The Development of Labor Unions

By brittanybcb1

  • The National Trades Union

    The First National Union

  • Commonweath v. Hunt

    A Massachusetts court ruled that unions were legal.

  • Knights of Labor

    Included women, African-Americans, and immigrants, both skilled and unskiled. by 1886, they boasted a membership of seven hundred thousand. They won several important strikes.

  • The American Federation of Labor

    Founded by Samual Gompers, skilled workers by crafts. Fought for higher wages, shorter hours, and improved working conditions through collective bargaining.

  • Haymarket Riots

    Striking McCormick Harvester Workers clashed with police, four strikers were killed.

  • United Mine Workers

    Founded to improve wages and working conditions of coal mine workers.

  • The HomeStead Strike

    Steel workers in Homestead, Pennsylvaina struck against the Carnegie Steel plant because the company reduced their wages. The Homestad Strike in 1892 became violent when the steel company hired private police to protect the strike breakers. In the ensuing confrontation, nine strikers and seven police oficers were killed.

  • American Railway Union

    Railroad fireman Eugene V. Debs founded the American Railway Unions

  • Pullman Company

    Manufactured sleeping and dining cars, went on strike because their wages had been cut. American Railways refused o use pullman cars out of sympanthy for the workers.

  • The International Workers of the World

    Organized in 1905 for unskilled workers and immigrants, advocated one large national union that would hold strikes and sabotage to achive goals as opposed to the more peaceful American Federation of Labor

  • Clayton Act

    Allowed picketing and limited the use of injunctions in labor disputes

  • The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

    Created by Philip Randolp

  • National Labor Relations Act

    Protected the rights of workers to organize and elect represenitives for collective bargaining. Also in this year the CIO, Congress of Industrial Organixzation, was formed by several AFL unions to promote unionism in industry.

  • The Labor Standards Act

    Established minimum wage , and time and a half for over fourty ours a work week.

  • Fair Labor Act

    An amendment that prohibited child labor

  • AFL and CIO

    Merged in 1955

  • Ait Traffic Controllers

    President Reagan fired 11,500 air traffic controllers for striking in violation of a no-strike clause in their contract.