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National Labor Union Forms
The first American labor union, consisted of a mix of skilled and unskilled workers. They were the first to fight for worker rights and won. -
Knights of Labor Forms
The first truly successful labor union in america, and refused to associate with radical elements. Ultimately was disbanded due to internal strife, poor organization, and the Haymarket Riot. -
Great Railroad Strike
Poor economic conditions caused the railroad companies to cut salaries and wages, angering workers who were essential to the tremendous growth of our nation's most efficient form of transportation. Strikes took place all over the country, 8 died after 45 days of chaos and many more deaths to follow. The strike ended after the federal troops were called to stop the riot. -
American Federation of Labor Forms
The president of the AFL managed to keep internal strife to a minimum and made collective bargaining the go to plan for all labor unions. -
Haymarket Riot
It started as a movement to improve labor conditions, 170 armed police attempted to break up the agitated crowd. To which an unidentified person hurled a bomb at the police. A flurry of gunfire ensued, at the end 8 officers were dead a long with numerous civilians. Four men were executed and the anti-union sentiment swept through the country. -
Homestead Strike
The expiration of a sliding scale wage agreement started the riot, the negotiations were left to a radical anti-union official which led to a lockout of the workforce. 300 strike breaking detectives, pinkertons, were employed to break up the strike, the strikers charged to detectives, provoking gunfire. The 13 hour battle resulted in the deaths of seven workers and 3 Pinkertons. The company ultimately won after weakening the union the following weeks after the strike. -
Pullman Strike
A reduction in wages and long, arduous hours prompted 3,000 employees to initiate a strike, leading to the shutdown of the factory. Local railroad unions supported the striking employees heavily disrupting railroad services in and around Chicago. The Attorney General used claims of violence to obtain federal troops to break up the strike, killing 13 strikers. The deaths were justified by the claim that they were interrupting the US postal service. -
Walsh-Healey Act Passes
The Walsh-Healey Act was one of the major reforms passed in the New Deal. Stating that anyone who works more than 8 hours gets overtime pay. This set up broader wages and hours legislation encompassing a large amount of workers throughout the U.S -
Taft-Hartley Act Passes
More than five million workers participated in strikes in 1947, forcing businesses and advocates their rights to take action. The Taft-Hartley Act prohibited wildcat strikes, jurisdictional strikes, political strikes, secondary strikes, large-scale picketing and union donation to federal political campaigns. There have been many attempts to amend the bill, but Republicans firmly refuse. -
AFL and CIO Merger
Before the merger AFL and CIO were the two largest labor unions in the U.S. However due to reduced tensions between the organizations, a more pragmatic approach, which combined the memberships of the more than 15 million members of the two labor unions. They staved of corruption more thoroughly, and dropped the liberal policies. It now consists of 56 national and international unions, boasting 11 million members.