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Labor Unions
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Labor Unions A labor union is a group of individuals working together to achieve shared job-related goals, such as higher pay, shorter working hours, more job security, greater benefits, or better working conditions.1 Labor unions have changed over the years. In the following paragraphs, I hope to be able to explain what I have learned from my textbook and from research of the Websites listed for the course. Labor unions began during the Revolutionary War because of the desire of workers to have better working conditions, better pay, better working hours, better treatment, and to do away with child labor. These unions appeared because of the craft workers they supported. Courts did not side with unions during this time and unions found it difficult to improve pay and working conditions. The Knights of Labor used lobbying instead of collective bargaining to achieve their goals. This was the first union to organize whether the group was a craft or not. They also were the first to have women and blacks as members. The depression of 1873 did nothing to help the union. If anything it created the perfect conditions for the union to fail. The Knights of Labor, having reached a membership of approximately 700,000 by the mid-1800’s, was weakened by inside disagreements and outside charges of violence. The union disbanded around the turn of the century. Craft workers still needed representation and sought that representation with unions that would have their best interests at heart. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded by Samuel Gompers was formed in 1886. The AFL used collective bargaining and a pragmatic approach to union-management relations.2 Membership grew to more than five million by the end of World War I. The 1920’s were difficult years for the AFL and membership began to decline. The Great Depression of the 1930’s caused an even greater decline in membership. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the New Deal. This was to jump-start the economy and bring it out of depression. The New Deal came with laws that made organizing easier for the unions.
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