History of Labor Unions

AbstractThis research paper aims to discuss the United States history of Labor Unions in detail. It summarizes the events occurred during various eras starting from the early history till the 21st century. Moreover, this piece of work also provides an in-depth knowledge on the different labor unions that were formed during the early years till present. The paper is divided into four sections where each section covers a period from the history of United States Labor Unions.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion5

Labor Unions Early History6

Labor Unions History from 1900-19327

Labor Unions History from 1932-19558

Labor Unions History from 1955-20089

Conclusions10

References11

History of Labor Unions

Introduction

Labor unions often known as trade unions are associations of workers that represent and advance particular interests of a group of employees through collective negotiations with the employer. Employment conditions like discipline, hiring and termination, benefits, wages and work rules are some typical areas of negotiations. Most often labor unions use the principle of solidarity, collective bargaining, political action and strikes to meet their goals. The fundamental idea of labor unions is based on the fact that working in a group is more helpful in achieving the goals successfully rather than working individually. Labor Unions in USA started sooner than the Civil War but the history mostly encompassed the previous 120 years when the Railroad Brotherhoods and AFL currently known as AFL-CIO built the truly powerful and permanent unions.

In late 18th century, the first local labor unions in America was formed but the full fledge movement came into being after the Civil War. This was the time when “National Labor Union” (NLU), the short lived union turned out to be the first U.S. unions federation. It was pursued by slightly extended “Knights of Labor” and then by AFL, the “American Federation of Labor” established by Samuel Gompers in 1886 as a national federation of skilled workers unions. From 1900 till 1920, union growth reached the greatest due to an overwhelming support from the national government. The IWW or the International Workers of the World was originated in 1905 in disparity to AFL's craft unionism. The IWW exhibited aggression to advance the cause of inexperienced and unskilled workers and their obstruction to the nation's wartime engagement directed to their elimination in World War I and hence, the IWW practically disappeared. In the 1930s, John L. Lewis Committee for Industrial Organizations pushed the policy of industrial unionism within the AFL. Established in 1933, this committee breached from the AFL in the year 1938 as the CIO i.e. the Congress of Industrial Organizations. After the World War II in 1955, the AFL and CIO merged together to form AFL-CIO under the leadership of Lewis. The Second Red Scare became the major reason of this merger. The 21st century U.S. labor union in the private sector has dropped down less than 8% levels in the recent years after 1932. The labor seems quite apathetic in joining and movements and strike activities have descended dramatically. These eras of the history of labor unions is further divided into four sections:

1) Labor Unions Early History2) Labor Unions History from 1900-19323) Labor ...