A New Deal For Appalachia

National Industrial Recovery Act (June 1933) established minimum wages, a maximum workweek, and guaranteed the right of workers to form independent unions. Though invalidated by the Supreme Court, power was restored to workers by the Wagner Act (1935). Labor

Sponsored by Sen. Robert Wagner of New York and officially known as the National Labor Relations Act, it set up the National Labor Relations Board. The Board certified union elections and required negotiations with Board certified unions. It ensured fair labor practices, including protecting the employment rights of union members.

The NLRB’s orders are enforceable through the federal courts. One of the most important consequences of the legislation was the success of the CIO. Eight union leaders conceived of creating the CIO:

John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers; Charles Howard, International Typographical Union; Sidney Hillman, Amalgamated Clothing Workers; David Dubinsky, International Ladies' Garment Workers; Thomas McMahon, United Textile workers;

Harvey Fremming, Oil Field, Gas Well and Refinery Workers; Max Zaritsky, United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers; Thomas Brown, International Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. Each of these industries are central to the industrialization of Appalachia.

The American Federation of Labor was an association of craft unions. Within a given industry or even factory, the electrician would be represented by one union, the carpenters by another, the plumbers by another, etc. The CIO would organize by industry rather than craft. Those working in the mine, the mills, the steel plants would be represented by one union, regardless of their particular craft.

John L. Lewis

Sidney Hillman

Said Lewis upon the creation of the CIO in 1938: "The millions of workers in our mass production industries have a right to membership in effective labor organizations and to the enjoyment of industrial freedom. They are entitled to a place in the American economic sunlight. If the labor movement and American democracy are to endure, these workers should have the opportunity to support their families under conditions of health, decency, and comfort, to own their own home, to educate their children, and possess sufficient leisure to take part in wholesome social and political activities."

The creation of the CIO meant that labor could finally match the force of capital in the vertical monopolies of coal, steel and auto. The strength of the UMW as part of the CIO gave not only coal miners and steel workers, but the broad numbers of Appalachians connected with them by family or economics the opportunity to enter the American middle class.

Such membership in the middle class remained tenuous because of the economic uncertainties of the economy, and meant that others in the region fell even further behind.

The NLRA was amended by the Taft-Harley Act in 1947 over the veto of President Truman. The act outlawed the closed shop and allowed states to determine whether or not to be “right-to-work”, creating the problem of the free rider.

It required unions to give a 60 day notice of a strike. It authorized 80-day federal injunctions when a strike threatened to imperil national health or safety. It narrowed the definition of unfair labor practices and created a category of unfair union practices.

It restricted union political contributions. It required union officials to deny any Communist affiliation. The Landrum–Griffin Act of 1959 barred secondary boycotts and limited the right to picket.

Tennessee Valley Authority The TVA was established in 1933 as a effort in regional planning. Its mission was flood control, improving navigation, soil conservation, and electrical power generation. It was thought that leaving power production to private utilities would result in unequal distribution, exorbitant rates, and unreliable supplies.

Furthermore, TVA would provide economic relief to one of the neediest areas of the US. It is a public corporation governed by three directors, appointed by the President. TVA Homepage:

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