The IBEW's fight against "right-to-work" laws, where workers can enjoy the benefits of union membership without contributing to the union, stretches back further than you might think.

The Electrical Worker first reported on the issue in 1922, and for over a century, our members have been raising the alarm about this manipulative idea. The recent success in overturning right-to-work in Michigan is a reminder that the fight is far from over.

It's no surprise that the term originated in the 1920s from industrialists who were eager to claw back the gains made by labor during World War I. Tycoons such as John D. Rockefeller promoted the "American Plan," a pro-business agenda that promoted company unions managed by executives, labeled trade unions as anarchist and communist, and introduced the concept of "open" and "closed" shops. This terminology defined nonunion businesses as "open" to everyone, whereas those with union contracts were "closed" to new hires.

The IBEW was quick to point out the fallacies of such a plan. Writing for The Electrical Worker in 1922, International Secretary Charles Ford observed that "when stripped of its pretense, the so-called 'open' shop is the 'closed' shop because it is closed to any measure of democratic action. The employees are voiceless. The union shop is the open shop because the worker's representative meets the employer on common ground."

Ford drew an analogy to the many associations representing doctors, bankers and lawyers. These groups regularly establish requirements for membership and regulate rates, hours and conditions governing their contracts. "But when the members of labor unions say they will not work with those who will not join, it is heralded as a crime and their destruction by law is advocated," Ford observed. Sure enough, anti-labor protests brought on by the American Plan eventually turned violent in the nation's first red scare. Fearing the loss of public support, leaders of the movement decided to rebrand with a new name. By late 1922, the slogan "right-to-work" first appeared in print.

"The country is now being deluged with canned speeches about this sacred right-to-work," Ford wrote in The Electrical Worker. "What they probably mean is that every employer has the 'right to work' his employee under any conditions and for whatever wages he chooses."

The new slogan represented just another attempt by business oligarchs to reduce wages, increase profits, remove workplace protections and ultimately destroy the labor movement. Though it never became law, this new movement spread quickly during the Roaring '20s. Union membership, including the IBEW's, slowly dwindled and many unions went out of existence. Wages did not keep up with prices. Workers could not buy the goods they produced. And the Great Depression, born from the market crash of 1929, seemed almost inevitable.

With the economy in freefall, the conversation over labor quickly flipped and government efforts began to shore up worker protections. The National Labor Relations Act passed in 1935 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "second New Deal." It established three workplace categories for union representation: closed shop, in which employees must be members of the union as a condition of employment; union shop, in which employees must pay for the cost of union representation but need not join the union; and open shop, in which an employee cannot be compelled to join or contribute to a union.

Roosevelt also established policies many of us take for granted today. Social Security, minimum wage, a five-day work week, and other protective labor measures became a fact of life.

With this legislation, trade unions found a new lease on life. When America entered World War II, the labor movement was a revitalized force that played a key role in making the United States the arsenal of democracy and the leader of the free world. However, with union strength growing throughout the war, the power-hungry industry leaders started the union-busting cycle all over again. They blamed strikes on the "powerful unions" and "labor bosses" when they were actually caused by the sharp drop in income and increases in living costs that came with ending wartime restrictions.

The tactic bore fruit in 1944 when Arkansas and Florida voted to outlaw "closed shops" by amending their state constitutions. Arizona and Nebraska followed suit in 1946. Anti-labor forces then brought their case before Congress.

"They are trying to create the impression that the world is up in arms against the unions," International Secretary Gustave Bugniazet wrote for The Electrical Worker in 1947. "The world is not up in arms. Neither is the United States, but the old anti-boycott, open shop, American Plan crowd are back at the doors of Congress asking for free enterprise for themselves and restrictions on union organization."

What they were asking for specifically was passage of the Labor Management Relations Act, commonly known as the Taft-Hartley Act after its two Republican sponsors, Sens. Robert Taft and Fred Hartley. This legislation would not only outlaw closed shops nationally, but also authorize states to outlaw "union shops" as well.

It was here that the right-to-work movement finally found its teeth. Supporters claimed that union shops force workers to financially support an organization they didn't vote for, which they saw as a violation of their right to work without restriction. Opponents argued that the new act would actually restrict a worker's rights by limiting the agreements they could collectively make with their employer.

Norfolk, Va., Local 80 wrote to The Electrical Worker in March 1947 with a call to action. "The political machine has picked another apple for the basket of dictatorship," said Press Secretary E.A. McCulloch. "Should such an act be declared lawful, it shall infringe upon the right of any two parties to make a contract where labor is involved."

In an argument almost identical to that made by International Secretary Ford more than 20 years before, McCulloch noted that "our lawmakers should awaken to the fact that the closed shop agreement is for the protection of the honest workmen against the unscrupulous, just as it is necessary for lawyers to be admitted to the bar before they can practice law in this state."

The hypocrisy was clear as day, and for McCulloch the solution was equally clear. "We are fully aware that the so-called 'right-to-work' bill in Virginia is aimed wholly at the IBEW. Brothers, let's accept this challenge and put into action our only weapon — the vote!"

Unfortunately, the votes were not on their side. The Taft-Hartley Act became law June 23, 1947, after Congress overrode a veto from President Harry Truman. In the following months, the law was invoked to outlaw union shop agreements in Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, while South Dakota did so by constitutional amendment.

By the end of the year, 11 states had implemented right-to-work. That number would only grow, as would the fight to repeal it.

This story will continue next month.