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National Trades' Union
National Trades' Union (NTU) was the first national labor union in United States history. Headed by John Commerford, the NTU played a vital role in the establishment of a 10-hour workday for navy yard workers. The NTU engaged in open discussion of labor issues. It pushed for social changes to better the lives of working men and women, including the establishment of public libraries. The organization did not survive a period of economic turmoil called the "panic of 1837." -
Commonwealth v. Hunt
Supreme court ruling making it legal to form unions and strike if employers hired non-union members. This led to a rise in labor unions being formed such as National Labor Union and Knights of labor. It also supported the increasing animosity of American citizens toward immigrants as they began to take more factory jobs. -
Abolition of Slave Labor
Passed by Abraham Lincoln in the 13th amendment, this banned the use of unpaid slave labor. However, citizens did manage to find loopholes to retain their prior slaves for an extremely low cost. Despite this, it was still a huge shift in the labor force as it was the first step in the progression of Blacks becoming integrated into the wage earning society. -
National Labor Union
The National Labor Union was formed in 1866 and was the first national labor union created in the United States. It paved the way for future labor organizations. The workers formed this organization due to the failure of creating multiple local trade unions. The NLU drew most of its support from skilled laborers, but also invited unskilled laborers and farmers to join. They favored arbitration over strikes and pushed for 8-hour work days. Congress passed 8-hour work days for government workers. -
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was one of the biggest and most important labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terrance Powderley. The Knights primary demand was for an 8-hour work day; they also called for legislation to end child labor and convict labor. By getting their way, the Knights of Labor went on strike as a last resort and instead advocated arbitration. Declined due to being blamed for the Hyamarket Square Bombing. Accepted all workers, skilled or unskilled. -
Terrance Powderly
During the late 19th century, Powderly emerged as one of the leading advocates for better working conditions for American workers. He joined the Knights of Labor in 1874. In 1879, Powderly attained the presidential role. Powderly generally opposed strikes, preferring boycotts and peaceful negotiations to attain an 8-hour work day, better wages, and improved working conditions. Powderly's leadership style caused much dissatisfaction among the Knights of Labor's members who favored strikes. -
Greenback Labor Party
Initially an agrarian organization associated with the policies of the Grange, from 1878 the organization took the name Greenback Labor Party and attempted to forge a farmer–labor alliance, adding industrial reforms, such as support of the 8-hour day and opposition to the use of state or private force to suppress union strikes. -
Farmer's Alliance
This organization developed in the hopes of regulating railroads and to end the crop-lien labor system. Giving supplies as credit to workers was causing the economy in the south to flounder and much less beneficial to the laborer. Their efforts led to the passing of the Granger Laws. -
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 17, 1877, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Workers for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went on strike, because the company had reduced workers' wages twice over the previous year. The strikers refused to let the trains run until the most recent pay cut was returned to the employees. First railroad strike. Over 100 people died and 1000 people were arrested. The strike ended due to government invention through hiring strikebreakers. -
Haymarket Square Bombing
On May 4, 1886, a labor protest rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. The Haymarket Riot was viewed a setback for the organized labor movement in America, which was fighting for such rights as the eight-hour workday. This incident was caused by anarchists but was blamed on the Knights of Labor which was a major cause for the decline the movement. -
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers was the first and longest-serving president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL); it is to him, as much as to anyone else, that the American labor movement owes its structure and characteristic strategies. Under his leadership, the AFL became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world. He advocated for 3 principles: craft unions, economic reform over political reform, and when political action was necessary, mobilize members to vote for the labor agenda. -
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was organized in 1886. Its president was Samuel Gompers, who served until 1925. The purpose of the AFL was to organize skilled workers into national unions consisting of others in the same trade. Their purpose was not political, and aimed simply at shorter hours, higher wages, and better working conditions. -
United Mine Workers
Union made to represent American coal miners. Biggest accomplishment was the Coal Miner Strike of 1902 where Teddy Roosevelt threatened to send in troops to shut down the factories if employers refused to negotiate as part of his square deal, marking a turning point in federal government supporting unions. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The first major piece of legislation that affected labor unions was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The law forbade any "restraint of commerce" across state lines, and courts ruled that union strikes and boycotts were covered by the law. This was ironic since the Sherman Act had been passed by liberal reformers hoping to curb the abuses of big businesses and monopolies, not to crack down on unions. -
Homestead Strike
A major strike in the Carnegie Steel Mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Henry Frick sent for three hundred Pinkerton guards, but when they arrived by barge on July 6 they were met by ten thousand strikers, many of them armed. In all, nine strikers and seven Pinkertons were killed; many strikers and most of the remaining Pinkertons were injured. 8000 Militia Men arrived on July 12. Gradually, under militia protection, strikebreakers got the plant running again. Caused by wage cuts/increased hours. -
American Railway Union
In 1893, Eugene Debs founded the ARU, with a goal of uniting all rail workers. In April 1894, it led a walkout by employees of the Great Northern Railroad who protested wage cuts and dismissals of men who joined the new union. This was a major success.After employees of the Pullman company held a strike to protest wage cuts and firings, the ARU committed itself to a nationwide boycott of all trains that included Pullman cars. This interfered with mail and the gov. dismantled the organization. -
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the US on May 11, 1894 and a turning point for US labor law. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the mail railroads, and the government of the US. It led to the arrest and conviction of Eugene Debs and led Debs to be come an avid advocate of socialism. This strike caused the decline of the American Railway Union. The public opposed the strike and supported Glover Cleveland's actions toward the strike. -
William Jennings Bryan AFL Presidential Candidate
The AFL was particularly pleased with the nomination of William Jennings Bryan as presidential candidate in the election of 1896. Bryan's platform included both anti-injunction and anti-immigration planks specifically directed to gain the support of organized labor. -
Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902
This was a strike by the United Mine Workers in the anthracite coalfields of Pennsylvania. Miners struck for higher wages, shorter workdays and the recognition of their union. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to major US cities. The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 was significant because it was the first time in American history that the President took direct, non-militant action. Theodore Roosevelt acted as a moderator for a compromise that happened at the White House. -
National Child Labor Committee
Immediately after its conception in 1904, the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) began advocating for child labor reform on the state level. The NCLC called for the establishment of a federal children's bureau that would investigate and report on the circumstances of all American children. Led to many reforms for children against child labor in factories. -
Industrial Workers of the World
The aim of the IWW was to unite in one body all skilled and unskilled workers for the purpose of overthrowing capitalism and rebuilding society on a socialistic basis. Its methods were direct action, propaganda, the boycott, and the strike; it was opposed to arbitration or collective bargaining and to political affiliation and intervention. Their advocacy for direct action brought harsh criticism in some quarters, and ultimately resulted in labor laws aimed at curtailing such creative tactics. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in NYC burned, killing 145 workers. It is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers. 36 laws were enacted in response to this incident. -
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
This act worked as an amendment to give greater clarification Sherman Antitrust act. It gave the central government much more power to regulate monopolies and price fixing. This was a win for unions as they were often mistreated by monopolies. -
World War I
The war effort during WWI was strongly supported by the AFL because workers were earning their highest wages ever and employment was at an all time high. WWI caused the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to the northern cities for industrial jobs. To replace men that were overseas fighting, many women began to work in industrial jobs. -
Great Migration
World War I created tremendous economic opportunities at home. Jobs in war industries drew thousands of people to the cities. With so many men in uniform, jobs in heavy industry opened for the first time to African Americans. During World War I, more than 400,000 African Americans moved to northern cities in what became known as the Great Migration. Without this new source of labor, many companies would not have been able to carry out their operations. -
Adamson Act
The Adamson Act was a United States federal law passed in 1916 that established an eight-hour workday, with additional pay for overtime work, for interstate railroad workers. -
Workmen's Compensation Act
Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 enabled workers to collect compensation for injuries sustained in the workplace. Prior to the passage of the act, workers alone were deemed responsible for their actions and ensuring their own safety. The major push behind the enacting of this act was the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. -
National War Labor Board
The National War Labor Board was charged with acting as an arbitration tribunal in labor-management dispute cases, thereby preventing work stoppages which might hinder the war effort. It administered wage control in national industries such as automobiles, shipping, railways, airlines, telegraph lines, and mining. -
Railway Labor Act
The Railway Labor Act (RLA) of 1926 was the most important piece of labor legislation "and the most significant attempt by the federal government to foster and regulate collective bargaining" prior to the New Deal. The act encouraged collective bargaining and forbade employers from interfering in workers' selection of their representatives. -
Great Depression
Worst Depression in American history and lasted almost a decade. 25% nationwide unemployment and some individual cities reached almost 90% unemployment. Many relief agencies such as the public works administration and the civilian conservation corps were established to help laborers obtain jobs during this depression. -
Closed Shop
A form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to only hire union members, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed. A "closed shop" became illegal in the United States with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. -
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs to young, unmarried men during the Great Depression. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. At the same time, it implemented a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory. -
National Recovery Administration
The purpose of the law and the establishment of National Recovery Administration was to address the crisis in industry by suspending the antitrust laws and allowed the government, businesses and labor to work together in setting up new, voluntary business codes and rules of fair competition. The codes addressed many issues including working hours, productivity, minimum wages, union membership and setting prices. The NRA was declared unconstitutional by the supreme court in 1935. -
Civil Works Administration
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived U.S. job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression to create jobs for the unemployed by building up roads, bridges, and the infrastructure of America. -
Works Progress Administration
Of all of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) is the most famous, because it affected so many people’s lives. Roosevelt’s vision of a work-relief program employed more than 8.5 million people. The WPA employees built bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports. -
Wagner Act
Huge step forward in the progress of unions. It created the National Labor Relations Board that gave employees the right to form unions, bargain collectively, and have a right to arbitration. -
National Labor Relations Board
Created through the Wagner Act, the National Labor Relations Board was given the task of mediating disputes between management and employees in arbitration cases. -
Social Security Act
The Social Security Act gave money to people over the age of 60 and disabled people. This act made America more like a welfare state. This act was created in order for older people to retire and allow younger men to replace them in the workforce during the Great Depression. The Social Security Administration still exists today. -
John L. Lewis
President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1920 until 1960 and founding president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), John Llewellyn Lewis was the dominant voice shaping the labor movement in the 1930s. The CIO owed its existence in large measure to Lewis, who was an effective advocate of industrial unionism and of government assistance in organizing basic industry. -
Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO)
The CIO was a federation of unions that represented and organized industrial workers in America and Canada. It was created by 8 unions inside the AFL who wanted to try and push the AFL to change their policy so they would organize workers in mass production industries. They failed, and in 1936 the AFL banned all 10 union members who created the CIO. Afterwards, both were in bitter rivalry throughout the great depression. Eventually in 1955, merge back into one union creating the AFL-CIO. -
The Sit Down Strike
Strike conducted by the United Automobile workers. Workers sat down and refused to work at the General Motor plant in Flint, Michigan. To end the strike, FDR decided to have GM bargain with the Union instead of using military force to put it down. GM was forced to recognize the UAW as an official union and give them increased pay. -
World War II
Both the CIO and AFL supported the war effort during World War II because of the jobs it created in war industries. Many women were in the workforce and led to the Second Great Migration, similar to the Great Migration of WWI. After the war 60% of Americans were in the middle class to the economic growth during the war. Officially ended the Great Depression for the US. -
The Second Great Migration
the Second Great Migration was the migration of more than five million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. Compared to the more rural migrants of the period 1910-1930, many African Americans in the South were already living in urban areas and had urban job skills before they relocated. They moved to take jobs in the industrial cities and especially the jobs in the defense industry during WWII. -
Fair Employment Practices Commission
This wartime commission banned employment discrimination in the workplace of companies involved in war-related work, guaranteeing employment of 2 million black workers in war factories. This, like the National Labor Board, was put in place to help maximize production. -
Smith-Connally Labor Act
Similar to NWLB except exclusively to prevent strikes. It allowed the federal government to seize industries threatened by or under strikes that could potentially halt production. Another WWII policy to maximize production. -
Servicemen's Readjustment Act
After WWI, veterans struggled to find jobs because they had missed education and all the jobs had been taken. This program was put in place to correct this for the returning veterans from WWII. The government invested billions of dollars to educate, give job finding assistance, loan money, and give unemployment payments to these veterans. Because of it, millions would become contributing members of wage-earning society. -
Taft-Hartley Act
The Taft-Hartley Act was the first major revision to the Wagner Act, and after much resistance from labor leaders and a veto from President Harry S. Truman, was passed on June 23 1947. It allows the president to appoint a board of inquiry to investigate union disputes when he believes a strike would endanger national health or safety, and obtain an 80-day injunction to stop the continuation of a strike. It declared closed shops illegal and forbids unions from contributing to political campaigns.