The Southern Imposition: Congress and Labor in the New Deal and Fair Deal

Abstract

In this article, we will probe two distinct historical questions. First, we explore why congressional representatives from the South, who had generally supported the Democratic Party on labor issues during the 1930s, joined with Republicans to oppose the party's pro-labor orientation in the 1940s. We also examine why the class-based union movement that mobilized so assertively after the passage of the Wagner Act in 1935 became so cramped and pragmatic by the early 1950s. These puzzles, we believe, are closely related. Our explanation for why labor's horizons, topography, and prospects constricted to workplace issues, to some segments of the working population, and to limited geographic areas by the end of the Truman years points to how southern Democrats shaped the main institutions produced by New Deal and Fair Deal labor legislation.

Agricultural Exceptionalism at the State Level: Characterization of Wage and Hour Laws for U.S. Farmworkers

“…Legislators in states with dominant economic interests such as agriculture or organized labor tend to protect those interests (Hamm & Moncrief, 2012). The history of agricultural exceptionalism reveals the strong power of grower interests to influence legislation affecting farmworkers (Farhang & Katznelson, 2005;Linder, 1986;Quadagno, 1995). Interest groups continue to be influential in the areas of agriculture and labor policy in the twenty-first century (M. Grossmann, 2012): U.S. agribusiness has contributed financial resources to politicians and political parties at the federal level.…”

“…During the passage of the FLSA, southern Democrats held control over the most powerful seats in Congress. Those members were beholden to the interests of powerful agricultural employers in their states (Farhang & Katznelson, 2005;Linder, 1986;Quadagno, 1995). If the FLSA did not have an exception for farmworkers, those employers stood to lose not only money, but an entire social and racial plantation system that had long benefitted them and had long rested on the exploitation of black workers.…”

“…If the FLSA did not have an exception for farmworkers, those employers stood to lose not only money, but an entire social and racial plantation system that had long benefitted them and had long rested on the exploitation of black workers. To protect the status quo, agricultural employers, via southern Congressional members, made sure there were exceptions for agriculture before the FLSA could pass (Farhang & Katznelson, 2005;Linder, 1986;Quadagno, 1995). During FLSA debates, some southern members expressed concern that without an exception for farmworkers, wages between black and white laborers would be equalized (Farhang & Katznelson, 2005).…”

“…The history of U.S. farmworkers is that of populations that had few options other than agricultural work. Southern plantations relied on enslaved black people and then on mostly black sharecroppers (Farhang & Katznelson, 2005; National Center for Farmworker Health, n.d.). Immigrants from various countries have been hired illegally and under various guestworker programs 1 to meet the demand for those who were willing to do this difficult work (Martin, 2003;National Center for Farmworker Health, n.d.).…”

“…Legal protections concerning minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, collective organizing and bargaining, and occupational health all contain exceptions for farmworkers. The original exclusion of farmworkers from U.S. labor protections in the 1930s was driven by agricultural interests' desire to maintain the southern plantation economy that depended on the exploitation of black workers (Farhang & Katznelson, 2005;Linder, 1986;Quadagno, 1995). The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA), Social Security Act of 1935, and Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) all excluded farmworkers from the population of workers given protections via these laws (Ngai, 2004).…”