Labor Movement

By alexiswagner0

  • Knights of Labor founded

    Knights of Labor founded
    The Knights of Labor was the largest and most important American labor movement of the 1880s. They supported a program of class cooperation and social reformism, hoping to realise what they saw as a more equitable form of capitalism.

  • Haymarket Riot

    Haymarket Riot
    11 people die and 50 are injured in the Haymarket Riot, fueling anti-union sentiment. A bomb was thrown at a squad of policemen attempting to break up a labor rally.

  • Founding of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union

    Founding of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union
    It was the first U.S union to have primarily female membership. The ILGWU had a sudden upsurge in membership that came as the result of two successful mass strikes in New York City.
    The first, in 1909, was known as “the Uprising of 20,000” and lasted for fourteen weeks. In 1910, the ILGWU led an even larger strike, later named "The Great Revolt", of 60,000 cloakmakers.

  • Steel Strike

    Steel Strike
    Hundreds of strikes sweep the nation and there was fear of upcoming revolution. The union attempted to organize workers in the tin industry, but a sudden wave of industry consolidations left the union facing the gigantic U.S. Steel corporation.

  • Wagner Act

    Wagner Act
    The Wagner Act is a foundational statute of US labor law which guarantees 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.

  • Congress of Industrial Organizations

    Congress of Industrial Organizations
    The AFL splinter group becomes the independent Congress of Industrial Organizations, headed by John L. Lewis. The Congress of Industrial Organizations, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1938, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955.

  • Taft-Hartley Act

    Taft-Hartley Act
    The Taft-Hartley Act allows states to pass right-to-work laws. The Taft-Hartley Act was a major revision of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

  • First Farmworkers' Union

    First Farmworkers' Union
    Cesar Chavez begins organizing the first farmworkers' union, which eventually establishes the first labor agreement with growers. The United Farm Workers of America is the nation's first successful and largest farm workers union currently active in 10 states.