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Article: Trade agreements and labor problems: the current bearing of a commons proposal.
- Article from:
- Journal of Economic Issues
- Article date:
- December 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Association for Evolutionary Economics. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A hundred years ago, in a symposium on tariffs, John R. Commons pointed out that contrary to predictions of advocates, high tariffs did not help workers in protected industries (Commons 1908). After their victory in the Homestead strike, managers of tariff-protected steel mills imposed harsh and inhumane conditions on steelworkers. Interstate competition drove conditions in textile mills below those of British competitors--against whom tariffs were supposedly protecting workers. On the other hand, working conditions were improving in unprotected industries such as construction.
Then he asked what could be done. Unions were impotent against the combined strength ...