GOP Didn't Always Fight Organized Labor

By Christopher Peleo-Lazar  //  February 24, 2011 | 2:15 p.m.
Updated: February 26, 2011 | 2:25 p.m.

As we watch Republican legislators and governors in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana attempt to navigate showdowns in which they find themselves at odds with labor unions, it behooves one to know that the GOP's stance on unions has not always been this way. As found in the American Presidency Project, the 1952 GOP platform made several guarantees to labor. Labor unions had the right to establish a 'union shop', the right to strike, and the right to free collective bargaining.

The 1952 platform even opposed Pres. Truman's "seizure of plants and industries to force the settlement of labor disputes by claims of inherent Constitutional powers." Part of the advocation of union protection by the GOP may have been aimed as a political attack on the Truman administration for how it handled the US Steel strike, but the 1956 platform also reinforced union rights during the Eisenhower administration.

The relationship between unions and the GOP was not as strong as it was for Democrats but the aggressive anti-union rhetoric in the party platform was not wholly there. What changed? The transformation and entrance of Ronald Reagan fundamentally altered the GOP's relationship with unions. Long before the breaking of PATCO, Reagan campaigned first as the spokesperson for GE around the country then second as a celebrity, and he gave his 'Time for Choosing' or 'The Speech' as many Republicans call it.

On October 27th, 1964, Reagan gave a rousing speech that became the framework for the GOP. He argued for individualism, less government, and the private sector. He linked the size of the federal government to costing "constitutional safeguards." 'Time for Choosing' was monumental moment for Reagan's career and helped launch him to the California governorship and eventually the White House.

Through most of the 1970s, collective bargaining was an accepted staple of American labor policy in the GOP platforms. The 1972 party platform included the line "demands responsibility in free collective bargaining, not only by labor and management, but also by those in government concerned with these sensitive relationships." The 1976 platform was the last time before Reagan's strong language was used, with "free collective bargaining remains the best way to insure that American workers receive a fair price for their labors." With Reagan the candidate in 1980, the party platform shifted to stressing that collective bargaining be "consistent with state laws." It was no longer a national norm. Reagan decertified PATCO in 1981 and in 1984, collective bargaining as "sometimes" available and restricted to states laws. Reagan fundamentally altered the labor policy of the GOP and portrayed an image of toughness for the private over the public sector that Republicans trying to reach national prominence have sought to replicate. In the 2008 GOP party platform, the party gives equal weight to the idea of Right-to-Work as well as collective bargaining but clarifies labor organizations "should be modernized." @ChrisPeleoLazar

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