The History of the American Federation of Labor - Essay Example

History and Political Science 23rd October Document Paper American Federation of Labor was the first federation of labor union in the United States. It was founded by Columbus, in an accord with the Craft Union, who disunited from the Knights of Labor, a national labor union headed by Samuel Gompers of the cigar makers. Due to the different ideologies that The American Federation of Labor had forced them to expel the knights of Labor; the A.F.L opted to hire experienced workers to the union, and asserted the use of high claims in aligned to raise a large amount of money, in order to aid the employees during the continuous strike. A.F.L philosophy that differed from the knights of Labor, preferred to use strikes to gain immense wages, they also lowered the working hours and improved the working conditions of the artisans, unlike the knight of Labor who tried to abate the wage-labor system. Samuel Gompers (1850-1924), boosted the development of A.F.L making it the preferred trade union. It focused its attention to serving its associates, and also guarding capitalism and opposing to the rule of socialism and communism. Trade Union is also referred to as labor union, and it can be described as an organization of merged employees put together to achieve a common goal. Trade Unions are mostly formed to protect the interest of the employee from the employer, and the employer from the employee. Trade unions are mostly found in developing or under-developed countries, this is due to the employees and employers needs for their interests to be safeguarded. In countries like China and Russia, trade unions can’t be formed; this is because the employees and employers interests are well supported. Trade unions help to better the lives of their comrades; they educate the members on their benefits so as to eradicate the exploration of workers in their workplaces. Unorganized workers don’t bring about the success of the organization, and every organization need workers who are well organized. In the recent years, there have been two social classes: the 1st class incessantly striving to obtain the largest amount or no. of hours and the 2nd class being as individuals utterly helpless in a contest with their employers, naturally resort to combination to improve their conditions, and, in fact, they are forced by the conditions which surround them to organize for self-protection (Gompers, 65). In the past women were considered to be inferior to men, this was because women were not skilled for hard labor or any office-related work like herding, engineering or driving. The role of the woman was to cook, look after the baby, sew and clean. However, in recent times women are advancing in their knowledge and the traditions are slowly fading away. Women are able to go to school and study the men dominated subjects, without any fear of discrimination or been side lined and with time women are slowly surpassing the men in the factories, schools and workplaces. Different superstitions have been developed to affirm the belief that women work for longer hours than men, and can work for 6hours without any rest. Every woman has a right to work to be able to provide for the family just like the men, but that has not been easy for the reason that there is rampant discrimination for the working women. Traditionally, a man would not work if a woman is the boss, or if a woman gets a higher allowance or gets promoted, this was by virtue that men believe in the apologue that there are the bread winners in a family. As years pass by, women have taken up the role of the men and this is advantageously good for the women, who at least earn their own money without having to depend on the men for all their needs. Prejudice is an opinion created without any form of examination towards either side. In the 19th Century, during the industrialization period, numerous factories were developed in the United Kingdom then it subsequently spread to the United States and other parts of Europe. Since the development of industrial revolution, it is important to analyze how industrialization has changed in different parts of the world. Before the era of computerization, industries did the work manually and for longer hours. In New England, hundreds and thousands of people used bridges to cross or to move from one place to another, but with the help of modern technology people use special stairs for their movement. The use of heavy and mighty turbines that are fed by rivers in the surrounding area are used to revolve the engines that the workers use in recent times, but in the past, workers used water-power in all big mills. The code of dressing also differed, the women wore poor hussy, they had no shoes to wear and they covered their heads with torn scarfs, while the other wore pretty attires and beautifications. In the recent market, people advocate for division of labor, where workers are given a specific assignment to do and they specialize in it, previous workers used to do all the work in the factory. Every employee deserves a rest, in the past years, workers worked for longer hours (13 hours) a day and in recent times, 10 hours a day. Additionally, the amount of wages increased from one generation to another: in the past the workers earned $175, and in recent times $300. As technology developed, the lives of the wage earner changed, some of the corrections included advanced technology, tremendous increase in compensation, lesser working hours, and preferable working conditions. Automation over the years has revolutionized the use of hand-operated machines. Craftsmen over the years have faced many difficulties in their work stations, the challenges that they face are as a result of management negligence. The administration of a company needs to protect the interests of its laborers. In this particular article, the apprentices are neglected; the employers don’t protect their laborers from poor working conditions. These employees deal with animal slaughtering, cooking, refrigeration and pickling and later taking the animals to the market for people to purchase for home consumption. An immense level of hygiene should be well maintained and established, but that is not the case in this meat processing factory. The wage earners work in poor and neglected factories, they have distinctive diseases and they go untreated, this kind of an illness can spread to approximately half the country’s population. The workers have no protective clothing to protect them from transmitting any kind of disease; some of them have cuts on they hands and still handling the meat with their wounded hands, without minding the aftermath of the wounds. Ventilation is very important for any kind of a cooking room, and in this article, there is no airing in the room, the workers perform in a smelly, fabricated and steamy room which is conducive for the spread of any virus and contagious diseases. Hard work truly pays off, however this doesn’t apply in this case, men carry heavy tons of meat into the refrigerator and others work in the cold rooms. These people were burned out and ferried heavy tons of meat, their working period lasted for about 2-5 years, and they acquired diseases like rheumatism. The wool pluckers suffered a great deal; this was caused by the acid they used to paint the sheep and later pluck the wool with their bare hands, hence causing wounds on the hands, the acid opened wounded and this increased the spread of blood poisoning. The working conditions in this factory are unbearable to any person who is subdued to them. The workers are over worked; the environment is not acceptable for working, and there is absence of protective gadgets which are useful in the factory. Without exception, all countries have labor laws that protect the working conditions of every worker in the workplace, these people working in the meat factory need to be protected by these laws. Each one needs protective clothing or gadgets; this is a necessity for their own protection and that of the consumer. Women are a gender that has been discriminated for centuries. A woman`s liberty to vote is a must in view of her democratic right to exercise her voting power, and to be counted as a patriot to her country. In this article, women want to work and are not afraid to work, the reason for them working is to improve the lives of the residents in their area. Many working men are agitated by women who work; this is because of their weakness and she their labor for lesser money. Due to the fact that they can work longer than the men, even the politicians get cold feet around working women because they makes things go right when others are going wrong and exercise democracy. Men fear women who are working this is as a result of their intelligence and their determination to do a good assignment in what they do and the men don’t want that they want an activity that is profitable to them. Men believe that women lose their charisma and glamour, when they use their brilliance when faced with facts. The men don’t understand the concept of representation of the people, this is for the reason that they don’t know how the people live in their society or in the country they represent. A saloon is a kind of a bar for alcohol consumption. This is a place where the fortuneless, unrewarded and inexperienced laborers go to share their problems of alcoholism, family problems and work related problems. Most of the laborers who go to this bar are surrounded by a squalid ambiance, music of crying babies, an insufficient poorly cooked meal served by an unkempt wife. This compelled all men to go to the bar instead, to share, eat, drink, and solve their dilemmas. This bar changed its cause and it became a social gathering, and an aura of freedom and it was a spirit of equality and men’s adjures were realized. It helped in the buildup of their social, intellectual and physical personality. Bars are a good social place of gathering and helping people in clarifying their stress and hardships, without being judged by anyone. These bars can also have a bad effect on the family, society and the laws, most of these men neglect their families and opt to go to these bars to socialize with their colleagues and other comrades. This was a time that there was a need of radical regeneration, which meant that there was an urge of reform. In this article, the social reformers put forward two motions, “Allegation in historical form chiefly in regard to the comparison of existing with earlier social states, which are plainly based on defective historical knowledge or at most on current stock historical dicta which are uncritical and incorrect” (Sumner, 85). They argued out that something never prevailed before, or that something is awful than at any time; this was as a result of reasons that don’t require detailed information about what existed before. The second motion,” consists of dogmatic statements which whether true or false, are not, are unverifiable, pest and bane of current economic and social discussion” (Sumner, 85). This motion was based on a half-based view that arises from a reflective and communicable truth. In this passage, it focuses on the rebirth of industrial organization; this is a manner in which a market is organized. Life changed from an experienced and inexperienced laborer, whose lives were worse off in respect to the present time. As time lapsed by, the industrial organization was created “a condition of existence that limits our social activity regulated the bonds of our social relations and determined our concept of good and evil and suggests our-life’s philosophy”(Sumner, 85). In addition, this clause tries to explain how commerce has changed from generation to another, and how it has impacted the lives of people in past and present days. With the development of modernized machinery, lives of the working society have improved and hence developing the economy. A growing economy is remarkably noticeable; this is because the lives of the people improve. Works Cited Gompers, Samuel, “The American Federation of Labor 1883.” Report of the committee of the senate upon the relation between labor and capital 1885: 1:365-370. Print. Hubert, Philip, “The business of a factory.” Scribner`s Magazine 21 January-June 1897: 306-331. Print Melendy, Royal, “Saloon Culture.” The American Journal s Sociology, 6 November 1900: 289-306. Print O`Donnell, Edward, “Women as the Bread Winner-The Error of the Age.” American Federationist October 1887: 167-168. Print. Schneiderman, Rose, “Working women and the Vote.” Wage Earner `suffrage League 1912: 1-8. Print Sinclair, Upton, “The Jungle (1906).” Signet 1960: 100-102. Print. Sumner, William, “The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over 1883.”War and other Essay 1911: 195-210. Print. Read More