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Accomplishments Of Organized Labor In The United States

770 Words4 Pages

Braedon Moeller
Ms. Johnson
English 11 Honors
20 March 2023
Accomplishments of Organized Labor Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to wealth, good morals, and happiness.” In the dawn of America, society agreed with Jefferson and was predominantly agrarian (“Rural”). Throughout the 19th century, however, the United States mocked England and had an Industrial Revolution of its own, necessitating the creation of mass-production techniques and buildings called factories (“America”). Most workers were used as puppets under the control of business magnates like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, and they struggled to provide a living …show more content…

The Industrial Revolution in the 1800s gave rise to harsh business practices and low-wage labor (Hillstrom). Large employers resisted unions through tactics such as hiring strikebreakers (typically recent immigrants who would work for any wage) whenever the normal employees would not show up (“National”). Unions were given the irrevocable right to collectively bargain with management in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act (“National”). This right continues to allow union workers to present cases to their employers in modern times (“National”). Another issue unions tackled was the use of child labor (“Labor”). According to the 1900 Census, 1.75 million children aged 10-15 held jobs, and they comprised more than 6 percent of the labor force (“Labor”). With the ratification of the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act in 1916, 14- and 15-year-olds were heavily restricted in terms of hours and present dangers and all products manufactured by children less than 14 were banned from being sold (“Labor”). These guidelines are customary today in the United States (“Labor”). The final significant issue organized labor tackled was a minimum wage, which they got with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; it set forth a federal wage floor of $0.25 per hour and established the time-and-a-half provision for overtime pay (“1.1”). Currently, the national minimum wage is $7.25 per …show more content…

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oct. 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/labor-law-highlights-1915-2015.htm.
“Minimum Wage.” DOL, https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage.
“National Labor Relations Act.” American History Online, edited by Karen Ellicott and Timothy L. Gall, Lincoln Library Press, 2012. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/useh/4002012.html. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.
“Rural Life in the Late 19th Century.” The Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/rural-life-in-late-19th-century/.
“The State of Our Unions.” The White House, The United States Government, 5 Sept. 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/09/05/the-state-of-our-unions/.
“Union Members - 2022.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 19 Jan. 2023, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf.
“Work Stoppages Summary - 2022 A01 Results.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22 Feb. 2023,

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