Labor Unions

Labor Unions 

                   Labor Unions are organized groups of worker that have come to together to protect their rights. During the late 1700's, workers began to form into labor unions so that they could collectively bargain with their employers.These unions fought for rights like better wages, reasonable hours, and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to end child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to injured and or retired workers. Labor unions are utilized to this day for a wide variety of professions,  from construction workers to doctors. 

Working conditions:
-12-16 hour shifts
-6 days a week
-very dangerous conditions
-if you were injured or sick you lost your job
Child labor:
-often times, factory workers hired children
-children were hired because they were smaller and cheaper

Craft Union:
-highly skilled craftsmen
Trade Union:
-unskilled workers

Union Tactics:
1. strikes- walking off of a job in protest
2. boycotts- encouraging people to not buy goods from certain countries
3. mediation- a neutral third party to  oversee negotiations

A few of the ways the employers responded...
1. Yellow-dog contracts- forbade workers from joining unions
2. Blacklists- known union sympathizers were fired
3. Lockouts- closing of factories to punish workers for unionizing

Some of the different strikes and riots included the knights of labor, the haymarket riot, and the homestead strike. Each shared rather similar motives behind them.They wanted to not only  make sure working conditions were both safe and fair but also  to make sure that child labor was banned because it wasn't healthy for the children. Labor Unions were very useful and still are to this day, making sure the workday is both  safe and ethical for everyone involved.

Sources:
http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0113/the-history-of-unions-in-the-united-states.aspx
http://www.history.com/topics/labor
https://www.unionplus.org/page/brief-history-unions

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 21, 2018 at 5:35 PM

    I agree that labor unions are sometimes a necessity and are useful when advocating for equal pay and safe working conditions. Still, even today, many companies and factories do not provide fair and safe working conditions. Many corporations still discriminate, use child labor, and pay women less then men. What do you think can be done today to help better these problems?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 22, 2018 at 6:41 PM

    I personally agree with you that there are still problems today involving working conditions. I think that workers need to continue to advocate for themselves and report unjust actions in order to gain the equal and fair rights they deserve.

    ReplyDelete

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