The History of the American Labor Movement

By Betz12

  • Indentured Servitude

    Indentured Servitude
    An indentured servant or laborer is an employee within a system of unfree labor who is bound by a signed or forced contract to work for a particular employer for a fixed time. This lasted until the 1660s.
  • Period: to

    Labor Movement

  • Debtors' Prison

    Debtors' Prison
    A prison for people who were unable to pay debt. It was a common way to deal with the unpaid debt. (Western Europe)

  • Civil War and Industrial Expansion

    Civil War and Industrial Expansion
    The U.S. underwent an economic transformation.

  • Great Railroad Strike

    Great Railroad Strike
    Workers for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went on strike, because the company had reduced workers' wages. (Two times over the course of the previous year.)

  • Haymarket Square Riot

    Haymarket Square Riot
    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.

  • Child Labor

    Child Labor
    Cut the hours, Children ages 8, 9, and 10 years old working for 35 cents an hour versus adult wages being a dollar. "Sweat Shops"

  • Industrial Workers of the World

    Industrial Workers of the World
    Union Strong; Solidarity forever; "Wobblies" was an international labor union founded in Chicago, Illinois.

  • WWI

    WWI
    Ended in 1918; workforce: gender/ethnicity segregation; women shifted jobs

  • African Americans moved North for work

    African Americans moved North for work
    Strikes; disputes developed; racial inequality workforce; ended 1924.

  • Great Depression & Unionism

    Great Depression & Unionism
    The Great Depression was a trying time for United States citizens. It affected everyone. Greatly due to the development of labor movements due to the increasing rates of unemployment. Lasted until 1939.

  • National Ind. Recovery Act

    National Ind. Recovery Act
    Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Recovery Administration. Their goal was to eliminate "cut-throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices. (Wikipedia)

  • Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO)

    Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO)
    Founded by John L. Lewis; He was the driving force behind the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which established the United Steel Workers of America and helped organize millions of other industrial workers in the 1930's. (Wikipedia)

  • Collective Bargaining

    Collective Bargaining
    Negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees; Goodyear Tire Company Strike
    Wagner Act;

  • WWII

    WWII
    Lasted until 1945; equal pay for equal work; gender inequality; economic status- supporting war.

  • Unionization Protected

    Unionization Protected
    Unions grew; "The law protects the right of employees to choose or reject union representation. It also both protects and limits union efforts to represent an employer's workers."

  • Labor Bill Passed Over Truman Veto

    Labor Bill Passed Over Truman Veto
    Taft/Hartley Act; United States federal law restricting the activities and power of labor unions.

  • Pres. George Meany

    Pres. George Meany
    Merged AFL & CIO under one Union Organization

  • Change in Labor Market

    Change in Labor Market
    Labor Movement declined;
    Important changes in the structure of the American economy

  • Racial Equality; Equal Wages for Women

    Racial Equality; Equal Wages for Women
    Equal pay for equal work; Equal pay relates to the full range of payments and benefits; Equal Pay Act 1963 signed by John F. Kennedy;

  • Globalization of Economy

    Globalization of Economy
    21st century; New challenges: global market, technology, specialized skills, automation, union activity, transportation; new kinds of jobs,