The United Textile Workers of America (UTW) was a North American trade union established in 1901.
97-607: The United Textile Workers of America was founded following two conferences in 1901 under the aegis of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) as an amalgamation of several smaller craft unions. AFL first vice president James Duncan presided over a two-day initial conference held at Boston 's Quincy House Hotel in May before a larger conference finalized the organization in November. The union's most important early leader
194-460: A "treaty" to be presented to the forthcoming May 24, 1886, convention of the Knights of Labor, which demanded that the K of L cease attempting to organize members of International Unions into its own assemblies without permission of the unions involved and that K of L organizers violating this provision should suffer immediate suspension. For its part, the Knights of Labor considered the demand for
291-634: A Democrat, strongly favored labor unions. He made sure that relief operations like the Civilian Conservation Corps did not include a training component that would produce skilled workers who would compete with union members in a still glutted market. The major legislation was the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, called the Wagner Act . It greatly strengthened organized unions, especially by weakening
388-649: A conference in Philadelphia on May 18. The call stated that an element of the Knights of Labor was doing "malicious work" and causing "incalculable mischief by arousing antagonisms and dissensions in the labor movement." The call was signed by Strasser and McGuire, along with representatives of the Granite Cutters, the Iron Molders, and the secretary of the Federation of Trades of North America ,
485-551: A desire to protect men's jobs. If women's hours could be limited, reasoned A.F. of L. officials, they would infringe less on male employment and earning potential. But the A.F. of L. also took more selfless efforts. Even from the 1890s, the A.F. of L. declared itself vigorously in favor of women's suffrage. It often printed pro-suffrage articles in its periodical, and in 1918, it supported the National Union of Women's Suffrage. Craft unionism Craft unionism refers to
582-545: A federal labor union. That same year workers at the Westinghouse plant in East Springfield MA, members of federal labor union 18476, struck for recognition. In 1933, the A.F. of L. received 1,205 applications for charters for federal labor unions, 1006 of which were granted. By 1934, the A.F. of L. had successfully organized 32,500 autoworkers using the federal labor union model. Most of the leadership of
679-569: A forerunner of the A.F. of L. founded in 1881. Forty-three invitations were mailed, which drew the attendance of 20 delegates and letters of approval from 12 other unions. At this preliminary gathering, held in Donaldson Hall on the corner of Broad and Filbert Streets, the K of L was charged with conspiring with anti-union bosses to provide labor at below going union rates and with making use of individuals who had crossed picket lines or defaulted on payment of union dues. The body authored
776-533: A great deal of influence in some cases. For example, the Chicago Federation of Labor spearheaded efforts to organize packinghouse and steel workers during and immediately after World War I. Local building trades councils also became powerful in some areas. In San Francisco , the local Building Trades Council, led by Carpenters official P. H. McCarthy , not only dominated the local labor council but helped elect McCarthy mayor of San Francisco in 1909. In
873-405: A model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism , in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of differences in skill . Under this approach, each union is organized according to the craft, or specific work function, of its members. For example, in
970-634: A pragmatic view of politics which favored tactical support for particular politicians over formation of a party devoted to workers' interests. The A.F. of L.'s leadership believed the expansion of the capitalist system was seen as the path to betterment of labor, an orientation making it possible for the A.F. of L. to present itself as what one historian has called "the conservative alternative to working class radicalism". The A.F. of L. faced its first major reversal when employers launched an open shop movement in 1903, designed to drive unions out of construction, mining, longshore and other industries. Membership in
1067-438: A rule, in small shops in which they had little contact with workers in other fields. Some of these early unions also came out of a guild tradition in which skilled workmen often owned their own shops or, if they worked for another, had a good deal of control over how the work was done, which they policed by maintaining standards for admission into the trade; requiring entrants to go through an apprenticeship program controlled by
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#17327726264601164-521: A very few cases early in the A.F. of L.'s history, state and local bodies defied A.F. of L. policy or chose to disaffiliate over policy disputes. Though Gompers had contact with socialists and such as A.F. of L. co-founder Peter J. McGuire , the A.F. of L. adopted a philosophy of "business unionism" that emphasized unions' contribution to businesses' profits and national economic growth. The business unionist approach also focused on skilled workers' immediate job-related interests, while refusing to "rush to
1261-620: The 1913 Paterson silk strike . As such, it had limited success prior to the 1930s, and the union claimed about 350,000 members at the time of a general textile strike in 1934 . A year later in 1935, it became a founding member of the Committee for Industrial Organizations , whose Textile Workers Organizing Committee established the basis for a new union, the Textile Workers Union of America , founded in 1939. A diminished UTW continued separately after 1939 and, in 1996, merged with
1358-553: The Cleveland administration during the Pullman Strike in 1894. While the A.F. of L. sought to outlaw " yellow dog contracts ", to limit the courts' power to impose "government by injunction" and to obtain exemption from the antitrust laws that were being used to criminalize labor organizing, the courts reversed what few legislative successes the labor movement won. The A.F. of L. concentrated its political efforts during
1455-529: The IBEW also pushed for FLU's to turn over their members to the authority of the craft internationals between 1933 and 1935. In 1934, one hundred FLUs met separately and demanded that the A.F. of L. continue to issue charters to unions organizing on an industrial basis independent of the existing craft union internationals. In 1935 the FLUs representing autoworkers and rubber workers both held conventions independent of
1552-671: The Immigration Act of 1924 , and seeing that they were strictly enforced. Mink (1986) concludes that the link between the A.F. of L. and the Democratic Party rested in part on immigration issues, noting the large corporations, which supported the Republicans, wanted more immigration to augment their labor force. Prohibition gained strength as the German American community came under fire. The A.F. of L.
1649-578: The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers , the Teamsters and the American Federation of Musicians , helped form the union. The A.F. of L. also used its influence, including refusal of charters or expulsion, to heal splits within affiliated unions, to force separate unions seeking to represent the same or closely related jurisdictions to merge, or to mediate disputes between rival factions where both sides claimed to represent
1746-681: The International Ladies Garment Workers' Union . Women organized independent locals among New York hat makers, in the Chicago stockyards, and among Jewish and Italian waist makers, to name only three examples. Through the efforts of middle-class reformers and activists, often of the Women's Trade Union League , those unions joined the A.F. of L. From the beginning, unions affiliated with the A.F. of L. found themselves in conflict when both unions claimed jurisdiction over
1843-502: The Pipefitters , Machinists and Iron Workers joined through local metal workers' councils to represent a diverse group of workers. The Railway Employes' Department dealt with both jurisdictional disputes between affiliates and pursued a common legislative agenda for all of them. The A.F. of L. made efforts in its early years to assist its affiliates in organizing: it advanced funds or provided organizers or, in some cases, such as
1940-717: The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union . In 1922, the UTW was one of the leaders of the 1922 New England Textile Strike . Occurring primarily in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, the strike involved 40,000-50,000 workers who refused to work for approximately 200 days. This was alongside the IWW & ACTWU . Leadership of the strike was divided; the UTW & ACTWU led in Rhode Island whereas
2037-669: The United States Supreme Court narrowly read the Act and codified the federal courts' existing power to issue injunctions rather than limit it. The court read the phrase "between an employer and employees" (contained in the first paragraph of the Act) to refer only to cases involving an employer and its own employees, leaving the courts free to punish unions for engaging in sympathy strikes or secondary boycotts. The A.F. of L.'s pessimistic attitude towards politics did not, on
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#17327726264602134-800: The post-war red scare that reached its peak in 1919, and in the Palmer Raids of the same period. The next challenge to the dominance of craft unions within the AFL came from inside, as John L. Lewis of the Mine Workers, David Dubinsky of the ILGWU, Sidney Hillman of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America , Charles Howard of the International Typographical Union, Thomas McMahon, head of
2231-511: The pragmatist , Gompers argued that labor should "reward its friends and punish its enemies" in both major parties. However, in the 1900s (decade), the two parties began to realign, with the main faction of the Republican Party coming to identify with the interests of banks and manufacturers, while a substantial portion of the rival Democratic Party took a more labor-friendly position. While not precluding its members from belonging to
2328-581: The 1930s the A.F. of L. began chartering these federal labor unions as an industrial organizing strategy. The dues in these federal labor unions (FLUs) were kept intentionally low to make them more accessible to low paid industrial workers; however, these low dues later allowed the Internationals in the Federation to deny members of FLUs voting membership at conventions. In 1933, Green sent William Collins to Detroit to organize automobile workers into
2425-423: The 250,000 member mark in 1892. The group from the outset concentrated upon the income and working conditions of its membership as its almost sole focus. The A.F. of L.'s founding convention declaring "higher wages and a shorter workday" to be "preliminary steps toward great and accompanying improvements in the condition of the working people." Participation in partisan politics was avoided as inherently divisive, and
2522-589: The A.F. of L. Both the new CIO industrial unions, and the older A.F. of L. crafts unions grew rapidly after 1935. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became a hero to them. He won reelection in a landslide in 1936, and by a closer margin in 1940. Labor unions gave strong support in 1940, compared to very strong support in 1936. The Gallup Poll showed CIO voters declined from 85% in 1935 to 79% in 1940. A.F. of L. voters went from 80% to 71%. Other union members went from 74% to 57%. Blue collar workers who were not union members went 72% to 64%. The A.F. of L. retained close ties to
2619-519: The A.F. of L. and CIO merged to form the AFL-CIO , headed by George Meany . During its first years, the A.F. of L. admitted nearly anyone. Gompers opened the A.F. of L. to radical and socialist workers and to some semiskilled and unskilled workers. Women, African Americans, and immigrants joined in small numbers. By the 1890s, the Federation had begun to organize only skilled workers in craft unions and became an organization of mostly white men. Although
2716-707: The A.F. of L. at its founding openly included women, and others passed bylaws barring women's membership entirely. The A.F. of L. hired its first female organizer, Mary Kenney O'Sullivan , only in 1892, released her after five months, and it did not replace her or hire another woman national organizer until 1908. Women who organized their own unions were often turned down in bids to join the Federation, and even women who did join unions found them hostile or intentionally inaccessible. Unions often held meetings at night or in bars when women might find it difficult to attend and where they might feel uncomfortable, and male unionists heckled women who tried to speak at meetings. Generally,
2813-516: The A.F. of L. came to dominate the Canadian union movement. The A.F. of L. vigorously opposed unrestricted immigration from Europe for moral, cultural, and racial reasons. The issue unified the workers who feared that an influx of new workers would flood the labor market and lower wages. Nativism was not a factor because upwards of half the union members were themselves immigrants or the sons of immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Britain. Nativism
2910-716: The A.F. of L. had authorized the establishment of a publication for the new organization, Gompers made use of the existing labor press to generate support for the position of the craft unions against the Knights of Labor. Powerful opinion-makers of the American labor movement such as the Philadelphia Tocsin, Haverhill Labor, the Brooklyn Labor Press, and the Denver Labor Enquirer granted Gompers space in their pages, in which he made
3007-502: The A.F. of L. lobbied Congress to reauthorize the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act , and issued a pamphlet entitled "Some reasons for Chinese Exclusion. Meat vs. Rice. American Manhood against Asiatic Coolieism. Which shall survive?". The A.F. of L. also began one of the first organized labor boycotts when they began putting white stickers on the cigars made by unionized white cigar rollers while simultaneously discouraging consumers from purchasing cigars rolled by Chinese workers. In most ways,
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3104-652: The A.F. of L. mediated the dispute, usually by favoring the larger or more influential union. The A.F. of L. often reversed its jurisdictional rulings over time, as the continuing jurisdictional battles between the Brewers and the Teamsters showed. Affiliates within the AFL formed "departments" to help resolve these jurisdictional conflicts and to provide a more effective voice for member unions in given industries. The Metal Trades Department engaged in some organizing of its own, primarily in shipbuilding, where unions such as
3201-436: The A.F. of L. political leverage to gain recognition and mediation of labor disputes, often in favor of improvements for workers. The A.F. of L. unions avoided strikes in favor of arbitration. Wages soared as near-full employment was reached at the height of the war. The A.F. of L. unions strongly encouraged young men to enlist in the military, and fiercely opposed efforts to reduce recruiting and slow war production by pacifists,
3298-415: The A.F. of L. preached a policy of egalitarianism in regard to African-American workers, it actively discriminated against them. The A.F. of L. sanctioned the maintenance of segregated locals within its affiliates, particularly in the construction and railroad industries, a practice that often excluded black workers altogether from union membership and thus from employment in organized industries. In 1901,
3395-424: The A.F. of L. surged forward in membership, that number had dipped to 1.5%. It improved to 6.6% over the next decade, but women remained mostly outside of unions and practically invisible inside of them into the mid-1920s. Attitudes gradually changed within the A.F. of L. by the pressure of organized female workers. Female-domination began to emerge in the first two decades of the 20th century, including particularly
3492-483: The A.F. of L. viewed women workers as competition, strikebreakers, or an unskilled labor reserve that kept wages low. As such, it often opposed women's employment entirely. When it organized women workers, it most often did so to protect men's jobs and earning power, not to improve the conditions, lives, or wages of women workers. In response, most women workers remained outside the labor movement. In 1900, only 3.3% of working women were organized into unions. In 1910, even as
3589-493: The A.F. of L.'s affiliated unions declined between 1904 and 1914 in the face of this concerted anti-union drive, which made effective use of legal injunctions against strikes , court rulings given force when backed with the armed might of the state. At its November 1907 Convention in Norfolk, Virginia, the A.F. of L. founded the future North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) as its Department of Building Trades. Ever
3686-433: The A.F. of L.'s treatment of women workers paralleled its policy towards black workers. The A.F. of L. never adopted a strict policy of gender exclusion and, at times, even came out in favor of women's unionism. However, despite such rhetoric, it only half-heartedly supported women's attempts to organize and, more often, took pains to keep women out of unions and the workforce altogether. Only two national unions affiliated with
3783-825: The American Federation of Labor. One of the organizations embroiled in this controversy was the Cigar Makers' International Union (CMIU), a group subject to competition from a dual union , a rival "Progressive Cigarmakers' Union", organized by members suspended or expelled by the CMIU. The two cigar unions competed with one another in signing contracts with various cigar manufacturers, who were at this same time combining themselves into manufacturers' associations of their own in New York City, Detroit , Cincinnati , Chicago, and Milwaukee . In January 1886,
3880-562: The Cigar Manufacturers' Association of New York City announced a 20 percent wage cut in factories around the city. The Cigar Makers' International Union refused to accept the cut and 6,000 of its members in 19 factories were locked out by the owners. A strike lasting four weeks ensued. Just when it appeared that the strike might be won, the New York District Assembly of the Knights of Labor leaped into
3977-619: The Democratic machines in big cities through the 1940s. Its membership surged during the war and it held on to most of its new members after wartime legal support for labor was removed. Despite its close connections to many in Congress, the A.F. of L. was not able to block the Taft–Hartley Act in 1947. Also in 1947, the union supported the strike efforts of thousands of switchboard operators by donating thousands of dollars. In 1955,
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4074-506: The Federation embraced ever more closely the Democratic Party, despite the fact that many union leaders remained Republicans. Herbert Hoover in 1928 won the votes of many Protestant A.F. of L. members. The Great Depression were hard times for the unions, and membership fell sharply across the country. As the national economy began to recover in 1933, so did union membership. The New Deal of president Franklin D. Roosevelt ,
4171-760: The Federation. One early challenge came from outside: the Western Federation of Miners , a union that had fought a series of violent battles with mine owners over the right to represent mill workers as well as hard rock miners, joined with activists from other unions and from the Socialist Labor Party of America to form the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which aimed to organize all workers, regardless of craft, nationality, gender or race, into one big union . In practical terms
4268-483: The IWW pursued organizing on an industrial basis. In at least one sense the IWW practiced (and practices) the most egalitarian form of industrial unionism, organizing and accepting membership of workers in any given industry whether they are currently employed or not. The IWW also welcomed immigrant workers, minorities and women as equals. The IWW was successful in some cases, leading a strike of immigrant workers employed in
4365-522: The IWW, ACTWU, and UTW were at the helm in Massachusetts. The UTW completely led it in New Hampshire. From its founding in 1901 until 1912, UTW used the privately published The Laborer and Journeyman as its official organ. In 1912, The Textile Worker was founded and published by the union itself with secretary-treasurer Albert Hibbert as its editor. In September 1915, John Golden took over as editor on top of his other duties as president. He
4462-417: The K of L, with Terence Powderly blaming the organization's travails on "radicals" in its ranks, while those opposing Powderly called for an end to what they perceived as "autocratic leadership". In the face of the steady disintegration of its rival, the fledgling American Federation of Labor struggled to maintain itself, with the group showing very slow and incremental growth in its first years, only cracking
4559-590: The New York District Assembly, however, and the latter was exonerated. The American Federation of Labor was thus originally formed as an alliance of craft unions outside the Knights of Labor as a means of defending themselves against this and similar incursions. On April 25, 1886, a circular letter was issued by Adolph Strasser of the Cigar Makers and P. J. McGuire of the Carpenters, addressed to all national trade unions and calling for their attendance of
4656-540: The President of the Carpenters , made a slighting comment about a member of the fledgling union of tire factory workers who was delivering an organizing report. Lewis responded that Hutcheson’s comment was "small potatoes", to which Hutcheson replied "I was raised on small potatoes, that is why I am so small." After some more words Lewis punched Hutcheson, knocking him to the ground, then relit his cigar and returned to
4753-407: The President of the new federation a full-time official at a salary of $ 1,000 per year (equal to $ 33,911 today), and Samuel Gompers of the Cigar Makers' International Union was elected to the position. Gompers would ultimately be re-elected to the position by annual conventions of the organization for every year save one until his death nearly four decades later. Although the founding convention of
4850-600: The Socialist Party or working with its members, the A.F. of L. traditionally refused to pursue the tactic of independent political action by the workers in the form of the existing Socialist Party or the establishment of a new labor party. After 1908, the organization's tie to the Democratic party grew increasingly strong. Some unions within the A.F. of L. helped form and participated in the National Civic Federation . The National Civic Federation
4947-881: The United Textile Workers, John Sheridan of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union (the descendant of the WFM), Harvey Fremming from the Oil Workers Union and Max Zaritsky of the Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers joined to form a Committee for Industrial Organizing within the AFL. The craft unions demanded that Lewis and his committee stop; Lewis persisted. This dispute came to a head at the AFL’s convention in Atlantic City in 1935, when William Hutcheson ,
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#17327726264605044-405: The World (IWW) for the allegiance of textile workers across the northeastern United States. Generally opposed to strikes as a means of solving industrial disputes, the UTW frequently collaborated with company officials and sent union members to act as strikebreakers to IWW-led strikes, including the 1907 Skowhegan textile strike , the 1912 Lawrence textile strike , the 1913 Hazleton silk strike and
5141-506: The World and Socialist Party of America . Gompers chaired the wartime Labor Advisory Board. He attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as an official advisor on labor issues. In 1920, the A.F. of L. petitioned Washington for the release of prisoners who had been convicted under Wartime Emergency Laws. Wilson did not act but President Warren Harding did so. 1919--the first year of peace--was one of turmoil in
5238-558: The anti-war Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the radical faction of Socialists. To keep factories running smoothly, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918, which forced management to negotiate with existing unions. Wilson also appointed A.F. of L. president Gompers to the powerful Council of National Defense , where he set up the War Committee on Labor. The A. F. of L.
5335-538: The automobile and steel industries. The A.F. of L. made forays into industrial unionism by chartering federal labor unions, which would organize across an industry and be chartered by the Federation, not through existing craft unions, guilds, or brotherhoods. As early as 1923, the A.F. of L. had chartered federal labor unions, including six news writer locals that had formerly been part of the International Typographical Union . However, in
5432-491: The breach, offering to settle with the 19 factories at a lower wage scale than that proposed by the CMIU, so long as only the Progressive Cigarmakers' Union was employed. The leadership of the CMIU was enraged and demanded that the New York District Assembly be investigated and punished by the national officials of the Knights of Labor. The committee of investigation was controlled by individuals friendly to
5529-636: The brick masons union, workers who sawed wood to build structures within the plant should be carpenters, and so forth. Those demands effectively ruled out any possibility of organizing the industry. In other cases unions within the AFL organized on an industrial basis: the United Mine Workers , the United Brewery Workers and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union admitted to membership all workers in
5626-614: The building trades, all carpenters belong to the carpenters' union, the plasterers join the plasterers' union, and the painters belong to the painters' union. Each craft union has its own administration, its own policies, its own collective bargaining agreements and its own union halls. The first unions established in Russia in the early nineteenth century tended, by nature of the industries in which their members worked, to be craft unions: shoemakers , cordwainers (shoemakers who work with cordovan leather) and typesetters all worked, as
5723-585: The building trades. In the late 1930s, craft affiliates expanded by organizing on an industrial union basis to meet the challenge from the CIO. The A.F. of L. and the CIO competed bitterly in the late 1930s but then cooperated during World War II and afterward. In 1955, the two merged to create the AFL-CIO , which has comprised the longest lasting and most influential labor federation in the United States to this day. The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.)
5820-477: The call, agreeing to form themselves into an American Federation of Labor. Revenue for the new organization was to be raised on the basis of a "per-capita tax" of its member organizations, set at the rate of one-half cent per member per month (i.e. six cents per year, equal to $ 2.03 today). Governance of the organization was to be by annual conventions, with one delegate allocated for every 4,000 members of each affiliated union. The founding convention voted to make
5917-640: The capitalists in the National Civic Federation. The A.F. of L. nonetheless continued its association with the group, which declined in importance as the decade of the 1910s drew to a close. By the 1890s, Gompers was planning an international federation of labor, starting with the expansion of A.F. of L. affiliates in Canada, especially Ontario. He helped the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress with money and organizers, and by 1902,
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#17327726264606014-446: The case for the unions against the attacks of employers, "all too often aided by the K of L." Headway was made in the form of endorsement by various local labor bodies. Some assemblies of the K of L supported the Cigar Makers' position and departed the organization: in Baltimore , 30 locals left the organization, while the membership of the Knights in Chicago fell from 25,000 in 1886 to just 3,500 in 1887. Factional warfare broke out in
6111-491: The company unions that many workers belonged to. It was to the members advantage to transform a company union into a local of an A.F. of L. union, and thousands did so, dramatically boosting the membership. The Wagner Act also set up to the National Labor Relations Board , which used its powers to rule in favor of unions and against the companies. In the early 1930s, A.F. of L. president William Green (president, 1924–1952) experimented with an industrial approach to organizing in
6208-439: The craft union internationals that made up the federation, advocated for the FLU's to be absorbed into existing craft union internationals and for these internationals to have supremacy of jurisdiction. At the 1933 A.F. of L. convention in Washington, DC, John Frey of the Molders and Metal Trades pushed for craft union internationals to have jurisdictional supremacy over the FLU's; the Carpenters headed by William Hutchenson and
6305-416: The craft union internationals. By the 1935 A.F. of L. convention, Green and the advocates of traditional craft unionism faced increasing dissension led by John L. Lewis of the coal miners, Sidney Hillman of the Amalgamated , David Dubinsky of the Garment Workers , Charles Howard of the ITU , Thomas McMahon of the Textile Workers , and Max Zaritsky of the Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers, in addition to
6402-417: The death of Samuel Gompers, UMWA member and A.F. of L. vice president William Green became the president of the labor federation. The organization endorsed pro-labor progressive Robert M. La Follette in the 1924 presidential election. He only carried his home state of Wisconsin. The campaign failed to establish a permanent independent party closely connected to the labor movement, however, and thereafter
6499-438: The group's constitution was structured to prevent the admission of political parties as affiliates. This fundamentally conservative "pure and simple" approach limited the A.F. of L. to matters pertaining to working conditions and rates of pay, relegating political goals to its allies in the political sphere. The Federation favored pursuit of workers' immediate demands rather than challenging the property rights of owners, and took
6596-504: The industry, or attached to it. Even in those unions, however, craft distinctions sometimes surfaced. In the ILGWU, for example, the cutters, who were often primarily of English, Irish, and German stock, were almost exclusively males, were better paid, and were typically more skilled, often looked down on the immigrant, largely female, unskilled "operators" who ran sewing machines in their shops or elsewhere. The ILGWU also tended to group its workers based on seemingly trivial distinctions between
6693-412: The labor movement. A.F. of L. membership soared to 2.4 million in 1917 and 4.1 million at the end of 1919. The A.F. of L. unions tried to make their gains permanent and called a series of major strikes in meat, steel and other industries. The strikes ultimately failed. Many African Americans had taken war jobs; other became strikebreakers in 1919. Racial tensions were high, with major race riots. The economy
6790-538: The last decades of the Gompers administration on securing freedom from state control of unions—in particular an end to the court's use of labor injunctions to block the right to organize or strike and the application of the anti-trust laws to criminalize labor's use of pickets , boycotts and strikes. The A.F. of L. thought that it had achieved the latter with the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914—which Gompers referred to as "Labor's Magna Carta ". But in Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering , 254 U.S. 443 (1921),
6887-424: The leadership of an affiliated union. The A.F. of L. also chartered " federal unions ", local unions not affiliated with any international union, in those fields in which no affiliate claimed jurisdiction. The A.F. of L. also encouraged the formation of local labor bodies, known as central labor councils, in major metropolitan areas in which all of the affiliates could participate. Those local labor councils acquired
6984-680: The matter. The actions of the New York District Assembly of the K of L were upheld. Convinced that no accommodation with the leadership of the Knights of Labor was possible, the heads of the five labor organizations which issued the call for the April 1886 conference issued a new call for a convention to be held December 8, 1886, in Columbus, Ohio , in order to construct "an American federation of alliance of all national and international trade unions." Forty-two delegates representing 13 national unions and various other local labor organizations responded to
7081-450: The members of the FLU's themselves. Lewis argued that the A.F.of L. was too heavily oriented toward traditional craftsmen, and was overlooking the opportunity to organize millions of semiskilled workers, especially those in industrial factories that made automobiles, rubber, glass and steel. In 1935 Lewis led the dissenting unions in forming a new Congress for Industrial Organization (CIO) within
7178-660: The other hand, prevent affiliated unions from pursuing their own agendas. Construction unions supported legislation that governed entry of contractors into the industry and protected workers' rights to pay, rail and mass production industries sought workplace safety legislation, and unions generally agitated for the passage of workers' compensation statutes. At the same time, the A.F. of L. took efforts on behalf of women in supporting protective legislation. It advocated fewer hours for women workers, and based its arguments on assumptions of female weakness. Like efforts to unionize, most support for protective legislation for women came out of
7275-404: The parcelling of the labor movement into narrow craft-based fiefdoms to be anathema, a violation of the principle of solidarity of all workers across craft lines. Negotiations with the dissident craft unions were nipped in the bud by the governing General Assembly of the K of L, however, with the organization's Grand Master Workman, Terence V. Powderly refusing to enter into serious discussions on
7372-518: The prevailing pattern of division of the workforce into "crafts" and "classes" and the separate craft patterns persisted into the late twentieth century. While both the Knights of Labor and Eugene V. Debs ' American Railway Union attempted to organize railroad workers on an industrial basis, those efforts were defeated, in some cases by government intervention, injunctions, and force of arms. The attempt to impose craft distinctions in other industries
7469-483: The rostrum. The incident personified the conflict between craft and industrial organizing. The CIO proceeded to organize mass production workers on an industrial basis. The AFL's response to the challenge from the CIO was twofold: both fighting a rearguard action before the National Labor Relations Board to preserve its right to represent the skilled trades in many of the plants that the CIO
7566-574: The same groups of workers: both the Brewers and Teamsters claimed to represent beer truck drivers, both the Machinists and the International Typographical Union claimed to represent certain printroom employees, and the Machinists and a fledgling union known as the "Carriage, Wagon and Automobile Workers Union" sought to organize the same employees even though neither union had made any effort to organize or bargain for those employees. In some cases,
7663-403: The support of any one of the numerous society-saving or society destroying schemes" involved in larger political issues. This approach was set by Gompers, who was influenced by a fellow cigar maker (and former socialist) Ferdinand Laurrel. Despite his socialist contacts, Gompers himself was not a socialist. Employers discovered the efficacy of labor injunctions , first used with great effect by
7760-471: The top of the ladder took their elevated status very seriously; as an example, locomotive engineers on many railroads made a point of wearing top hats and a good suit of clothes while at work to demonstrate that they did not get their hands dirty or perform manual labor. These craft distinctions in the railroad industry were remarkably long-lived; the Railway Labor Act , passed in 1925, recognized
7857-502: The type of garment they produced: among the locals created by the ILGWU in the first decade of its existence was one titled the Wrapper, Kimono and House Dress Makers' Union. Decades later, as the industry changed, it created sportwear locals. As long as the craft unions were the dominant power in the AFL, they took every step possible to block the organizing of mass production industries. This led to challenges from both inside and outside
7954-465: The ultimate goals of rescuing young bodies and increasing school attendance. The frustrations included the Supreme Court striking down two national laws as unconstitutional, and weak enforcement of state laws due to the political influence of employers. The A.F. of L. and its affiliates were strong supporters of the war effort. The risk of disruptions to war production by labor radicals provided
8051-508: The union continued to treat them as second-class members until they seceded to form the International Woodworkers of America in 1937. Craft unionism has receded in many industries as a result of changes in technology, the concentration of ownership and jurisdictional conflicts between craft unions. Craft unionism has not, however, disappeared: it is still the norm in the airline industry, survives despite much upheaval in
8148-435: The union, rather than the employer; and dictating the processes, tools, standards, and pace of work. These traditions persisted into the 20th century in fields such as printing (in which the International Typographical Union would enforce its own rules determining how work was done in union shops) and the construction industry. Workers carried these patterns of organizing into new industries as well. The railroad brotherhoods,
8245-487: The unions formed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, made minute distinctions between groups that worked alongside each other; as an example, more than twenty years passed between the original chartering of the International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen and the amendment of its charter to permit the union to represent the oilers and helpers who worked with them. Those who saw themselves at
8342-464: The woolens industry in Lawrence, Massachusetts , and many smaller strikes in longshore, agriculture and the lumber industry. In its first three years it was greatly hampered by deep political divisions, such as the question of unions engaging in electoral politics (resolved in favor of ruling out alliances with political parties). The IWW was seriously damaged by government prosecution and vigilantism in
8439-406: Was John Golden , a Lancashire -born spinner from Fall River, Massachusetts . Golden was elected as the union's second president in 1902 and re-elected at each subsequent convention until his death in 1921. At the time of his election, UTW's membership was just 10,600 spread out among 185 local unions. During the 1900s & 1910s, UTW engaged in intense competition with the Industrial Workers of
8536-399: Was a factor when the A.F. of L. even more strenuously opposed all immigration from Asia because it represented (to its Euro-American members) an alien culture that could not be assimilated into American society. The A.F. of L. intensified its opposition after 1906 and was instrumental in passing immigration restriction bills from the 1890s to the 1920s, such as the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and
8633-611: Was against prohibition as it was viewed as cultural right of the working class to drink. Child labor was an issue on which the A.F. of L. found common ground with middle class reformers who otherwise kept their distance. The A.F. of L. joined campaigns at the state and national level to limit the employment of children under age 14. In 1904 a major national organization emerged, the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). In state after state reformers launched crusades to pass laws restricting child labor, with
8730-495: Was elected the full-time president at its founding convention and was re-elected every year except one until his death in 1924. He became the major spokesperson for the union movement. The A.F. of L. was the largest union grouping, even after the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) by unions that were expelled by the A.F. of L. in 1935. The A.F. of L. was founded and dominated by craft unions , especially in
8827-406: Was formed by several progressive employers who sought to avoid labor disputes by fostering collective bargaining and "responsible" unionism. Labor's participation in this federation, at first tentative, created internal division within the A.F. of L. Socialists , who believed the only way to help workers was to remove large industry from private ownership, denounced labor's efforts at cooperation with
8924-661: Was not so successful. In the steel industry, for example, after the routing of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers in its titanic strike against Andrew Carnegie 's steel operations at Homestead, Pennsylvania , in 1892, and the defeat, a generation later, of the 1919 steel strike , the craft unions within the AFL claimed that any attempt to organize steel workers must recognize their separate craft jurisdictions: workers who used bricks to build kilns or similar structures would have to belong to
9021-497: Was organized as an association of trade unions in 1886. The organization emerged from a dispute with the Knights of Labor (K of L) organization, in which the leadership of that organization solicited locals of various craft unions to withdraw from their International organizations and to affiliate with the K of L directly, an action which would have moved funds from the various unions to the K of L. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions also merged into what would become
9118-527: Was organizing and attempting to emulate it. Thus, within a decade of the founding of the CIO, unions that had been primarily craft unions, such as the International Association of Machinists , originally a railroad union with much of its membership in the construction industry, began to make serious efforts to organize on an industrial basis as well. Even the Carpenters took in sawmill workers who had organized on an industrial basis, although
9215-435: Was replaced in both roles following his death by Thomas F. McMahon . American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor ( A.F. of L. ) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO . It was founded in Columbus, Ohio , in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual support and disappointed in the Knights of Labor . Samuel Gompers
9312-419: Was strongly committed to the national war aims and cooperated closely with Washington. It used the opportunity to grow rapidly. It worked out an informal agreement with the United States government, in which the A.F. of L. would coordinate with the government both to support the war effort and to join "into an alliance to crush radical labor groups" that opposed the war effort, especially the Industrial Workers of
9409-413: Was very prosperous during the war but entered a postwar recession. In general, workers lost out and the A.F. of L. lost influence. In the pro-business environment of the 1920s, business launched a large-scale offensive on behalf of the so-called " open shop ", which meant that a person did not have to be a union member to be hired. A.F. of L. unions lost membership steadily until 1933. In 1924, following
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