Name: _____________________________________________________________________________Comparing and Contrasting Labor Unions
General Vocabulary
Collective Bargaining = Collective bargaining is the name given to
Lobbying = The most common method of shaping public policy in the United
negotiations between employers and labor unions over working conditions
States, lobbying embodies the formal, organized attempt to influence
and wages. (CB)
legislation. Lobbying is carried out through a variety of means, but for the
most part, lobbyists directly contact legislators and their staffs in an attempt
Closed Shop = A closed shop is a company in which all the employees are
to influence congressional votes. (L)
union members, and being a member of a union is a condition of
employment. The employer is required to hire only union members except in
Sit-Down Strike = the sit-down strike was part of a new strategy adopted by
cases where a union member is not available. In such situations, a nonunion
labor organizers in the 1930s; as the name implies, workers simply sat down
worker may be hired with the requirement that he or she become a union
in the factory and refused to leave. Workers at companies like General
member once employed. (CS)
Motors and Firestone effectively used the sit-down strike, as did glass and
textile workers, electricians, dressmakers, and waitresses. (SDS)
Directions: Your task is to learn about the four primary labor unions of the Second Industrial Revolution and compare and contrast their
membership, leadership, tactics, successes and failures (outcomes). Use the handout reading as well as textbook pages 244-249 to complete the
information organizer on the back of this page.

Membership = What groups of people filled the ranks of this union?

Leadership = What were the names of the union’s leaders?

Goals = What changes/reforms did the union hope to achieve?

Tactics = What specific actions did the union take to meet their goals?

Outcomes = What were the successes/failures of the union? What happened to the union over time?
National Labor Union
Knights of Labor
American Federation of Labor
City trade assemblies, national
Membership trade unions, reform
organizations
Men, women, whites, blacks,
skilled, unskilled, citizens,
immigrants
Skilled workers from many
industries,
Leadership
William Sylvis, David Davis
Uriah Stevens, Terence
Powderly, James Sovereign
Samuel Gompers, William
Greene
Goals
Better working conditions, 8hour work day, equal pay for
equal work
Abolishing child labor, equal
pay for equal work, 8-hour
work day, creation of a Bureau
of Labor Statistics in the
federal government
Higher wages, shorter hours,
other economics issues
Tactics
Outcomes
Distanced itself from
communist and socialist
Arbitration, boycotts,
organizations, negotiated labor
cooperatives, though they did
contracts, strike only when
Legislative reform, lobbying, no not support strikes they did use
necessary, focused on day-tostrikes
strikes sometimes, legislative
day working conditions instead
pressure (used after
of social or business practices,
Haymarket)
collective bargaining, closed
shop
Congress passed labor laws,
but the Supreme Court
Second strike against Jay
overruled some, merged with
Transformed into the National
Gould’s railroad empire and
the CIO (Congress of Industrial
Labor Reform Party,
the Haymarket Square Riot in
Organizations) in 1955, did
nominated David Davis for
May 1886 destroyed the
achieve better working
president, lost the 1872
reputation and support of the
conditions (minimum wage,
election, was disbanded in
union, most members joined
maximum working hours,
1873
the AFL or local trade unions
workers compensation, end to
comprised of skilled workers
child labor = all during the
1930s)
Industrial Workers of the World
Socialists and trade unions,
unskilled and exploited
workers, immigrants,
minorities, women, migrant
farmers
Bill Haywood, Eugene V.
Debbs, Mother Jones, Daniel
De Leon
One big union to control the
means of production and
distribution (Marxist/communist
struggle), abolish divisions
among workers, achieve fair
and equal working conditions
and government support for
labor
Direct action, strikes, (general
strike in the future to overthrow
the capitalistic system, smaller
strikes in the short term),
educational campaigns, songs,
graphics, speeches, literature,
sit-down strike, chain picketing,
car caravans
Civil rights advances, fought
against the government for
protection of 1st Amendment
rights, anti-military and antiwar stance caused them to be
unpopular in WWI, legacy of
organizing tactics for groups,
led to the mass union of the
CIO and inclusion of women in
labor leadership and
membership