It was in an atmosphere thus
surcharged with suspicion and fear that a group of employers, led by the
National Association of Manufacturers and several local employers'
organizations, launched an open-shop movement with the slogan of an
"American plan" for shops and industries. Many employers, normally
opposed to unionism, who in War-time had permitted unionism to acquire
scope, were now trying to reconquer their lost positions. The example of
the steel industry and the fiasco of the President's Industrial
Conference crystallized this reviving anti-union sentiment into action.
Meanwhile the railway labor situation remained unsettled and fraught
with danger. The problem was bound up with the general problem as to
what to do with the railways. Many plans were presented to Congress,
from an immediate return to private owners to permanent government
ownership and management. The railway labor organizations, that is, the
four brotherhoods of the train service personnel and the twelve unions
united in the Railway Employes' Department of the American Federation
of Labor, came before Congress with the so-called Plumb Plan, worked out
by Glenn E.
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