The History and Formation of Labor Unions in the Unites States of America

2390 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Labor unions 1875- 1900

“I regard my workpeople just as I regard my machinery...When my machines get old and useless, I reject them and get new, and these people are part of my machinery” (Sands 12). A foreman at a textile mill in Fall River, Massachusetts spoke these words in possibly the worst time during American labor history, the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, large numbers of people in the United States flocked to work in factories where they faced long hours, unsanitary and unsafe conditions and poor wages. Labor unions, or groups of organized workers, formed in the United States to ensure workers the right to a safe workplace and a fair wage in the face of capitalistic factory owners seeking wealth. In exchange, union members owe the responsibility to work diligently and to the best of their abilities or face the failure of their company and the loss of their jobs.
In the eighteenth century, most people in what was to become the United States worked on farms and plantations (Clark 11). Seeking wealth, farm and plantation owners needed cheap or free labor to work their fields, so they bought indentured servants. Initially, indentured servants were people who wanted to immigrate to the colonies but could not afford to do so. Land owners paid for the indentured servants’ journeys over to the colonies. In return, the servants worked as slaves to the land owners for a certain amount of time, usually seven years (Clark 11). After the period of servitude, land owners would release their servants usually with a gift of land or money. However, land owners did not like having to let their servants go. They wanted something more permanent: slaves (Clark 12).
The first slaves were brought to the colonies in 1619 by the...

... middle of paper ...

... by Prohibition. University of Michigan. 2004 http://www.umich.edu/~eng217/student_projects/nkazmers/organizedcrime2.html
I trust this source because it was written by students at the University of Michigan, a prestigious college and I used this source to learn about labor racketeering.
Sands, Stella. “Industrial Revolution” Kids Discover May 2011: 2-17
I trust this source because it comes from a reliable history magazine for kids.
Nicholson, Philip Yale. Labor’s Story in the United States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004
I trust this book because the author cited his sources for all of his information and I used this book learn about labor during the civil rights movement.
Ondersma, Karl. Personal Interview. 7 November 2013
I trust this source because it was a personal interview of a person who worked around labor unions for a long time.

Show More
Related

  • Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox by Edmund Morgan

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    The use of labor came in two forms; indenture servitude and Slavery used on plantations in the south particularly in Virginia. The southern colonies such as Virginia were based on a plantation economy due to factors such as fertile soil and arable land that can be used to grow important crops, the plantations in the south demanded rigorous amounts of labor and required large amounts of time, the plantation owners had to employ laborers in order to grow crops and sell them to make a profit. Labor had become needed on the plantation system and in order to extract cheap labor slaves were brought to the south in order to work on the plantations. The shift from indentured servitude to slavery was an important time as well as the factors that contributed to that shift, this shift affected the future generations of African American descent. The history of colonial settlements involved altercations and many compromises, such as Bacons Rebellion, and slavery one of the most debated topics in the history of the United States of America. The different problems that occurred in the past has molded into what is the United States of America, the reflection in the past provides the vast amount of effort made by the settlers to make a place that was worth living on and worth exploring.

    Read More

  • Big Business Leaders In The Early 1900s

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    The leaders of big business didn’t give workers the rights they deserved. In the text, Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?, it states, “Workers were often forbidden to strike, paid very low wages, and forced to work very long hours.” This evidence is a perfect example of the dehumanization of workers. The employers treated their workers like interchangeable parts, which were easily replaced. The big business leaders started paying less attention to the working conditions, and more to the production rates, and money. They didn’t care about worker’s family or the worker’s wellbeing. Due to the horrible working conditions, the workers were more likely to be injured, and sometimes, die. The capitalists didn’t give their employees the rights and respect they deserved, because to them they were just unskilled, cheap labor. If the workers were unhappy, they would easily replace them with other unskilled workers. That’s why they were considered interchangeable parts. This evidence shows the big business leaders only cared about money, and didn’t treat their workers

    Read More

  • Tannen's Argument

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    The authors seems trustworthy in the sense that they bring in their own thought. The readers are able to follow without much confusion.

    Read More

  • New and Improved Rewards at Work

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...lley, W. H., Jennings, K. M., Wolters, R. S., & Mathis, R. L. (2012). Employment & Labor Relations. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Jones

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unions have always been a pain in employers’ sides. From today to the 1910s, workers have tried to unionize for better conditions in their jobs. Today, people try to opt out of being in unions, avoiding the union’s dues but still reaping the rewards. That’s a long way away from what people experienced in the 1910s. During that time period, people were struggling to even be apart of a union. Some people would even risk their jobs to do it. In fact, the first worker’s strike was was during the the West Virginia Coal Wars. Coal Miners went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and better pay. At the helm was Mary Harris Jones, or Mother Jones as she was known. She fought for coal miner workers’ rights and helped them unionize by

    Read More

  • Why Do Labor Unions Matter?

    1610 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...

    Read More

  • The White-Collar Union Organizer and The Frustrated Labor Historians

    2269 Words  | 5 Pages

    The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.

    Read More

  • Evolution of Slavery

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    The slave trade into the United States began in 1620 with the sale of nineteen Africans to a colony called “Virginia”. These slaves were brought to America on a Dutch ship and were sold as indentured slaves. An Indentured slave is a person who has an agreement to serve for a specific amount of time and will no longer be a servant once that time has passed, they would be “free”. Some indentured slaves were not only Africans but poor or imprisoned whites from England. The price of their freedom did not come free.

    Read More

  • the development of slavery in America

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Indentured Servants helped the colonies progress their population. England at the time was over populated, and jobs were hard to find. So many people that could not afford the boat trip over to America offered themselves as to be an indentured servant for a period of time. This contractual term can last from between four to seven years. Many colonists preferred having indentured servants over slaves, cause they also helped ward off Native Americans from attacking settlers. The one big draw back of indentured servant was that they usually did not make it pass the first year of their contract.

    Read More

  • The History of Labor Unions

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ion of Labor was a failure. It was successful in organizing workers, besides that I did not read anything that would make the American Federation of Labor a successful attempt to address the problems.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Slavery And Indentured Servitude

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    An indentured servant is someone whose passage to America was paid for by someone else and for their passage they would work for whomever bought their passage for 7 years( some may only have to serve for 4-6 years depending on the person buying.) Some masters An indentured servant did many jobs cook, housekeeper, stable boy, nanny, teach children and attend to the family. Indentured servants did most jobs that were inside the house but also ran errands for the family. Indentured servants were often lied to about they would be doing once they arrived and America. The practice indentured servitude was most common in the 17th century. In fact, one third of the immigrants to America in the 17th century were indentured servants. Once slaves arrived in America, the need for indentured servants went

    Read More

  • Labor Unions

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).

    Read More

  • The Black Panther Party

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... very good example of a primary source, by reading this source we the audience are told exactly what the people on December 29th, 1969 are told which gives us a good inside look into the details of everything that is occurring at the time. I, personally would not use this source normally because I feel it was too short and did not display as much information as a normal primary source would. Although I feel this way, the article still does a great job at getting the information out easily and effectively. The strengths this article presets is its quotes coming from governmental representatives and primary examples of how the police took advantage of their powers and authority towards the Black Panthers. The weaknesses the article presents is its short length and its inability to present primary quotes from the opposing side (members of the Black Panther Party).

    Read More

  • Labor Union History Essay

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author of Sweat and Blood, A History of U.S. Labor Unions, stated that in the 1700s, members of the first continental congress used the phrase “union” to unite thirteen states into one American nation. The phrase union meant an association of tens of millions of American men and women who fought together for safe working conditions. For instance, in the year 1619, Polish’s refusal to work because of the denial to vote became the first documented labor strike in America that succeeded (Skurzynski 9). Labor Unions soon became a nuisance to big business employers in the 18th century because of the constant threat they became to employers. Especially because the accumulating number of Unionist in the United States has become empowering over employers.

    Read More

  • Anorexia Athletica Essay

    2564 Words  | 6 Pages

    This source is reliable because it is a published piece of work, which was displayed in a highly regarded and respected newspaper. It is a newspaper that is well known around the world. This source has no bias opinions and is only factual

    Read More

More about The History and Formation of Labor Unions in the Unites States of America

Open Document