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Unions In America During The 19th Century

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During the 19th century America was faced with many problems. These problem ranged from children labor to unemployment. Some workers decided to form a group called "union", a group to call their own. Companies’ owners were paying workers less them they deserved. Being treated unfairly they came together creating three unions, one was the American Federation of Labor (AFL, OR AF of L). The American Federation of Labor created in 1886, led by Samuel Gompers. He made the unions respectable for all. The unions of the American Federation placed a great importance on the agreements with employees, which would spell out for a stipulated period the wages, hours of work, and the procedures for handling grievances. Gompers proposed that agreements
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The Knights of Labor was the first major American labor union created around 1871. It was configured by all productive laborers from the factories to fields, whose leader was Terence V. Powderly. Their goals were to adopt a system that could which will secure the labor job and involve the government to protecting the workers. In addition they were fighting to obtain 8 hour work day, graduated income tax, cooperatives.

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The Amherst Federation of Labour was a radical attempt in the late 1910’s as a way to combat labour pressures occurring in the period. It was an attempt to unionize the entire industry of the town of Amherst Nova Scotia. It was called the “one big union” which is exactly what it was. It was designed to unionize all industrial labour industries within the town. They advocated for a right to strike, improved working conditions, and better wages; quite similar to what most unions advocated for.

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The Labor movement in the United States grew out of control and lost the need to protect the common interest of most workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, easier hours and safer working conditions. 20th-century labor improved because of American Federation of Labor, the Knights of Labor and Amalgamated Association all helped change America and give people proper working conditions The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers (AAISTW) was an early steelworkers labor organization, which represented primarily English-speaking, white skilled workers. The Amalgamated Association had a little over 24,000 people making it one of the largest unions in the American Federation of Labor.

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There, he helped found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU), a loose alliance of unions that was later renamed and restructured into the American Federation of Labor. However, after Gompers assisted in organizing a failed campaign for an eight-hour workday, it quickly became clear to Gompers that a larger, stronger national organization of labor unions was needed in order to preserve the future of the labor movement. When the FOTLU met in 1886 for their annual convention, Gompers was instrumental in persuading the delegates to reorganize their confederation into the American Federation of Labor (AFL), a loose federation made up of multiple labor unions. He convinced the delegates that changes needed to be made. At the age of 37, Samuel Gompers was elected the first president of the newly created American Federation of

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Samuel Gompers was an early labor leader, he was the first in his own union ,then later was president of the American Federation of Labor. He was president for continuously between 1886 and 1924, Gompers led the labor movement in gaining solid amounts for workers. He maintained a focus of view trade unionism, and believed that unions should concentrate on better collective bargained agreements and legislation affecting labor, while avoiding a large number social issues. American Federation of Labor (AFL); to him, as much as to anyone else, is that the American labor movement owed it’s structure and characteristic strategies. Under his leadership, the A.F.L. became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world.

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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.

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Unions have been around for a long time. The first union was established in 1866 in the U.S. with the foundation of the National Labor Union or the NLU. The National Labor Union was created to persuade Congress to change laws. The NLU was against holding strikes and instead relied on political action to reach its goals. The NLU, made up of farmers, workers, and reformers, excluding African Americans and women, firstly wanted Congress to limit the work days to just eight hours, and it was able to make this change, but after this none of its other suggestions made it through.

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The name was soon changed to the American Federation of Labor; this successful union was founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886. The AFL was a large alliance of many unions combined into one. This union practiced “Bread & Butter” unionism - the focusing on practical issues that workers had. The AFL pushed for common workplace reforms such as shorter, regulated workdays, safer working conditions, etc. In addition, the AFL called for workmen's compensation: if a worker gets hurt on the job, that person and their family should be entitled to a sum money.

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The AFL advocated for most of the same things as the Knights of Labor. The American Federation of Labor used strikes and boycotts against owners to try and get what they wanted. Two major strikes that occurred were the Pullman Strike and the Homestead Strike. Both strikes were very dangerous and had millions of dollars of damage. Some of the strikes and boycotts did work and wages were raised, however some backfired and many workers ended up losing their

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The AF of L wanted “unionism” and opposed socialism. TheKnights of Labor, another labor union, was created in 1869 and enlisted in their ranks not only alllaborers but also everyone who could be truly classified as a producer. Labor unions, the two major depressions and the three “robber barons” were three of theforemost reasons the Gilded Age got its name. The “robber barons” invested in things that wouldultimately lead to a “Golden Industrial Age” but they didn’t achieve it totally legitimately, and thecreation of the labor unions sided with the workers, but at times, grew violent in their methods.

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