Labor Unions in Organizations-US History and Evolution of Labor Movement - Coursework Example

Labor Union School Affiliation Labor throughout the world has always been denied what is rightfully theirs. For centuries industrial labor has been putting in efforts without complaining. As the frustration level of the employees crossed their limits many employees formed labor unions for demanding their legitimate rights. Labor Unions Exploitation of the weaker section of the society has been in existence since the beginning of the world. Human rights and sympathy all becomes secondary when it comes to profitability and wealth. Through out the ages the weaker sections of the soceity have only made their voices heard when they get united against the suppressor. Industrial labors for years have been suppressed by the factory owners. Suppression and poor working condition led to the formation of Unions which demanded their rights collectively. Labor unions have always been an important part of the economies which are based on capitalism. Formation of labor unions always helps labors to demand what is right and humane. Modern day Labor unions and their rights are now protected as law in various countries. Due to rapid industrialization many migrant labors came to the cities from countryside in search of work. These labors were subject to high working hours and were made to work in dangerous and pathetic working environment. Their continued exploitation caused frustration and agony among many labors which led to employee strikes and boycotts. (Fink, 1983) The first successful industrial strike made in the US history was done by Philadelphia printers in the year 1786. Philadelphia printers demanded for a rise in their wages when their employers slashed their wage on the basis of cost of living. (Skurzynski, 2009) The exploitation caused due to the industrialization was causing frustration among the factory workers. By the early 1800’s many industrial labors made public demonstrations and strikes at different parts of the country. Many semi skilled unions came into existence demanding better working conditions and wages. The first females to actively participate in labor strikes were the Mill Girls of Lowell who participated in strikes on two occasions. The first strike took place in the year 1834 when the management decided to reduce employee wages because of the economic depression. Mill employees felt cheated and decided to go on a strike until their wages were restored to pre crises level. Though, the first strike was not successful and Mill Girls called off their strike but the strike made a huge impact as the employees came to know about the power of collective bargaining. Another strike which took place in the year 1836 saw a large support base which caused heavy loss to the factory owners. Owing to the losses, management decided to give in to the demands of the employees. (Skurzynski, 2009) Thought there were several unions throughout the country yet a single pan country organization was still lacking. Unions were now aware of the benefit of collective bargaining and thus wanted to form an organization of unions from different parts of America. The first nation based labor organization was National Labor Union which was founded in the year 1866. It was led by William Sylvis and was largely unsuccessful in bringing all the trade unions under their leadership. NLO aimed at restricting the total working hours to eight per day and encouraged the creation of labor unions in places where they did not exist. The organization survived only till 1873 and even proposed to create a national labor party for safeguarding labor rights. (Skurzynski, 2009) The labor movement came into the main front when the Knights of Labor was formed in the year 1869. It was one of the largest labor organization which came into existence in United States. Knights focused on better working conditions for the employees. It rejected child and convict labour and demanded eight hour work schedule per day. (Fink, 1983) The Knight Order was initially started by a group of seven people in Philadelphia. The group was headed by Uriah Smith Stephens. The fall of the NLO was one of the prime reason for its rise and popularity as different unions in different cities wanted to join hands for creating a national labor organization. In the year 1873, Terrance Powderly became the President of the Knights of Labor organization. Powderly played an important role in shaping out the future strategy of the organization. Though Powderly was against strikes yet many of the Knights indulged in strikes and boycott. In the absence of any central command many of the decisions were taken by the local assemblies. (Fink, 1983) The Knight movement was very affective. By the year 1881 total membership of the knight rose to almost 19,000 and by the year 1885 it had 800,000 members all across the country. Since there was no clear structure of the organization the movement could not handle their members properly and failed to focus on core issues. By the year 1888 its total membership declined to 100,000. The knights movement remained in existence till 1949 when it’s last remaining members ended their affiliation. (Fink, 1983) Though Knights movement was very popular yet it started to decline primarily because of the absence of a proper organization structure. The organization did not have any clear procedure of inducting a member and generally accepted any one. Unsuccessful strikes and differences within the organization badly affected the day to day activity of the organization. The top leadership did not form a effective strategy to co-ordinate strikes and walkouts in different parts of the country. The failure of the Missouri Pacific Strike in the year 1886 was a big blow to the Knight’s capability to handle a nation based organization. Knight’s inability to address core issues led to the formation American federation of Labor or the AFL. In the late nineteenth century certain trade unions of skilled craftsman formed the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions in the year 1881. AFL did not had much influence as it was overshadowed by the might Knight’s of the Labor movement which was at its peak during the mid 1880’s. The Federation wanted to safeguard the interests of the local craftsmen in respect to their working condition and wages. AFL wanted to take care of skilled labors in a particular trade by affiliating various organizations under it. Unlike Knights of the Labor it had a much better organization structure. AFL accused the Knights of comprising with anti union employers by providing them with labors far below the rates which was agreed by the unions. (Greene, 1998) By December 1986, representatives of thirteen national unions met to finalize the federation and decide upon the matters related to finances and operations of the federation. All matters related to governance were discussed at the annual conventions by delegates from the affiliated unions. The annual convention made Samuel Gompers their President. Gompers knew that in order to become meaningful he must use the press to put forward their case of crafts union which was being ignored by the Knights. Samuel attack on the Knight through press did considerable damage to Knights. Many unions started to question Knights decision making process and their ability to tackle crises in specific sectors. (Harvey, 1935) AFL main focus was to concentrate on the working condition and wages of its members. They demanded high wages and less working hours. The federation did not encourage politics and refrained affiliations of political parties. AFL established offices across all major industrial cities for better co-ordination and affect. AFL President Samuel Gompers pioneered in mobilizing and bringing different unions under AFL in order to make the federation influential. AFL faced considerable opposition from employers when they started their anti union drives. Many employers started to employ people on a condition that they would not join the union. These anti drives by employers caused series damages to the AFL membership. Things started to change when Democratic Party started to adopt labor friendly policies and AFL supported Democratic polices and encouraged its members to do so. The federation reached its height during the tenure of President Woodrow Wilson who pressurized industries to recognize unions instead of facing labor strikes. Another breakthrough came during the tenure of President Roosevelt when he introduced the Wagner Act in the year 1935. The Wagner legislation made local unions weaker and were encouraged to joined national union organizations like AFL. The Wagner Act considerably boosted AFL membership to new heights. (Greene, 1998) AFL too faced certain troubled times when some of its industrial unions broke away from the federation to form Congress of Industrial Organizations under the leadership of John L. Lewis in the year 1932. Communism was also one of the main factor between both the factions. AFL did not supported communism whereas many CIO leaders believed in communism and even held important positions within the organization. Both AFL and CIO later merged together to form a single union known as AFL-CIO in the year 1955. The merger was possible only after the removal of communist supporters. Another faction too broke out of AFL-CIO in the year 2005 and called itself Change to Win federation. Key Leaders Throughout the history of trade unions there had been many visionaries who with their intelligence and leadership skills led their organizations to new height. One such visionary was Terence V Powderly. Powderly became the national head of the Knights of the Labor organization in the year 1879 and continued to lead the organization till 1893. He was a charismatic leader who made the organization into a major force in America His main achievement as Knights leader was the successful handling of the Great Southwest Strike in the year 1885. The success made a huge impact on the image of the organization and its membership increased rapidly. Powderly worked hard to manage the growing organization but the poor organization structure prevented proper implementation of his policies. The organization started to work more as a local union rather than a national organization. (Fink, 1983) Another important labor leader was Samuel Gompers who spearheaded the American Federation of Labor into an influential organization. Samuel became AFL’s President in year 1886 and continued as its head until 1924. Gompers was instrumental in bringing various trade unions under AFL and made them aware of advantages of collective bargaining. Gompers demanded short working hours and better pays for employees. Gompers also made AFL politically influential when the organization started supporting labor friendly politicians. Gompers always supported country over individuals and during the war days he made efforts to avoid strikes and boycotts. Gompers leadership and policies made AFL one of the largest labor organization in the country. He played an instrumental role in taking away the leadership from Knights of the Labor. (Harvey, 1935) Another Key figure in the American Labor history is John Lewis. Lewis served as president of the United Mines Workers of America for almost forty years. Lewis fiercely fought for higher wages against the employers. Lewis was known as a dynamic leader. He created the Congress of Industrial Organization and made that organization into an effective bargaining tool. He used his aggressive tactics to pressure employers or the government for fulfilling union’s demand. Lewis was also among the most controversial leaders in the US history as he was heavily criticized for halting coal production by striking during the Second World War. In the twenty first century most of the labor unions are part of the AFL-CIO. There is another labor organization known as the Change to Win Federation which split from AFL-CIO in the year 2005. There is a high possibility of their re-merger as the government prefers to deal with a single federation rather than multiple labor organizations. With the rise in prosperity and income level in United States many companies started to incorporate human resource policies for employee satisfaction. These benefits made American employees far more comfortable than any where in the world. Because of the human resource policies of various companies, AFL-CIO saw a considerable decline in their membership Globalization and the ongoing economic recession have again make unions relevant with many large scale industries planning a massive employee layoff to remain competitive and profitable. Through out the centuries unions have seen ups and down. Employees face the need of unions during economic downturns in order to prevent the employers from making unjustified layoffs. It is because of the unions and their rightful demands many large corporations have now separate department for their human resource. Human resource department are not just concerned with salaries or wages but also work in employee’s overall development. Works Cited Chaison, G. (2006). Unions in America. California: Sage Publications. Fink, L. (1983). Workingmens Democracy:The Knights of Labor and American Politics. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Greene, J. (1998). Pure and Simple Politics: The American Federation of Labor and Political Activism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harvey, R. H. (1935). Samuel Gompers:Champions of the Toiling Masses. California: Stanford University Press. Labor Unions in Organizations-US History and Evolution of Labor Movement. (n.d.). In AFLCIO. Retrieved November 14, 2011, from www.aflcio.org Skurzynski, G. (2009). Sweat and Blood: A History of US Labor Unions. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. Read More