United States 1948, 1950

Synopsis

The collective bargaining agreements between General Motors (GM) and the United Automobile Workers union (UAW) in 1948 and 1950 established the framework that characterized U.S. labor relations through the 1980s. Although the UAW had previously tried to gain a voice in production and investment decisions in its negotiations with GM, the 1948 and 1950 agreements limited its collective bargaining demands to wage and benefits issues in contract talks. The resulting arrangement, labeled the "Treaty of Detroit" by Fortune magazine in 1950, linked wage hikes to the rate of inflation through cost-of-living adjustments and increases in productivity and established a pension plan and health insurance plan for workers. Although this collective bargaining achievement created a stable atmosphere of industrial relations from the early 1950s onward, it fell apart in the corporate restructuring and antiunion efforts of the federal government in...