The Organized Labor Movement

President Franklin Roosevelt’s Wagner Act, also known as the National Labor Relations Act addressed relations over the right to unionize between employer and employee. Since President Roosevelt enacted the law in 1935, the battle between the “right to work” and unionization continues to present an issue amongst workers across the nation. The National Labor Relations Act protects unions and their members, as well as the right for employees to negotiate with their employers. However, legislation varies by state, with some states more sympathetic to the unions than others. Protection of unions by individual states fluctuates based on the salary of workers in the union or whether or not the state has a right-to-work policy or a closed shop policy.

The organized labor of 1875-1900 was unsuccessful in proving the position of workers because of the future strikes, and the intrinsical feeling of preponderation of employers over employees and the lack of regime support. In 1877, railroad work across the country took part in a cyclopean strike that resulted in mass violence and very few reforms. An editorial, from the Incipient York Time verbalized: "the strike is ostensibly hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and splenetic demonstration of resentment by men too incognizant or too temerarious to understand their own interest" (Document B). In 1892, workers at the Homestead steel plant near Pittsburg ambulated out on strike and mass chaos the lives of at least two Pinkerton detectives and one civilian, among many other laborers death (Document G).

The opening phrase on ‘Labor’ in history.com reads like this : “The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.” The factors that led to the rise of labor unions:

The Progressive Era was a time of widespread reforms across the U.S. Progressive means a group, person, or idea favoring or implementing social reforms or new, liberal ideas. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, W. Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson were the three presidents whose actions and decisions influenced the Progressive Era, along with many muckrakers and everyday people out for change. To a certain extent, the progressive movement was successful in reforming political, social, and economic ills of society. Political changes during this era helped get people more involved with their government and make sure it was running properly. First cities reforming, such as Mayor Samuel M. Jones in Toledo, Ohio who improved municipal services, set a minimum wage and opened schools for children.

Black workers formed Revolutionary Union Movements within Detroit auto factories in the late 1960s as a means of organizing and protecting the black worker. At that time, black people were blue-collar workers, not skilled tradesman or white-collar workers, and often worked in factories as the “transformation of sweat and blood”. They realized that since they were overwhelmingly employed in these jobs, with upwards of 80-90% in some plants, they could cause a major disruption through work stoppages, causing plants to, “cease function”, and interrupting the, “money flow”. Working conditions were beyond subpar, since safety conditions failed to exist, “compulsory overtime”, where you were made to work overtime, and a system where the union

In a capitalist environment, at least where corporations have been concerned, the government should neither intervene or regulate the open market. In fact, the essence of the capitalist economic system is to create an environment where the free market would be able to dictate itself. Regardless of the system’s original intentions, there have been cases globally and throughout time where government intervention has been necessary — cases where the general public itself has been affected negatively by corporate abuse of the market. For instance, the United States’ public-corporate relationship throughout the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Throughout this period, which was known as the Progressive Era, industrial America

The early twentieth century was a time of major change in the United States. These changes were caused by the progressive movement where individuals and groups aimed at changing American society and values. As written in The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, "The progressive movement began as preachers, novelists, journalists, photographers, and painters highlighted appalling conditions in America's cities and factories. Intellectuals offered ideas for reform through the creative use of government. Primarily middle class, progressives sought to improve urban life and working conditions, eliminate political corruption, and curb the excesses of the new urban, industrial society."

After the Civil War, our country was battered and beaten, but it rebuilt itself over time and spread its policies, as well as manufacturing practices, throughout our country. Early in the 20th century, members of our nation started to look at some of these practices and policies and began to question their merit and whether they assisted our population or not. Many people were involved in the progressive movement in America from the presidents to a slew of popular authors and photographers. The one thing that they had in common was that they saw problems with how various industries in our nation performed that they knew needed to be fixed. They did not always agree on everything, such as immigration, but they always had the nation’s best interest at heart.

The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure the many ailments that plagued American society. The frontier had been tamed, great cities and businesses developed, and territories across the globe had been conquered, but not all citizens shared in this new found wealth, prestige, and optimism. With the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century, agriculture was not the great driving force it once was for the American economy. This alienated a vast majority of the midwestern towns, which could include Spoon River, whose livelihood would have likely been depended on the cultivation of crops. In an attempt to try and recapture the pureness of simpler times many turned to religion.

Issue: To pay or not to pay union dues? Labor unions charge an agency fee for the services they provide, such as collective bargaining, contract enforcement, and representation at disciplinary and grievance hearings. While twenty-three (23) states believe that employees have to pay unions fees, the other twenty-seven (27) believe that those fees should not have to be a requirement for employment. For anything to function cohesively, all parts must be on the same page and in support of one another. But is collecting union dues wrong?

According to Jake Rosenfield, organized labor had already begun its decades-long decline. During the 1970’s and the 1980’s unionization rates nearly halved and this was especially brutal for organized labor. It was then that economic conditions had begun to change. Then organized labor had begun to disappearing in the sector where it has had the greatest impact on people’s livelihoods. Even before the 1980’s, Jiwook Jung explains that corporate America had experienced waves of downsizing.

During the nineteenth century the U.S was immersed in the era called the Industrial Revolution and there were many negative aspects that came with innovation. A combination of negative aspects of the industrial revolution including economic instability (Booms and Busts), job insecurity, and dangerous work conditions led to the creation of gatherings of workers called labor unions. This century was known for two main national labor unions, the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. The first national union was the Knights of Labor it was founded in 1869 by Uriah Stephens. The Knights of Labor were the first union to organize skilled, unskilled, men, women, white, and black workers.

According to Fossum Labor structure has three levels of unions: National level, local level and labor federations. Unions were formed to assist workers from being misused and abused by their boss, to assist them with a better standard of living and to give them a voice in the labor market. Unions were also given the rights to negotiate agreements and to bargain for their members. National unions were given such authorities of approval and veto power, and they should still retain said power. (Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining, n.d. p.1)