The History of Labor Unions Essay

The late nineteenth century (1875-1900), having just witnessed the long years of Reconstruction, left America in the spirit of change. This ardor led to the creation of new technological advancements such as the remodeled sewing machine but most importantly it changed the way workers wanted to be treated and payed. But during this time, organized labor was unsuccessful in improving the working conditions of laborers due to the abundance of violent attacks and the inability to overcome different backgrounds.

Unionism is the concept that traditionally business, especially big businesses are inherently going to exploit their employees. Therefore, in order to protect themselves, the workers form organizations called unions, in which all laborers who work at a certain craft, or in a certain industry band together. By this process of “joining forces”, the unions gain power in numbers. Unions traditionally try to protect employee interests by negotiating with employers for wages and benefits, working hours, and better working conditions.

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

During the Progressive Era of the Gilded Age, many laborers were being mistreated by the companies that they worked for. Because of this, workers started forming labor unions or organized association of workers, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Many of these labor unions failed, while few of them achieved their goals and still exist today. Many factors contributed to the failure of these labor unions. The labor unions were given a bad image, the reason for this was the media, and they did this by publishing articles depicting the unions as violent, communist groups. The government supported big business during this time, since the government had a lot of power; this was a huge setback in the labor unions’ battles.

In the past, labour unions in Canada were significant as they provided better working conditions such as health insurance, reasonable working hours, job safety, and pension cover for employees and their families. However, current labour union membership has continuously lost popularity, and this situation is expected to worsen in the future (Hunter). The reduced popularity is associated with the negative views held by the Canadian millennia. Most people lack the motivation to join labour unions in modern times due to a variety of reasons, which include current policies and laws, gender differences, and fear of identification by industries and companies.

In the event that labor unions are changeless representative affiliations that have as their essential objective the safeguarding or change of business conditions, there were no such organization in America until the end years of the eighteenth century. Coordinated activities of workers as strikes and slowdowns were not known to the colonial time frame, but rather these aggravations were, no matter what, unconstrained endeavors. They were led on the moment over brief grievances or frustrations, for example, withholding of wages. By and large unsuccessful, they were never attempted by anything looking like a permanent association.

The main reason of the rise of labor unions was the quick industrialization of the US economy. During the post-Civil War period, the US economy became extremely industrialized. This meant that more and more people were working in factories owned by large companies rather than working in small shops for themselves or for small businesses. In addition, large numbers of immigrants were coming to the US. They created a huge pool of labor that made labor prices go down and the quality of working conditions.

Being a part of a group or an association that you pay into as a worker should have benefits that can help you continue to improve their lives. The benefit of having someone speak up for you could be better pay, better health benefits, and being better treated in the work place. Collective bargaining, while not being a guarantee, can help gain these benefits. It is the process of negotiations between representatives of workers and management to determine the conditions of employment. The collectively determined agreement may cover compensation, hiring, practices, layoffs, promotions, working conditions and hours, worker discipline, and benefit programs. So since the discovery of

Labor Unions have had an effect of American history as well as world-wide history from the time they became popular. Following WWII Americans were predominantly pro-labor, however, as time went on union’s credibility fell short of perfect. Union strikes proved to be bothersome to both the general public and company. Unions were also suppressing to employees through fraud and lack of worker rights (in earlier years, before Acts were passed). Although Union labor had its shortcomings, this type of labor is noted to be the most productive and economically beneficial. With both sides shown, I feel Unions will again thrive in the future with a few key adjustments made.

It has been said, perhaps most prominently in a speech give by President John F. Kennedy (1963), that “. . . a rising tide lifts all boats.” That maxim is often spoken in reference to generalized economic prosperity, but it is especially relevant within the context of organized labor’s effect on all worker’s incomes. Studies have found that members of labor unions earn as much as 30 percent more in total compensation than their non-union counterparts (Payne, 2009), which is what economists have termed the union wage premium. This union wage premium varies according to what industry an individual is employed in, the geographical location of that employment and the educational attainment of a particular worker. Nonetheless, several studies show that the union wage premium does not only benefit union members, but it also has the peripheral effect of increasing wages for non-union workers of similar circumstance (Rosenfeld, Denice, & Laird, 2016; Brennan, 2016; Western & Rosenfeld, 2011).

Trade Unions was set up in the late 60s which turned out to be a great

Mexa Manufacturing has heard rumblings of employees wanting to join a union. A __union__, is a labor organization appointed to act on behalf of the best interest of workers. Companies where unions are present, the relationship between management and the labor representatives are called __labor relations__.

In this essay I’ll write about union membership, membership trends, the two types and levels, and the importance of unions. I’ll also discuss some of the negative sides of unionization in corporate America today.

Since the beginnings of industrialization in the United States, a struggle between the rights of individuals working in industry and manufacturing and the desire of the ownership of these endeavors to maximize profits has raged. As various eras in history passed, labor movements in the United States met with varying degrees of success. The fortunes of labor movements in the United States has ebbed and flowed along with other key factors in American society. In times when human rights and the rights of the individual were national priorities, the labor movement prospered, in times where businesses and profitability were the priority, the labor movement faltered.

My own reflections on Unions, I come from a family of union works, my mother was a union representative. My son, sister and her husband are in the hospitality union which is SEIU Union. And my husband who tried to organize a union where he was employed at that time. As I speak, my sister just went back to work, because they were in contract negotiations with her place of employment. I was in the most powerful union of all to me the Teamsters, now that I have, change careers into management, when I was employed at University of Illinois.as an retail supervisor. I was not eligible to join the union. Therefore, I had to learn the guide line of this big humongous book ;( to me. About SEIU Union laws. An extra note while I was there they did strike. The question is? why labor unions are formed?