ipl-logo

Samuel Gompers In The American Labor Movement

571 Words3 Pages

“Samuel Gompers was a very important person in the American labor movement and he was the founder and first president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL)” (“Samuel Gompers,” 1936). He was born into a poor family in East London on January 27, 1850 living there only a few years. His family moved to New York where he and his father worked as cigar makers and both later joined the Cigar Makers’ Union. With the help of other union leaders, Gompers eventually set up the AFL in 1886. Motivation Samuel Gompers was heavily motivated by the Cigar Makers’ Union and his father while he worked in New York. He was also motivated by his “belief in unionism and stance against the socialists” (“Samuel Gompers,” 2011). His own “belief in social conservatism also motivated him to …show more content…

Gompers’ hatred of people losing jobs caused him to push his efforts more to make unions stronger. Causing his unions to become very strong and organized, always standing together. His rank of union leader also caused him to become more motivated due to his responsibility to unite laborers. His father “joined the Cigar Makers’ Union causing Samuel to later join as well” (“Samuel Gompers,” 1998). This reveals how his father influenced Gompers by joining a union. Preparation Before Samuel Gompers moved to New York he had a “brief education that was unknown to his class” (“Samuel Gompers,” 1998). Showing how even though he had a short education it was better than the education people the same age received. Years before he founded Samuel Gompers 3 the AFL Gompers was “a member of multiple organizations like the Cigar Makers’ Union No. 15 in New York” (Norquist, 2013). This shows how he prepared by joining other unions and by obtaining a high rank in those unions. Gompers also became “skilled in writing and speaking which helped him convey his message effectively” (Norquist, 2013). This shows how his skills helped him to become a strong union leader.

Show More
Related
496 Words | 2 Pages

David Montgomery, "The 'New Unionism ' and the Transformation of Workers ' Consciousness in America, 1909-22," Journal of Social History, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Summer, 1974): pp. 509-529 The “New Unionism” and the Transformation of Worker’s Consciousness in America, 1909-22 by David Montgomery, analyzes the attitude changes with blue-collar workers and the events that took place that caused the changes. The question that the author is attempting to answer is “Why did the working class perception change and how did employers respond to the working class demands?” Montgomery argues that the new vision of the working class is to control and manage industries, which caused employers to create new management initiatives.

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

John L. Lewis - President of the United Mine Workers of America in 1919. He called his union members out on strike in protest of low wages and long workdays. 3. Samuel Gompers -The president of the American Federalization of Labor (AFL). He appealed to Coolidge on behalf of the fired men, which had saved the nation from communism.

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

The Fire That Changed America is a historical monograph discusses the rise of labor reforms along with the Progressive Movement throughout the state of New York during the early 1900’s, and pushes forward the argument that the fire which decimated the Triangle Waist Company was vital to the entrance of laws advocated by unions that protect the safety of workers. Drehle himself is a journalist, a former editor of Time Magazine, and a frequent visitor of American History in most of his works. The fire at Triangle was a devastating tragedy, but its sheer scale caused incredibly welcoming effects on the common workplace. Before the fire, labor unions that belonged to the progressive movement were only able to secure “a pay raise, [and] a fifty-two hour work week” for a pitifully limited number of workers, as the

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

In the midst of unemployment, unions gained strength. The unions could be seen as a positive impact on society because they showcased people standing up for their rights, however the truth was far from that. The strikes organized by union leaders were violent and unsafe. Protesters blocked trains, burned railcars and set buildings aflame. One man, General Nelson A. Miles sensed that the spreading unrest was, “‘more threatening and far-reaching than anything that had occurred before”’

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

AFL’s leaders were known excessiveness, and the many liberties they took and double standards they enforced. They themselves took home large salaries, lived far more comfortably than the other members of the AFL, and they developed key connections within fashionable society and with their employers. They had grown corrupt and selfish, yet took offense when their actions were questioned or decried. In fact, in a move reminiscent of the mafia, the AFL leaders employed men to rough up dissenters within the union who disagreed with them or called attention to their

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

Unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFL only accepted white males who were skilled workers in similar trades into their ranks. Their focus was on economic gains including better wages, hours and working conditions; not over social reform or non-skilled workers plight. By using boycotts, strikes and collective bargaining the organization was able to win shorter working hours and better pay for its skilled workers. Gompers continued with these methods through out his reign, believing that by having a group of unions with only skilled laborers, he could have more influence by excluding the unskilled ones. He saw the higher wages earned by skilled individuals and wanted to capture their wealth and influence in with the AFLs own

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

This significant growth shows that Gompers not only established a system that helped workers, but also a system that worked. What made the American Federation of labor different

Read More
1510 Words | 7 Pages

From 1875-1900, America was beginning to rise up from the increase in industrialization. However, dubbed “the gilded age” by Mark Twain, the thriving promise of a better , wealthier life in America was not as it seemed. When labor unions rose to change the harsh working conditions placed on workers, it seemed to be that they found little to no success. This was brought on by the little change that they made, the suffering and hardships they brought on themselves and others, and the little support they received from those around them. Although labor unions were able to change some conditions, most of those changes were minimal.

Read More
408 Words | 2 Pages

The feeling, shown in Nast's illustration after the railroad strike of 1877, that amalgamations simply lead to more " communistic values" and general uniformity made it very arduous to genuinely get anything done. Samuel Gompers, progenitor of the American Federation of Labor, argued that the right to strike was absolutely obligatory if any reforms were going to be made and not even this right had been officially granted to the people by regime (Document I). Gompers made it very pellucid that not even the very substratum of organized labor had been established and so up until this point the advances that had been made, were virtually frivolous. In conclusion, from 1875-1900 very few advances were made through organized labor in achieving better working conditions for workers.

Read More
443 Words | 2 Pages

“In the United States history of unions, early workers and trade unions played an important part in the role for independence” (Union Plus). In 1866, the National Labor Union (NLU) ambitiously tried to achieve equal rights for women, African Americans, and mandate eight-hour work days. They managed to convince Congress to adopt the eight-hour work day, but only for federal employees. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) with approximately 1.4 million members was successful in wage negotiation, and enhanced work conditions for its members. “A combination of factors contributed to the debilitating Panic of 1873, which triggered what the public referred to at the time as the “Great Depression” of the 1870s” (OpenStax College, 2014).

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

The National Labor Union and the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor feed the laboring class the ideas about how they could improve there

Read More
1400 Words | 6 Pages

In 1881, Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) organized the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States of America and Canada. Samuel Gompers and Adolph Strasser (1843-1939) established the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in Columbus, Ohio, in May 1886. Federation of Organized Trades, established in 1881, was the precursor of the American Federation of Labor. The American Federation of Labor emerged as a result of a conflict between trade unions and the Knights of Labor (Mancall et al., 5: 13). AFL was the first federation of labor unions in the United States.

Read More
1429 Words | 6 Pages

(New Netherland Institute) These organizations helped Gompers to form foundation for his future involvement in the labor movement, specifically the CMIU. After the Tompkins Square Riot of 1874, Gompers saw the labor movement in a different way, and changed many of his views. Gompers specifically abandoned socialism and understood the need for strong national unions to organize labor successfully. (Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor) Though Gompers understood the necessity of national unions, and the weakness of locals, he still felt that locals were useful for smaller problems and to help support the national unions.

Read More
693 Words | 3 Pages

Gothic Comparison The American Romantic Gothic short story , “Fall of the House of Usher”, written by Edgar Allan Poe and the American Contemporary Gothic short story, “ Where is Here? ”, written by Joyce Carol Oates are two short stories that are written in two different styles of American Gothic Literature, they have more similarities in being that they are both written in a grotesque and mysterious way, making them more similar than different. The two short stories contain similarities in the feeling they create and differences in their styles of writing. “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Where is Here?”

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

The spokesman for the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company said “The men have no organization” (2006). The working people learned that they were not united or powerful enough to fight against the private railroad, coal, and iron companies to make any real change in the work place, especially when the federal government helps the

Read More

More about Samuel Gompers In The American Labor Movement

Related Topics

Open Document