John F. Kennedy on Jobs

1962: National security excludes unions at FBI & CIA

Got union to lower wages; got Big Steel to lower prices

Kennedy was furious, believing that there had been an implicit agreement by industry leaders to hold prices steady if the workers made concessions. The administration had convinced union leaders to drop their seventeen-cent-an hour proposal on the understanding that all parties concerned were helping to contain inflation to improve the nation's competitive position abroad. Jack thought he had been double-crossed and knew that if he failed to resist the price increase he would be in deep trouble with labor, a vital backer of the Democratic Party.

1946: Power of big labor has to be tamed

Kennedy testified before the Rules Committee about his labor-reform alternative.

He said there was a lot of good in the Taft-Hartley bill, especially the provision outwearing "wildcat" strikes. He worried, however, that the bill would lead to a "war" between management and labor. "The way some of those provisions read, the unions can't even protect themselves from the competition of the sweatshop."

1961: Added 13-week unemployment benefits in recession

Tax reduction is first part of assault on unemployment

Tax reduction, in short, was the first part of the assault on unemployment. After the artillery barrage, the structural troops were then expected to move in and mop up remaining pockets of resistance. A basis for structural action had already been laid by legislative enactment: the Area Redevelopment Act, passed in 1961 after having been twice vetoed in the Eisenhower administration, and the Accelerated Public Works Act of 1962.

1890s Jewish immigrants formed first Garment Workers Unions

Like the Irish and the Italians before them, they had to work at whatever they could find. Most found an outlet for their skills in the needle trades, as garment workers, hatmakers and furriers. Often they worked in sweatshops. In an effort to improve working conditions (which involved child labor and other forms of exploitation), they joined with other immigrant workers to form, in 1890, the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. In time, they developed the clothing industry as we know it today, centered in New York but reaching into every small town and rural area. The experience and tradition of these pioneers produced many effective leaders in the labor movement.

Permanent strengthening of our unemployment compensation

To expand our growth and job opportunities, I urge on the Congress these measures:
1. The Manpower Training and Development Act, to stop the waste of able-bodied men and women who want to work, but whose only skill has been replaced by a machine, or moved with a mill, or shut down with a mine;
2. The Youth Employment Opportunities Act, to help train and place not only the one million young Americans who are both out of school and out of work, but the twenty-six million young Americans entering the labor market in this decade;
3. The 8% tax credit for investment in machinery and equipment, which, combined with planned revisions of depreciation allowances, will spur our modernization, our growth, and our ability to compete abroad.
4. Presidential standby authority, upon a given rise in the rate of unemployment, to accelerate Federal and federally-aided capital improvement programs; and
5. A permanent strengthening of our unemployment compensation system.

Temporary recession increases in unemployment compensation

I will propose to the Congress measures to improve unemployment compensation through temporary increases in duration on a self-supporting basis--to provide more food for the families of the unemployed, and to aid their needy children--to redevelop our areas of chronic labor surplus--to expand the services of the U.S. Employment Offices--to stimulate housing and construction--to secure more purchasing power for our lowest paid workers by raising and expanding the minimum wage--to offer tax incentives for sound plant investment--to increase the development of our natural resources--to encourage price stability--and to take other steps aimed at insuring a prompt recovery.