kill union leaders and organizers. A not uncommon method of putting pressure on companies was for unions to have goons sabotage machinery, burn facilities, and destroy or ruin inventory. The WWII period saw this class warfare violence for settling labor issues diminish greatly, and the attack on Reuther potentially might have been the trigger to return to the pre war days of much violence in labor disputes. Mrs. Roosevelt and other national leaders weighed in by many means to prevent that. They were successful, and although there have been a few throwbacks, the class warfare of physical violence is no longer a characteristic of American labor relations. The class warfare has moved to the courts, the lobbyists, campaign organizing and contributions and economic intimidation.
He had squads of thugs that he would “rent” out to other gangsters for their enforcement activities and to unions to protect themselves from goons and intimidate non union workers. However, he would not let his men work as goons and strike busters or for companies—despite huge pay offers—to keep their workers in line, a common practice at the time.
For the opposite point of view, see {628141}.
