Ashishraj Thakur
Professor Henderson
English 1020
28 March 2016
The History Behind the Union Debate
The earliest known roots of labor unions trace back to the Industrial Revolution in Europe. During this time in history there was an influx of new workers that needed to be able to represent themselves so they could have a voice in the workplace (History of Labor Unions). Unions were a means of being able to organize into a bigger force and bring change to the workplace through numbers. Unions in the United States have also played an important role in giving a voice to its workers as well. Even if the efforts they had made towards independence were ineffective, the ideas they enforced such as protection for its workers are still embedded in American culture (History of Labor Unions). The objectives that unions have worked toward then are still the goals that they work for now, the main difference is that they were more beneficial and somewhat necessary in their earlier years. The arguments that are occurring now are because people have started to believe that labor unions do not do as much for a worker as they used to. Many changes have been made in the workplace since the start of labor unions, but in these modern times labor unions seem to spark a lot of controversy among the people.
The labor movement in the United States stemmed from the desire to get have better working conditions. “For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired” (Labor Movement). Unions in the United States started to increase in popularity in the mid-nineteenth century with the founding of the National Labor union in 1866. Unlike most of the unions that exist today, The National Labor Union or NLU was not limited to any specific kind of worker. Even though the National Labor Union eventually met its downfall in 1873, without making any significant accomplishments in the workplace it had aimed for, the organization’s founding set an important standard in the U.S (History of Labor Unions). The end of the NLU made way for a new organization to rise, in 1869 the Knights of Labor was established. The Knights of Labor had around 700,000 members at its’s peak, and its efforts were mainly centered around key workplace issues at the time such as ending child labor and achieving an eight-hour work day for its workers (History of Labor Unions).
During late 1870’s the knights of labor had captured the public’s attention and brought in many new members who were hoping for an immediate change in their workplace. The group’s main weapon to combat the industries were the use of organized strikes along industry lines (Labor Movement). The organization’s membership was open to all types of workers regardless of the race, gender, and weather the workers were skilled or unskilled laborers. The gap between the skilled and the unskilled laborers however, caused fragmentation among the Knights. The skilled workers would get tired of work because of the unskilled laborers who could easily be replaced. The fragmentation that resulted in this conflict made the Knights grow weaker. The Knights eventually met their downfall when some of the organization’s members were accused of throwing a bomb at the Haymarket Square riots which killed several police officers (Union Movement in America). All of the negative publicity that came from the riot paired with the fact that the Knights were already fragmented forced the group to be disbanded in 1886, but merged with another organization called the AFL (Labor movement).
In the same year, the American Federation of Labor or AFL, was founded by Samuel Gompers. The education that Gompers had received was through being a reader, someone who reads books in order to help break the monotony the workers experienced from being forced to do the same task all day. He later became the leader of his local union and also the National Cigar Makers union (Union Movement in America).
One key difference that separated the AFL from the Knights of Labor was that the AFL only accepted skilled laborers into their organization. A statement that the founders of the AFL made explain why they chose to do this. ““The various trades have been affected by the introduction of machinery, the subdivision of labor, the use of women's and children's labor and the lack of an apprentice system-so that the skilled trades were rapidly sinking to the level of pauper labor,"” (Union Movement in America). ““To protect the skilled labor of America from being reduced to beggary and to sustain the standard of American workmanship and skill, the trades unions of America have been established."” (Union Movement in America). Two of the major accomplishments of the AFL was urging Congress to make a Children’s Bureau, which would protect the victims of job exploitation and the Clayton Act of 1914, which stated that a person’s labor is not a commodity or article of commerce (Union Movement in America).