Early Labor Organizations
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 The first large- scale national organization of laborers, The
National Labor Union (NLU), was formed in 1866 by iron
worker William H Sylvis
 Some National Labor Unions refused to let in African
Americans, so it led to the creation of the Color National
Labor Union (CNLU)
 The NLU membership grew to 640,000
 Uriah Stephens said that the motto to these unions was
that “The injury to one is the concern to all”
 In 1866 the NLU persuaded the congress to legalize and 8hour day for government workers.
Long Hours and Danger
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 Factory workers in most industries worked 12 or more
hours a day, six days a week.
 Employees were not entitled to vacation, sick leave,
unemployment compensation, or reimbursement for
injuries on the job.
 Workers had to preform repetitive, mind dulling tasks,
sometimes with dangerous or faulty equipment.
 Around 675 laborers were killed in work-related
accidents per week.
 Wages were so low, that most families couldn’t survive
unless everyone held a job. 20% of boys and 10 %of girls
had full time jobs by the time they were 15 yrs old, some
started as young as 5 yrs old
Craft Unionism VS Industrial Unionism
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Craft Unionism
 Samuel Gompers led the cigar makers’
international unions to join with other
craft unions in 1886
 The American Federation of Labor
(AFL) focused on bargaining, or
negotiation between representatives
of labor and management to reach
written agreements on wages, hours
and working conditions.
 Between 1890 and 1950 the average
weekly wages rose from $17.50 to
$24.00 and the work week dropped
from 54.5 hours to 49 hours.
Industrial Unionism
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Felt that unions should include all laborers,
skilled and unskilled, in a specific industry
Eugene Debs attempted to form the
American Railway Union (ARU), most
members were unskilled or semiskilled
laborers, but some skilled engineers and
firemen joined too.
In 1894 the new union won a strike for
higher wages.
Within 2 months its membership went up to
130,00
The ARU, like the Knights of Labor, never
recovered after the failure of a major strike,
it added to the momentum of the union
organization.
Socialism and the IWW

 Eugene Debs and some other laborers eventually turned
to socialism
 Socialism carried to its extreme form- communism was
advocated by the German philosopher Karl Marxresulted in the overthrow of the capitalist system.
 In the late 19-century American drew back and worked
within the labor movement to achieve better conditions
for workers.
 In 1905, unionist and socialist in Chicago organized the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) where they
welcomed African Americans but the membership never
topped 100,000. Its only major strike victory occurred in
1912
Other Labor Activism In The West

 April 1903, about 1,000 Japanese and Mexican
workers organized a strike in the sugar beet fields of
Ventura County, California.
 Their goal was to have the same wage and treatment
as other union miners, and in Wyoming, the state
federation of labor supported the union.
 These small, independent unions increased both the
overall strength of the labor movement and the
tension between labor and management