American Federation Of Labor Case Study

Workers became “more numerous, better organized, more disciplined, and more successful” even though employers tried to stop them (Who Built America 113). Many of these workers led strikes for better hours, better wages and better conditions. When comparing the 1800s to today, we see that strikes were very effective, an example of this is shown in the 8-hour movement. Unions helped win “more than 60 percent of the strikes waged in 1889 and 1890” (Who Built America 113). Due to these workers, employees now face fewer obstacles. Whenever workers felt as though they were being taken advantage of they could “refuse to work, if they withdraw their cooperation, every social institution can be brought to a halt” (Brecher 5). Without workers, the employers will have no one to complete products therefore not being able to make a profit. Subsequently, employees will have leverage over the employers so they can finally sit down and negotiate their conditions. This was shown in the Michigan Central Railroad where workers fought for their wages to increase by two dollars. The workers exhibited their resistance when “streetcars, wagons, and buggies were stopped; tanneries, stoneworks, clothing factories, lumberyards, brickyards, furniture factories, and a large distillery was closed in response to roving crowds” (Brecher 31). The result of this strike was “victorious, and 2 dollars a day became the standard wage in Galveston” (Brecher 31). This strike was important because it exhibited to others that if they unite then they can achieve better conditions. If the workers did not unionize they would not have achieved equality in the workforce and better wages and conditions. Without resistance, these workers would have never gotten negotiations or the necessities they need. Even if workers lost because of outside interference they eventually had the power to change the minds of

Labor union were crucial in the late 1800’s when the workers were working long hours, doing hard work, without any extra pay. Job security (could be fired at any given time) and safety precautions did not exist in this era, jobs in this day was typically a threat to the workers due to the bad working conditions. When the union was formed in 1866 it was not easy, but if the workers understood how it would benefit them it would have been a greater successes. Due to lack of education, the communication between the union and the works was broken. Some of the religious beliefs created a hardship on getting the union passed. One of the unions called the AFL (American Federation of Labor) was created in 1881 that would try to fight for workers’ rights.

The AFL was not a labor organization, but a federation of affiliated labor unions. (Dubofsky & Foster, 2004, p. 138). The AFL was exclusive, accepting skilled workers in crafts industries and skilled workers in industry. The AFL's goals were economic, they provided financial and political support for affiliated labor unions in contract negotiations with employers. (Dubofsky & Foster, 2004, p. 139). The political objectives they did pursue usually had to do with the nature of labor negotiations.

The ensuing conflict, between labor vs. capital, during the late 1800s initiated a struggle of power in the workforce between the rich-industrialists (or corporate leaders) and the middle-class/lower-class workers. The Capitalists had intervened with the protests orchestrated by the workers, ensuring that the power remains with them. The strategies of the industrialists and the unique ways of protesting from the workers, contributes to spur a vigorous argument between the employers and their employees. The workers tried their best to ameliorate their working conditions by forming numerous unions, trying to fix currency (gold to paper) to economically help themselves, refusing to go to work, resorting to violence and non-violence, etc. However, the Corporate leaders kept an upper hand and dissolved the workers’ ambitions by hiring scabs, creating a strong relationship with the military (Pullman strike), controlling and fixing policies at work, hiring immigrants for cheap labor, etc. Throughout the late 1800s, the corporate leaders have been able to successfully prevent workers who had resorted to: forming unions, protests (ex. Pullman strike and Homestead strike), violence (ex. Haymarket Sq. Riot), etc., from achieving a radical solution to the workers issues with the management by using several different strategies including but not limited to: hiring scabs/immigrants in the Homestead strike, using government support in the Pullman strike and keeping the power on their side

The labor relations movement has been one of the most successful driving forces behind such efforts as: providing aid to workers who were injured or retired, better health benefits and to stop the practice of child labor in the workforce. Ostensibly, unions in the United States arose out of the need to better protect the “common interests” of laborers. Today, many of the social movements and alliances forged are created under the guise to better protect the employer from a plethora of interests made against the organization, rather than, increasing wages, improving reasonable employment hours and/or enhancing work conditions.

During the later years of the 1800s, the United States (US) established itself as a dominant industrial country. As the US became a dominant source of business, industry, and capitalism, many laborers demanded for improved working conditions. Despite the later part of the century, however, the labor strikes and efforts are ineffective, but they did lead to other improvement of labor situations within the twentieth century. The actions betweens businesses and laborers, the conservative mindset of the government, the different opinions of laborers, and the growing images of labor efforts resulted in the small benefits of labor resistance.

Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).

Much of what we know about the improvements in the workforce came from 20th century advancements with the workforce that we know today. Important developments came in the form of methodology and data collection efforts. The 20th century was a remarkable period for the American workers. Despite the initial stages of labor management, working conditions, wages and benefits improved over the last century with the workforce increasing six fold over the period (Gould, 1986). This research will focus on impacts of National Relations Labor Act (NLRA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) enacted in the 20th century, including major circumstances that led to the intent of the legislation. In

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is a regional labor organization in the state of Los Angeles that has evolved representation of the interests of workers to include political involvement. Its formation was a function of political influence in labor and the relevance of merging labor movements to have better representations and high compulsion among leaders (Dean et al., 2009). The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, as the name suggests, is a composite labor body formed after the merging of all labor bodies in Los Angeles.

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance mission is to give Asian and Pacific Islander workers a voice in the work place, seek for better pay, and improved benefits such as health insurance. APALA was created because of the awareness of unsafe working conditions in the workplace and child labor, which the federation see as a threat to American job. Yet, even today there are still many Asian American workers being treated unfairly in their workplace such as employers threaten to call the immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) in 52% of all organizing efforts involving undocumented workers (APALA web). Employers have manipulated the labor system by taking advantage of their position to restrict the mobility of workers, eliminate

Government should protect the rights of organized labor. Unions protects workers from unfair treatment and without organize labor, business does what it want and can hurt the worker. Government helping to protect the rights of organized labor will help workers from getting fair treatment from employees. If the government does not protect organize labor, employers might get fired by their employees. Unions are necessary because it helps employees treat employers equally and with a lot of good working conditions. Unions are there to protect a hardworking individual, if their rights are infringed upon.

Individuals have been at work for thousands and thousands of years. Over the last century there have been many changes in the United States that protects workers in their positions and the duties they perform. There has been many changes for employers as well that protects companies and organization and offers beneficial information to keep them in compliance with changes and away from any from and form of discrimination. Over the last century there has been the organization of Unions (Bargaining Unit) in which are to protect workers in their positions, give them fair marketable pay and be the liaison between the employer and employee. Union organizations represent employees and negotiate contracts that

What is clearly evident, however, is that the working people of America have had to unite in struggle to achieve the gains that they have accumulated during this century. Improvements did not come easily. Organizing unions, winning the right to representation, using the collective bargaining process as the core of their activities, struggling against bias and

After reading up on the Fair Labor Standards Act, I would agree that Jane’s position should be classified as exempt. The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division quantify the classification of executive exemption. Among these requirements are the employee must be compensated above minimum wage. Jane is paid more than other associates so we make the assumption that Jane is paid more than $455 weekly based on a 2010 finding that the average annual salaried employee was $44,283.30 (Martocchio, 2013). This breaks down to approximately $923 weekly. The employee’s primary duty must be managing the business. Jane runs the floor and can make decision on behalf of the company giving her a hand in running the business. Another requirement is

When most people talk about Compensation they tend to think about money and getting paid. Well they are partially correct in that you do receive something mainly money for a service someone has done. Compensation refers to money received for work, such as wages, salaries and tips, while the word "benefits" describes job extras provided by the employer. (Frenz, 2016) Employees can also receive benefits from their companies like health and dental insurance, life insurance, paid vacations and many other benefits that with help their employees. When a company has well designed compensation and benefits plan it will assist in attracting, motivating and retaining the best personnel for the job in your company. Compensation can also be what a company may pay as fair wages while also allowing their employees the opportunity for hard working employees to work their way up to the higher-paying jobs within their respected companies.