National Trade Union example essay topic

Trade Union Trade unions can be defined as: the various labor organizations in the United States, each of which serves to consolidate, represent, and protect the rights of workers ina specific occupation or trade. They can be dated back to as early as the twelfth century when craft guilds were formed. These craft guilds only included in their membership those who practiced a particular craft, so there were many guilds at this time. Labor unions stayed this way for the next few centuries, until the Civil War in the United States brought attention to workers and their families. Towards the latter part of the eighteenth century, unions of carpenters and shoemakers began forming in Philadelphia, while tailors in Baltimore, Maryland and printers in New York City also started unions. The main actions of these unions were to band the workers together to get a strike started andthe n they were almost immediately dissolved.

These strikes were few because the strike leaders were often imprisoned and fined on charges of "conspiracy to raise wages". The first union in the United States to include members of different trades was theMechanics' Union of Trade Associations, which was started in 1827. This organization " sma in emphasis was to raise wages and improve working conditions, this union also championed social reforms, such as free public education, eradication of imprisonment for debt, and the adoption of universal manhood suffrage. The National Trade Union, which was founded in 1834, was the first nationwide federation.

Despite wide attempts to ally over the next few years, the economic crisis of 1837 and a depression following unfortunately halted the membership, and led to a sharp decline in the organization " 's current membership, which finally suspended the movement temporarily. Trade unions began to grow in membership after businesses began a revival in the late 1840's and early 1850's. A Massachusetts court also helped with union membership whe it made a landmark decision that stated that labor unions had the right to strike because strikes were lawful and not criminal conspiracies (Commonwealth vs. Hunt, 1842). This lead to a nationwide growth in trade unions. Unlike the first growth thissecond growth concentrated on making many unions consisting of workers of only one trade. The continued growth of the unions was subsequently stopped in 1857 because of another economic crisis that dissolved the base of many of the new trade unions.

In 1881, numerous trade unions combined to form the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada. This union was short lived, and by 1886 it was in decline. By December of 1886 though, members of affiliates from this union and another prominent union on the decline met in Columbus, Ohio to start anew trade union that would meet the needs of the American worker like no other union did to that date. Their solution was the American Federation of Labor (AFL). It elected Samuel Gompers, who was president of the Cigarmakers International Union and the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, as its first president.

The membership was estimated at about 316,000 workers grouped in twenty-five national unions. Although the AFL was a broad group of individuals, it allowed it's different unions to deal with the workers and the employers in their own field. Instead of campaigning for sweeping reforms like many unions did before them, the AFL wanted the unalienable rights and attainable goals of higher wages and shorter working hours for all employees. It also cut all ties with any political organization for the purpose of voting for candidates who were considered to be friendly to labor, regardless of their party affiliation, and vote against those regarded as hostile to the labor movement. During the 1890's, some of the AFL unions such as the printers and the building trade workersacheived their long sought goal of an eight-hour day.

By 1935 some of the union leaders within the AFL wanted a revision of craft union principles to assist organization of workers in the mass production industries. Withthe support of eight of the leaders of the AFL unions the president of the United MineWorkers of America, John L. Lewis, the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) was begun to help the unionization campaign in the mass production industries. Subsequently, the CIO unions were suspended from the AFL in August 1936 and finally expelled in May 1938. Then, a few months later the CIO changed its initials to mean the Congress of Industrial Organizations in order to become a permanent fixture in American labor union history. After a twenty year hiatus, the AFL and the CIO joined forces so thatthe y could combat the new problems facing labor unions in the 1950's.

The main problems faced by the AFL-CIO was the elimination of racketeers from trade unions. Then, in 1967 Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers, resigned advice-president of the AFL-CIO, declaring that it was "the comfortable, complacent custodian of the status quo". Then the UAW stopped paying its dues and was kicked out of the AFL-CIO. debt, and the adoption of universal manhood suffrage. The National Trade Union, which was founded in 1834, was the first n to a nationwide growth in trade unions.

Unlike the first growth thissecond growth concentrated on making many un 316.