The American Plan is the term used to refer to

open shop An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union (closed shop) as a condition of hiring or continued employment. Open shop vs closed shop The major difference between an open and closed s ...

strategies pursued by employers in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the 1920s. The American Plan deemed unions to be "un-American," and the resulting anti-union efforts of employers decreased union membership and efficacy until the 1930s. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

took a strong anti-union stance in its

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

mills, calling union organizers "German propagandists." U.S. Steel also required that steelworkers sign a "Pledge of Patriotism," promising not to

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

. The

National Association of Manufacturers The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 s ...

(NAM) endorsed the anti-union strategy in 1920. The term, American Plan, comes from a meeting of anti-union employers held in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1921. The employers agreed not to negotiate with unions, and to require that employees sign a pledge that they would not join a union. Some hardline employers refused to recognize or negotiate with union leaders, and some boycotted unionized vendors and refused to sell supplies to striking employees. In some highly unionized cities, NAM members would fund deputized armed "patrols." While ostensibly charged with keeping the peace, these "imported thugs" were accused of intimidating striking workers and breaking up peaceful demonstrations by force. They would also pursue court-ordered injunctions against labor leaders, such as Illinois labor leader

Reuben Soderstrom Reuben George Soderstrom (March 10, 1888 – December 15, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor who served as President of the Illinois State Federation of Labor (ISFL) and Illinois AFL-CIO from 1930 to 1970. A key figure in Chicago an ...

, to prevent them from organizing protests. When Soderstrom and his fellow Labor Council members protested, they were issued injunctions and charged with conspiracy. The American Plan implied a connection between union activity and the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

and played on fears during the

First Red Scare The First Red Scare was a period during History of the United States (1918–1945), the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of Far-left politics, far-left movements, including Bolshevik, Bolshevism and ...

. As a result, the American Plan drove down union membership by at least 25% between 1921 and 1923. From companies' participation in the American Plan, as well as anti-union decisions from the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, union membership fell from 5.1 million in 1920 to 3.6 million in 1929. In the 1930s, successful organizing drives by industrial unions weakened the American Plan, and employer resistance to unions.

References

Further reading