The Economic Effects Of The AFL-CIO Merger

Author

Ray Floyd Hudson, Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College

Date of Award

8-1958

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Degree Discipline

Economics

Abstract

To the student of economics, the aspects of labor should be very important. Labor plays a very important role in our economy and should be studied with great care and in detail. In studying labor we will encounter the "labor problem" which is so prevalent in our present day. You can hardly pick up the newspaper or read magazines without encountering some aspects of the "labor problem." If one continues to follow the labor news he will discover not one, but many labor problems. A bus union may strike, tying up transportation to a major degree; unemployment may plague one city while another suffers from a labor shortage; an employee may believe that profit sharing may solve the labor problem; an explosion traps 10 coal miners; a statistician reports that wages are rising, and all of these could be extended before they would cover all the types of labor problems. In common with other areas of the social sciences, labor problems face the difficulty that they cannot be analyzed under laboratory conditions. In consequence, it is difficult to trace or prove cause-and-effect relationships and most generalizations within the field reflect the opinions of careful observers rather than scientific laws. This does not mean that inductive studies are lacking. Many excellent ones have been made that utilize controlled sampling and statistical techniques of evaluation, but they deal largely with the details upon which informed opinions must be based, rather than with broad conclusions of general interest. At this point, the writer wishes to say that in pursuing his problem he will use informed opinions rather than broad conclusions of the general interest. These opinions will be the opinions of the experts.

Statement Of The Problem

The problem of this paper lies within the effects of large controlled, coordinated, and influential labor groups upon our economy. These large labor groups referred to may be called "unions". This paper is restricted to one large labor group which is said to be one of the largest in the world. The labor group referred to is the AFL-CIO. The AFL and the CIO merged in 1955 and have caused much controversy as to what effects will result. The problem of this paper is to determine what are the actual economic effects of the AFL-CIO merger. An attempt will be made to list various predicted effects of the merger and analyze each to determine its actual validity. These will be compared to the actual effects of the merger up to the present, and a brief look into the future will be discussed.

Committee Chair/Advisor

J. L. Brown

Committee Member

F. A. Haughton

Committee Member

F. A. Haughton

Publisher

Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College

Rights

Date of Digitization

10/29/2021

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

Recommended Citation

Hudson, R. F. (1958). The Economic Effects Of The AFL-CIO Merger. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/641