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> And the trade unions and the employers' associations like it this way, that the power is in their hands, and not in legislation. A government that would try t
by legitster 3y ago
> And the trade unions and the employers' associations like it this way, that the power is in their hands, and not in legislation. A government that would try to step on their turf, would be asking for a lot of trouble.
Part of the reason the US has so many onerous labor laws is not necessarily from anti-labor sentiment (though it didn't hurt), but part of anti-crime efforts to fight the mafia in the 50s and 60s.
"Sign this agreement with the Teamsters, or else your parts will sit at the dock and your customer deliveries will sit in a warehouse" was a very real and common tactic. So the US passed a bunch of laws against sympathy strikes.
Obviously the mafia is no longer a bit issue in the economy, but the laws are still on the books, and people in the US still feel uneasy about general strikes.
- r00fus 3y ago> part of anti-crime efforts to fight the mafia in the 50s and 60s I can't help but wondering if this is merely an ostensible reasoning. Do you happen to have more information about the "anti-mafia" struggle?
- legitster 3y agohttps://www.jstor.org/stable/1147700 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1147700 https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/labor-racketeering-mafia-and-unions-crime-and-justice-review https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/labor-ra... https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-vcrs/infiltrated-labor-unions https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-vcrs/infiltrated-l... There's also a great interview with former mob boss Michael Franzese where he talked directly about how it worked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27p-USEQxe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27p-USEQxe4 I guess I had the dates wrong. Nothing was done about labor racketeering until Jimmy Hoffa was murdered. And there are still active RICO cases to this day.