Labor unions grew over a hundred years ago during the Industrial Revolution out of a relatively simple concept. The idea of protecting and advancing the common interest and rights of workers, both men AND women – fair wages, fair compensation, fair hours, fair conditions. Still, labor unions had a long and torturous rise to influence. They fought powerful industries and their wealthy owners every step of the way. They peaked in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then slowly began to lose influence … until today.
So where did it all begin and why did it wane?
The most powerful tool of organized labor is of course the STRIKE. Workers boldly walking off the job, risking unemployment, and picketing the business. Then, through collective bargaining, union leaders and owners painstakingly negotiate a new contract. One that specifies pay, hours, benefits, and safety. Organized labor was far from perfect and large national unions were prone to corruption. Nevertheless, labor unions brought tremendous positive change to low income workers being taken advantage in every industry.
When the Industrial Revolution began in the 1800’s, a new economy, built on capitalism and wealth, ran counter to the worker’s view of fair play. There was no middle class back then, only the idle rich and the working poor. And the old cliché was never truer: The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Laborers slowly realized they must unite to collectively demand change.
By the late 1800’s, the global economy revolved around industrial factories.
Large factories put multiple trades under one roof, making alliances possible across the nation and between unions. Even though they lacked money, education, and power, common workers knew they had strength in numbers. There was a lot of disagreement at the start. Some considered Marxism the solution, others Anarchy. How long would the downtrodden stand to be taken advantage of by Robber Barons like the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Carnegies?
Owners and their bosses often took extreme measures, including violence, to prevent labor unions from taking hold. Angry workers, too, often chose the path of violence when peaceful protests failed. The National Guard was often called in by governors to block their efforts. Judges almost always ruled in favor of the wealthy bosses.
Most workers toiled in 10-12 hour shifts, 6-7 days a week, for wages barely enough to pay rent and food for their families. Poor children as young as eight did not go to school, but rather worked in the factories as well. Men AND women worked until their bodies literally gave out. There were NO health or retirement benefits back then.
In the U.S., the Knights of Labor was created as a society of tailors in Philadelphia in 1869.
It was founded by Uriah Stephens, a New Jersey Quaker. Stephens’ experiences as an indentured tailor led him to believe that change was needed. He believed it wasn’t just enough for a group of workers to strike for higher wages. Instead, ALL tradesmen had to be brought together into a single organization, which could then fight for the interests of ALL.
Members of the “The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor,” followed rituals similar to Free Masons. Over the next decade, they expanded across the nation, attracting everyone from blacksmiths to boilermakers to bricklayers. The only occupations they excluded were the wealthier bankers and lawyers. The Knights grew in size and prominence, eventually playing a key role in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
They helped launch a strike after the B&O Railroad instituted a second 10% pay cut in a year. It was the first mass strike to involve different types of railroad workers from Baltimore to Chicago. More than 100,000 had gone on strike, shutting down nearly half of the nation’s rail systems. The National Guard and federal troops were called in by President Hayes. When the strike ended, over 100 workers were killed and a thousand imprisoned. Strikers caused millions in damage to rail lines and trains.
In 1879, the Knights claimed 700,000 members. An Irish Catholic machinist from Pennsylvania, Terrence Powderly, was elected the new leader. In 1884, when the Union Pacific Railroad similarly cut workers’ wages by 10%, the Knights organized yet another strike, shutting down every one of their railroads from Nebraska to Utah. It only took 5 days for the railroad bosses to finally capitulate and withdraw their pay cut.
And it wasn’t just fair wages the Knights campaigned for. They championed an eight-hour work day, safety guarantees to protect workers, and compensation if they were injured on the job—workers insurance. The Knights also advocated an end to child labor, equal pay for women, and laws requiring owners to arbitrate.
By 1886, the Knights suffered several setbacks that started their eventual decline.
They mounted another strike against the Southwest Railroad in Texas. The Great Southwest Strike, spread to other states, but led to violent clashes where some local police were killed. Bosses used the major newspapers to shift public opinion against the Knights. In the end, the strikers got nothing.
A second Knights setback occurred at a labor demonstration in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. It turned into a bloody riot, resulting in 4 workers and 7 policemen killed. Someone had thrown a bomb at the police. Law enforcement responded with crackdowns on ALL labor groups across the nation. The Knights were blamed, labeled as anarchists, and members fled. Public opinion continued to turn against them and the union eventually collapsed.
Regardless of its ultimate demise, the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor stand as a significant stepping stone in the labor movement.
In 1886, labor unions joined together to form the American Federation of Labor. The AFL represented ALL workers, irrespective of race, nationality or gender. By 1910, new steel mills sprung up along rivers to stand alongside textile factories employing women. There were now too many workers unwilling to accept industries making obscene profits for its wealthy owners on the backs of the poor. The labor movement had finally become a force to be reckoned with.
When it came to politics, unions were never far from their governments.
The AFL served as labor’s lobbying arm in Washington. With U.S. President Wilson, organized labor had been leaning toward the Democrats, because of their support of the (mainly immigrant) working class. With the coming of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, this alliance solidified. From 1936 onward, the Democratic Party could reliably count on the votes of its members. In the UK, an independent, left-leaning Labour Party was formed in 1906, representing social democrats and trade unions.
Several memorable U.S. strikes took place in the early 1900’s including the Great Coal Strike of 1902 (United Mine Workers), and the Great Steel Strike of 1919, against U.S. Steel. The Robber Barons fought back, labelling them immigrant communists and employing the private Pinkertons to intimidate strikers. Nevertheless, the new voting power led the U.S. Congress to create the Dept. of Labor in 1913. And finally, regulating child labor in the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.
During the Great Depression, workers turned to their labor unions to find employment and protection. Membership grew exponentially. In 1935, a faction of the AFL broke away and formed the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO), which aided emerging unions in auto, steel and other industries. By the end of World War II, more than 12 million workers belonged to unions.
The end of World War II also saw thousands of soldiers return home, get factory jobs and join unions. The Middle Class was born. The AFL merged with the CIO, becoming the powerful and influential AFL-CIO in 1955. Thanks to a wave of successful strikes in many industries; union power and membership reached a high point by the 1960s.
Strikes and collective bargaining worked impressively, more than tripling earnings between 1945 and 1970. Workers gaining salaries that kept up with inflation, pension’s securing retirement, medical benefits, paid leave, fairer treatment, and safer workplace conditions. All were thanks to large unions like UNISON, the Teamsters, and the United Auto Workers.
Organized labor’s grip on industry and its political clout began to weaken in the 1970’s.
New competitive forces swept through industries, set off by federal deregulation, free trade agreements and a virtual flood of cheaper foreign-made goods. U.S. and European manufacturing factories moved to India and China for cheap labor. Concessions became widespread and U.S. plant closings decimated union memberships. The election of staunchly conservatives Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s brought in pro-corporate administrations, last seen in the Glided Age.
Between 1975 and 1985, U.S. union membership fell by 5 million. Claims of political corruption in the larger unions hurt public opinion. The unionized portion of the manufacturing labor force dropped below 25 percent. Only in the public sector did the unions continue to hold their own. By 1990, less than 15 percent of American workers were organized, half that of the 1950s.
The new, high-tech, Silicon Valley and social media industries, with a college educated workforce, seemed beyond the reach of the “old-fashioned” labor unions. Nevertheless, the AFL-CIO still held political clout in Washington. In 2008, unions were key to getting Democrat President Barack Obama elected (then re-elected in 2012).
With corporations shifting jobs to China and India with cheaper labor, US & EU factories were shuttered.
Labor union membership continued to shrink. This led many blue collar union members to switch their political support for the first time in a hundred years to Republican in 2016. Today, the highest labor union memberships are in the public sector (police, teachers, nurses, etc.). Private-sector industries that still have high union rates include utilities, transportation, food, and health care. In 2021, 14 million U.S. workers belonged to unions, about 1/10 of the working population.
Today however, approval for labor unions are back on the rise, at its highest point since 1965. 65% of Americans and EU countries are in favor of them. The middle class remembers the support and voice they once offered their parents and grandparents. Key themes include employee pay levels keeping up with inflation, being forced to work with no access to sick leave, medical benefits, protective safety gear, and being subjected to mass layoffs without severance.
There are others signs that the popularity of unions is on the rise. The Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha graduated with college degrees only to be disillusioned with wealthy global corporations and their billionaire CEOs replacing jobs with AI. The biggest gains in union membership have been among ages 35 and under. Young people are slowly unionizing some large franchises, digital-media, and tech companies.
In our current times, global corporations continue to rake in record profits, rewarding their CEOs and shareholders with billions. They fight the creation of unions by intimidating or, in some cases, threatening their workers with firings. Much like in the Gilded Age, a fraction of that explosive wealth is passed on to their middle-class employees in the form of fair wages and compensation.
Today, families struggle with inflation to put food on the table while paying for mortgages/rent, healthcare, utility bills, and transportation. Frustrated workers are banding together and many consider unionizing to achieve collective bargaining power and fairer compensation from their powerful corporate employers. And it necessary, they strike. Sound familiar?