The Labor Movement

Notes by Adriana

· After the Civil War, prices were higher and there was a greater demand for goods and services, which made labor force more unified.
· Labor movement was an organization of working people to fight for their own interest.
· Unions are important because they play a major role in creating legislation. They were first created to help workers negotiate and obtain better and higher pay, hours and working conditions.
· Labor unions were formed to help workers get organized and bargain for their needs and rights. Workers created unions because groups have more bargaining power than individuals. When large groups of employees make joint decisions, employers are forced to listen to their concerns.
· There were several things worker did if an agreement was not reached.
a) Strike- they would not work until some demands were met.
b) Picket- they would march in front of a company or business to protest certain actions the company did not meet.
c) Boycott- they refused to buy products from a certain company or employer.
· There were also several ways in which employers fought unions.a) Lockout- which was the same concept of the strike but instead of the employees would not allow employers to work.
b) Company unions- unions organized by employers to fight off the efforts of the workers.
· The Great Depression- the worst period of economic decline in US history. It began in October 1929 and ended approximately in 1939. In this time period, many people were unemployed, so Congress decided to pass laws to support organize labor.
· At the same time, states passed laws to limit the power of unions. This caused even more unemployment because workers were not allowed to join the unions.
· The American Federation of Labor (AFL) first began in 1886 as an organization of trade unions. It later added several industrial unions which caused conflicts and disagreements about future union movements. The caused AFL to separate into 2 different groups. Then, the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) was created. As it grew stronger, it began to challenge AFL, which later joined to become the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO.) Later on, around 2005, AFL-CIO broke up because they started having disputed about the best way to spend union funds.
· Independent unions, unions that did not belong to the AFL-CIO, were also important in the labor movement.
· There were several kinds of union arrangements:
a) Closed shop- agreement in which a worker was forced to join a union before they get hired.
b) Union shop- agreement in which workers had to join a union after they were hired.
c) Modified union shop- workers had the option to join or not.
d) Agency shop- does not require a worker to join a union to keep or get a job.
· There are millions of people that are still part of unions. Even though there is gap between different groups in the US, it has become lower every year. Statistics show that more women, old people and African Americans are more likely to join unions than any other group.
· Unions have been a great part of labor movement which has been changing throughout the years. Unions started to rise due to the different acts or laws passed by Congress, but started to decline for various reasons. Some of these reasons include: the increase of part-time workers, the rise in the number of women in the workforce, and the expansion of service industries, among others.