Labor Rights in the American Midwest

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1558635 Marc Dixon Dartmouth College The early 2010s saw an extraordinary burst of legislative activity and protest over labor rights in the American Midwest. Thousands flooded state capitols in protest; legislators fled to neighboring states to delay votes, and an unsuccessful and highly controversial gubernatorial recall election was waged. This study provides a comparative and historical lens to understand these events and provides new insights into social movements and labor unions in particular. The research examines legislative campaigns over labor rights in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin as they were waged both in the late 1950s, at the peak of union strength, and in the early 2010s when unions were far weaker. By analyzing policy continuity and change across these states and over time, the study design allows for the detection of enduring features of labor relations, including areas where unions have long struggled, as well as how broad social processes like globalization and deindustrialization, which have developed in the interim, shape struggles over labor rights. Study findings will contribute to a better understanding of American labor relations and will provide new insights on the sources of influence among business interests and other advocacy organizations in civil society. This comparative historical study examines legislative campaigns over Right-to-Work laws and public sector collective bargaining rights in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin as they were waged both in the late 1950s, during the heyday of the so-called capital-labor accord, and in the early 2010s when unions were far weaker. This study seeks to understand patterns of continuity and policy change, both across the three states and over time, how labor unions and their shifting field of opponents forged coalitions, built support for policy proposals, and influenced legislation, and how these strategies have changed over time. The study is unique by providing a comparative historical lens to understand the recent and high profile struggles over labor rights in the American Midwest. It provides new insight on the 1950s as a critical decade for union development and contributes to social movement theory by analyzing the processes and outcomes of activist mobilization by not just unions, but corporations and business federations as well. The project incorporates archival data from unions, business organizations and elected officials involved in the campaigns across the two periods and in-depth interviews with a range of participants in the 2010s. Interview and archival materials are analyzed with a formal qualitative methodology in Event Structure Analysis (ESA), aiding the systematic comparison of mobilization processes and policy outcomes across states and over time.