From its beginnings in the 1860s until the great depression of the 1930s, the us labor movement faced strong opposition from the government. in the lesson, we discussed how government officials sided with business owners in labor disputes. some state governments passed laws making strikes illegal. state and federal governments sent troops to break up strikes. finally, no federal labor laws were passed until the second half of the 1930s. why do you think government officials (and the public in general) were opposed to labor unions in the beginning? why do you think things began to change during the hard economic times of the 1930s?