Religion Case

* Welfare capitalism

o Wartime gains made by organized labor troubled corporate leaders

 Large employers promoted a variety of new programs to improve worker well-being and morale

* Encourage workers to acquire property through stock purchase plans

o Beneficial to workers of that company

* Offered workers insurance policies covering accidents, illness, old age, and death

o Similar to life insurance

* Plant managers worked to improve safety conditions, provide medical services, and establish sports and recreation programs for workers

o Encourage workers to identify personally with the company; stop complaining on the job

 Welfare capitalism could not solve problems of:

* Seasonal unemployment

* Low wages

* Long hours

* Unhealthy factory conditions

 The American Plan

* Meant to associate unionism with foreign and un-American ideas

* Backed by the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce

* Open shop

o No employee would be compelled to join a union

o Put organizers at a disadvantage

 Large employers set up company unions (part of welfare capitalism)

* Substitute largely symbolic employee representations in management conferences for the more confrontational process of collective bargaining

o US Steel

o International Harvester

* Decline in the ranks of organized labor

* Endears companies to employees

* Gives workers a stake in the vision of the company

 William Green

* President of the American Federation of Labor after the death of Samuel Gompers

* No interest in getting unorganized workers into unions

* Decrease in AFL influence

 Federal government reverted to a more pro-business posture

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