Much of this was determined by the so-called "Battle Of Detroit" of 1948. The USA had just defeated Nazi Germany and was looking to make sure that fascism would

Much of this was determined by the so-called "Battle Of Detroit" of 1948. The USA had just defeated Nazi Germany and was looking to make sure that fascism would never return to Germany, so the USA encouraged the formation of strong labor unions, and supported the law that made unions automatic for large firms. The USA labor unions looked at that and wondered "If we are imposing this on Germany as a good thing, why can't we also get this in the USA?" In particular, there was the issue of who should have seats on the Board Of Directors. It would soon become normal for German labor unions to hold seats on the Board Of Directors at German firms. The USA labor unions wanted the same thing. What resulted was the longest and most bitter set of strikes in the history of the USA up till that time. Everyone understood the stakes -- the future shape of labor relations in the USA. The leadership of the major USA corporations dug in deep to resist the increasing power of the labor unions. The leadership of the major USA corporations were willing to offer higher wages -- essentially they were trying to bribe the workers with money instead of power, with the understanding that power is more important than money. Eventually, the corporations won. Although the workers got higher wages, they were denied control of the corporations. And at that time a so-called Red Scare got going in the USA, a hysteria over Communism, which turned into a dramatic episode of labor-union smashing. The most militant leaders of the labor unions were arrested or blacklisted. After that, what remained of the labor movement in the USA tended to be the least ideological and the most corrupt. The true-believers were chased away during the Red Scare. Those left behind were the ones who could be bought off with money. From that point forward, the labor movement in the USA was to shrink, first slowly, and then after 1970, much more quickly.