The Early Years
• 1773 Carpenters dressed as Mohawk Indians help lead the
Boston Tea Party
• 1786
Printers in Philadelphia walk out to protest a wage
reduction. Result: Gained a $6 a week minimum wage.
• 1792 Philadelphia shoemakers form the first local craft
union for collective bargaining. Disbanded within a year.
• 1805 A Journeymen Cordwainers union in New York City
included a closed shop clause in its constitution.
• 1806 Members of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers
tried for conspiracy after a strike for higher wages.
Charged with combining to raise wages and to injure
others. Forced to disband after being fined and went
bankrupt. First union to be tried for conspiracy.
EXPANSIONS YEARS
• 1828 Workingmen's Party formed in Philadelphia. The first allwomen factory strike in Dover, NH. Philadelphia Mechanics
Union of Trade Associations unsuccessfully strikes for a ten
hour day.
• 1834 The National Trades Union formed in New York City. The
first attempt at a national labor federation.
• 1845 Female workers in five cotton mills in Allegheny,
Pennsylvania strike for the ten hour day. They are supported by
workers in Lowell, Mass. and Manchester, New Hampshire.
First professional teacher's association is created in
Massachusetts. Sarah Bagley helps form the Female Labor
Reform Association (an auxiliary of the New England
Workingmen's Association) in Lowell, Mass. to work for a tenhour day.
CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
• 1860 Successful strike of 20,000 shoemakers in New
England. Abraham Lincoln, in support of New England
shoemakers, says, "Thank God that we have a system of
labor where there can be a strike.“
• 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln which
frees slaves in southern areas occupied by Union forces.
Working Women's Union founded. The present-day
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers founded
• 1868 First federal 8 hour day passed, only applies to
laborers, mechanics, and workmen employed by the
government. First state labor bureau passed in
Massachusetts.
• 1881 Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions,
forerunner of the American Federation of Labor formed in
Pittsburgh
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
• 1886 In Columbus, Ohio, the American Federation of Labor is
formed with Samuel Gompers as the first president. Violence
erupts following a mysterious explosion at Haymarket Square
in Chicago during a rally in support of the 8 hour day.
• 1888 First federal labor relations law passed but it only applies
to rail companies .
• 1892 Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania. The Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers lose the fight over
Carnegie Steel's attempt to break the union.
• 1894 Strike by the American Railway Union against the
Pullman Palace Car Company near Chicago is defeated by the
use of injunctions and federal troops.
PROGRESSIVE ERA
• 1898 Erdman Act passed which provides for mediation and
voluntary arbitration on the railroads. This law replaces the
1888 law.
• 1900 International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded.
• 1901 United States Steel defeats the Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers after a strike
which lasted
three months. United Textile Workers of America founded
• 1903 At the annual AFL convention, blue collar and middle
class women unite to form the National Women's Trade
Union League. This organization is created to help organize
women.
The Department of Commerce and Labor is formed.
Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) leads the March of the
Mill Children to President Roosevelt's home in New York.
Many of the children are victims of industrial accidents.
PROGRESSIVE ERA
• 1898 Erdman Act passed which provides for mediation and
voluntary arbitration on the railroads. This law replaces the
1888 law.
• 1900 International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded.
• 1901 United States Steel defeats the Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers after a strike
which lasted
three months. United Textile Workers of America founded
• 1903 At the annual AFL convention, blue collar and middle
class women unite to form the National Women's Trade
Union League. This organization is created to help organize
women.
The Department of Commerce and Labor is formed.
Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) leads the March of the
Mill Children to President Roosevelt's home in New York.
Many of the children are victims of industrial accidents.
THE 20’s and 30’s
• 1926 The Railway Labor Act required employers to bargain
collectively and not discriminate against employees who
wanted
to join a union. The act also provided for mediation and
voluntary arbitration in labor disputes
• 1929 The stock market crash in October began the longest
recession economic period in American history.
• 1930 The Supreme Court upheld the Railway Labor Act's
prohibition of employer interference or coercion in the
choice of bargaining representative (Texas & N.O.R. Co. v.
Brotherhood of Railway Clerks).
• 1931 In the Davis-Bacon Act, Congress provided for the
payment of the prevailing wages to employees of
contractors and subcontractors on public construction.
• 1932 The Anti-Injunction Act prohibited Federal injunctions
in most labor disputes.
Wisconsin created the first unemployment insurance act in
the United States.
The 30’s
• 1933 Francis Perkins becomes the Secretary of Labor and
the first women named to a Cabinet position.
The Wagner-Peyser Act created the United States
Employment Service within the Dept. of Labor.
• 1934 500,000 Southern mill workers walked off the job in the
Great Uprising of '34.
The first National Labor Legislation Conference was called
by the Secretary of Labor to obtain closer Federal-State
cooperation in working out a sound national labor
legislation program.
The US joined the International Labour Organization.
• 1935 The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act)
establishes the first national labor policy of protecting the
right of workers to organize and to elect their
representatives for collective bargaining.
• 1936 Social Security Act approved.
Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed within
the AFL to foster industrial unionism
Second World War
• 1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act created a $.25 minimum
wage and time and a half for hours over 40 per week.
• 1941 The United Auto Workers were recognized by Ford
Motor Company. They sign a union-shop agreement- the
first in the auto industry. The United States entered World
War II on December 8. The AFL and the CIO announce a nostrike pledge for t he duration of the war.
• 1946 Largest strike wave in history as pent up labor
troubles are unleashed by the end of war-time controls.
• 1947 Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act which restricts
union activities and permits the states to pass "right-towork" laws.
– The FMCS is also created to help establish industrial peace.
– The Norris-La Guardia Act prohibition against injunctions in
labor disputes was held to be inapplicable to the Government
in U.S. v. John L. Lewis
Modern times
• 1949 Child labor amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act
• 1955 Bakery Workers, Laundry Workers and Teamsters
expelled from AFL-CIO
• 1959 Landum Griffin (LMRDA) passes which regulates internal
affairs of Unions
Hospital Workers begin organizing in New York City
• 1962 Executive Order allowing Federal Unions the right to
collective bargaining
• 1963 Equal Pay Act prohibited wage differences based on sex
• 1964 The Civil Rights Act
Modern Times
• 1970 Congress passes OSHA
• 1974 Pensions placed under ERISA Public Employee Union
Division created
HEALTH CARE WORKERS AND NON-PROFIT EMPLOYEES get
the first legal right to organize
• 1975 AFSCME conducts first legal strike of public employees
• 1977 Minimum Wage $2.65 per hour
• 1981 PATCO strikes and air traffic controllers are fired by
President Reagan
• 1980-Present Merger of many Unions in specific Internationals
along craft, industry and skill lines
• 1990 American with Disabilities Act
• 1993 Family Medical Leave Act
• 1997 Minimum Wage $5.15
• 2003 First proposed Amendment to Fair Labor Standards Act of
1938
• 2004 Congress changes proposed amendments to FLSA