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Civil War
During the American Civil War, the Union referred to the United States of America. Specifically to the national government and the 23 free states and five border slave states that supported it. -
The Great Southwest Railroad Stirke
In 1886, the Knights of Labor struck against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. Hundreds of thousands of workers across five states refused to work, citing unsafe conditions and unfair hours and pay. The strike suffered from a lack of commitment from other railroad unions, the successful hiring of non-union workers by Gould, violence and scare tactics. -
The Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. The Sherman Antitrust Act was based on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. This is when the Unions stared forming, and people wanted an end to them. -
The Pullman Strike
Factory workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company walked out in protest. The workers were soon joined by members of the American Railway Union (ARU), who refused to work on or run any trains, including Pullman-owned cars. The strike ended when President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Chicago on July 6, 1894. However, widespread sympathy for the workers cause promoted prounion sentiment across many areas of the country. -
Great Anthracite Coal Strike
The union went on strike in eastern Pennsylvania, an area that contained the majority of the nations supply of anthracite coal. As the winter of 1903 approached President Theodore Roosevelt became concerned that a heating crisis could develop and attempted to intervene unsuccessfully. -
Steel Strike of 1919
Following World War I, United States Steel Corporation workers represented by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) organized a strike against poor working conditions, long hours, low wages and corporate harassment regarding union involvement. The number of strikers quickly grew to 350,000, shutting down nearly half of the steel industry. Company owners, however, invoked public concerns over communism and immigration as a way of turning public sentiment against the unions. -
The Great depression
The Great Depression was a ten year economic slump. This is the time many people formed unioins trying to get their jobs back. It was not until President Roosevelt got us out of the depression. -
The New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders. The tremendous gains labor unions experienced in the 1930s resulted, in part, from the pro-union stance of the Roosevelt administration and from legislation enacted by Congress during the early New Deal. -
The Norris-LaGourdia Act
The Norris–La Guardia Act (also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill) was a 1932 United States federal law that banned yellow-dog contracts. This was a pledge that workers took saying they would not join a union. It was the first step into disbanning of unionis and many strikes -
The Wagner Act
This bill was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board. Also, it addressed relations between unions and employers in the private sector. -
WW2
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. There were no public employee unions then—only unions to deal with private companies. “Our policy is not to win the war at any cost.”
