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13th Amendment – 1865
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This amendment abolished slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886
This was a labor union strike involving more than 200,000 workers. Beginning on March 1, 1886, railroad workers in five states struck against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. The unravelling of the strike led to the collapse of the Knights of Labor and the formation of the American Federation of Labor. -
Haymarket Riot
- Haymarket Riot – May 4, 1886 The Haymarket affair was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. Their goal was to get an 8-hour work day.
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AFL (American Federation of Labor)
The American Federation of Labor was a national federation of labor unions in the United States. It was founded by Samuel Gompers on December 8, 1886. The AFL was the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the 20th century -
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States on May 11, 1894. It involved the American Railway Union (ARU) and the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. -
The first Labor Day
In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed a Labor Day holiday while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York. In 1887 Oregon became the first state of the United States to make Labor Day an official public holiday. It became a federal holiday in 1894. -
7. The Wagner Act – (AKA National Labor Relations Act of 1935)
This Act was a foundational statute of United States labor law which guaranteed basic rights of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining for better terms and conditions at work, and take collective action including strike if necessary. The act also created the National Labor Relations Board, which conducts elections that can require employers to engage in collective bargaining with labor unions. -
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards. It affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. -
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
The Taft-Hartley Act was passed as an amendment to the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. It was intended to stop some of the rights given to unions to strike and imposing limitations on the union leaders It made “closed shop” illegal so workers could not be forced to join the union. -
Steel Strike of 1959
The strike occurred over management's demand that the union give up a contract clause which limited management's ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery which would result in reduced hours or numbers of employees. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the workers to go back to work. The union sued to have the Taft-Hartley Act declared unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court upheld the law.
