The History of Labor Unions Essay

The main reason of the rise of labor unions was the quick industrialization of the US economy. During the post-Civil War period, the US economy became extremely industrialized. This meant that more and more people were working in factories owned by large companies rather than working in small shops for themselves or for small businesses. In addition, large numbers of immigrants were coming to the US. They created a huge pool of labor that made labor prices go down and the quality of working conditions.

The American Labor Movement of the nineteenth century developed as a result of the city-wide organizations that unhappy workers were establishing. These men and women were determined to receive the rights and privileges they deserved as citizens of a free country. They refused to be treated like slaves, and work under unbearable conditions any longer. Workers joined together and realized that a group is much more powerful than an individual when protesting against intimidating companies. Unions, coalitions of workers pursuing a common objective, began to form demanding only ten instead of twelve hours in a work day. Workers realized the importance of economic and legal protection against the powerful employers who took advantage of them.

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

Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative

I am not deep, but I am very wide-Throughout the period 1865 to 1992, the government was both a help and hindrance to the trade union movement. Roosevelt’s New Deal represented a brief turning point in the Federal government’s attitude towards labour rights, prior to which its laissez-faire approach to the economy had significantly favoured employers by granting them more power to abuse the rights of labourers. The New Deal of 1933 was set out with the intention of fostering better relations between the employers and the workforce, as well as helping establish new

During the Victorian age, and up until about the 20s, labor unions were new developments. They had existed before, but on a much smaller scale. The labor unions that did exist were all vastly different. Some were conservative, while others were extremely radical. The Industrial Workers of the World are an example of a more radical group, while the American Federation of Labor is more conservative. The two unions had contrasting opinions to the point of conflict between the groups. As well as having differing opinions, the groups had differing motives and ways of achieving their goals. The Industrial Workers of the World and the American Federation of Labor are two labor unions that existed at the same time, but could not be any more

Michael Paul 099 66 3949 History 316z Trade unionism, industrial unionism, and socialism were the main forms of organized labor in the late nineteenth century early twentieth century, yet rarely did these shifting currents flow in complementary ways that might appeal to the vast majority of struggling workers. The three most important formal organizations were the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Socialist Party of America. All three of these organizations had there own strengths but the many weaknesses and divisions combined with outside influences caused the retardation of their radical, left wing ideas. The American Federation of Labor was founded with the intention of building the

The economy, the government, and labor as a whole all became menacing enemies of the movement for organized labor. The world was changing, altering the government and the minds of the people along with it. Laws were passed to protect workers. Unions began to be looked upon as a negative, annoying influence on the economy. Despite the enormous wave of impact and support for unions and the rise of several influential coalitions in the 18th through 20th centuries, too many components turned against the movement and their hold on society was forever

The formation of unions has been around since the early 20th Century with the boom of the

Labor force  the measure of the number of people actively involved in the labor market is a topic of concern for economists (Bullard 1). Since the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2009, economists are closely observing the changing nature of the labor force in the United States, in an effort to understand sources of future economic growth. This topic is of major interest because of its sharp decline after the Recession of 2007-2009, in comparison to the Great Depression.

Following the lead of Britain from where many of the original settlers came, workers in various occupations banded together to form unions. Ship writers, boat builders, tailors, bakers and carpenters were among the first craft unions form in Australia before 1848.By forming an association workers could obtain better wages and working conditions. However the employers wanted the highest profit margins so wished to keep wages low and spend little money on the working environment. The law of supply and demand in the labour market often determined which group was dominant.A third factor in the balance in Australia was the government.

The labor movement and the need to organize as a united voice for worker’s rights came about during the nineteenth century. During this time, worker’s faced long hours which turned into long workweeks, often times requiring workers to work six days a week with ten or more hours per day for very low wages and in conditions that were unsafe or unhealthy. In most cases, workers were at the mercy of the companies that employed them and had few options to improve their work conditions and even less recourse if they were injured or killed on the job. Out of this need, the organized labor movement began which provided a vehicle for employees to band together as a united group to demand better working conditions, fair wages and an established work week. These changes were done through negotiations with management at the companies and through the creation and implementation of regulations at the state and federal government level. Many of these regulations have resulted in set procedures and policies for establishing a union within a workplace, both in the public (federal) and private sectors. There are two agencies that oversee unions and the policies governing them.

A labor union is, “an organization of wage earners or salaried employees for mutual aid and protection and for dealing collectively with employers”. The primary purpose of the labor union is to combine the common interest of the workforce of a company and the owners of the company for a compromise. Labor unions formed in the mid-20th century due to the dangers and poor working conditions employees faced everyday while at work. The quality of life workers significantly decreased for workers due to the carelessness of large and wealthy business owners. Lack of financial stability, poor working conditions, limited benefits and job instability all precipitated to the formation of labor unions in an effort to relieve the strife facing workers each day of the working week. Along with these issues, came the concern of minimal to no laws created to protect the individual rights of the worker, including no minimum wage laws, government mandated health and safety standards, child labor laws, health care and social security; forcing some sort of change to occur. Though Unions weren’t able to solve all issues in the workplace, and created some issues in itself. Unionization benefits the economy most because it gives the working class better financial

During Americas second industrial revolution, many people migrated to cities. There was too many people and not enough jobs for the number of people pouring in. Along with that, many jobs were being taken away by new technologies that were cheaper than hiring workers. Machines took the jobs of those who used to work menial tasks. As time went on in the history of labor unions, the purpose of it started to decline dramatically. Many places began to outsource jobs and many of companies moved to other countries. Union Memberships started to decline drastically. “Between 1975 and 1985, union membership fell by 5 million. In manufacturing, the unionized portion of the labor force dropped below 25 percent, while mining and construction, once labor’s flagship industries, were decimated. Only in the public sector did the unions hold their own. By the end of the 1980s, less than 17 percent of American workers were organized, half the proportion of the early 1950s”(History

Over the course of the century, labor movement has played a profound role in shaping how the Americans live and work in their daily lives. The influence the unions have has waxed and waned during a long and bloody struggle for power in the workplaces. The labor's movement's status has almost always been curious due to Americans' love-hate attitude toward an organized labor. Today, just like centuries ago, some of the citizens really believed that the unions are crucial to freedom, while other people feel just as strongly that they are at best and at worst at an obstacle to progress. Either way, these unions have grown a lot throughout the years. They have grown from being small and less powerful too. Unions are still pretty important in these