Union violence in the United States

Union violence in the United States is physical force intended to harm employers, managers, replacement workers, union abstainers, sympathizers of the prior groups, or their families. On various occasions violence has been committed by unions or union members during labor disputes in the United States. When union violence has occurred, it has frequently been in the context of industrial unrest.[1] Violence has ranged from isolated acts by individuals to wider campaigns of organised violence aimed at furthering union goals within an industrial dispute.[2][3][4]

According to labor historians and other scholars, the United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world, and there have been few industries which have been immune.[1][5][6] Researchers in industrial relations, criminology, and wider cultural studies have examined violence by workers or trade unions in the context of industrial disputes.[1][7][8][9] The US government has examined violence during industrial disputes.[10]

  1. ^ a b c Philip Taft; Philip Ross (1969). "American Labor Violence: Its Causes, Character, and Outcome". In Hugh Davis Graham; Ted Robert Gurr (eds.). The History of Violence in America: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. p. 221.
  2. ^ The Wall Street Journal. November 2, 1990. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ Michael Gartner (November 29, 1990). "Nation Shrugs as Thugs Firebomb Freedom". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ "Labor Leaders Rally to Support The News Strike". The New York Times. November 15, 1990.
  5. ^ Goldstein, Robert Justin (2001). Political Repression in Modern America. University of Illinois Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0252069642.
  6. ^ Lipold, Paul F. (2015). ""Striking Deaths" at their Roots: Assaying the Social Determinants of Extreme Labor-Management Violence in US Labor History—1877–1947". Social Science History. 38 (3–4): 541–575. doi:10.1017/ssh.2015.24. S2CID 142526387.
  7. ^ Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (1979). "Theories of American Labour Violence". Journal of American Studies. 13 (2): 245–264. doi:10.1017/S0021875800011439. S2CID 143114472.
  8. ^ Armand J. Thieblot, Jr.; Thomas R. Haggard (1983). Union Violence: The Record and the Response by Courts, Legislatures and the NLRB. Industrial Research Unit, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
  9. ^ Brinker, Paul. Violence by U.S. labor unions, Journal of Labor Research, 1985-12-01, Volume 6, Number 4. pp. 417–427.
  10. ^ Closing the Legal Loophole for Union Violence: Hearing Before the Committee On the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session, On S. 230 ... Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1998. September 3, 1997.