The Past, Present and Future of Labor Unions

2280 Words5 Pages

ABSTRACT:

Labor Unions have become an important factor in our industries. For many years, labor unions have served as the main voice of the workers to their employers. The continuous effort of labor unions in helping the laborers ensure their rights in their jobs, acquire all the benefits they need and to eliminate the injustice experienced by workers in their workplace is still an ongoing process. In order to understand labor unions in general, knowing the roots of it is the best way to start. In this paper, the progress of the labor unions throughout history, the issues faced the developments it achieved, laws passed and the problem faced by today’s unions will be tackled.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction………………………………………………………….…1

II. Historical Development of Labor Union in the United States

a. The first unions………………………………………...…….…2

b. After the Civil War…………………………….……………….3

-The NLU

c. The Knights of Labor…………………………………………….3

d. 1880’s -1900’s

-The AFL...............................................................................3

-The IWW...............................................................................4

- The Department of Labor and Laws formed.............................4

· Norris-La Guardia Act…...……………………....……4

·National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933......................5

· National Labor Relations Act of 1955...........................5

·Taft-Harley Act...............................................................6

·Landrum-Griffin Act.......................................................7

-The CIO..............................................................................5

e. AFL-CIO Reunification.................................................................5

f. The Decline in Union Membership.................................................8

III. Conclusion................................................................10

Workers are the most important aspect in the business world because no business can function without their employees. In return, employers should fulfill their workers needs and in order to negotiate the workers demands, they need a certain sort of representation who can negotiate with the employers and their fellow workers. The representation that every worker asked for was fleshed out by the creation of labor unions. Labor unions b...

... middle of paper ...

...cline of Union Power.” About.com

11. “The Labor Movement inAmerica.”

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm

12. “Decline of Labor Unions Linked to Rise of Globalization”. VOANews.com

13. Sleigh, Stephen. “What Do Unions Do?”

WORKS CITED:

“Labor Movement.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 5th ed. 2005. 4-13.

“Labor Unions in the United States.” MSN Encarta. 1993-2005. 25 Oct. 2007.

< encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761553112/Labor_Union.html>

Pride, William, Robert Hughes, Jack Kapoor. Business. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.

Sleigh, Stephen R. "What Do Unions Do?--A Unionist's Perspective." Journal of Labor Research 26.4 (Fall 2005): 623-640. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. La Guardia Comm. College, Long Island City, NY. 21 October 2007. .

“The Decline of Union Power.” About.com: Economics. 2 Nov. 2007

< http://economics.about.com/od/laborinamerica/a/union_decline.htm>

“The Labor Union Movement in America.” The Social Studies Help Center. 2 Nov. 2007. < http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm>

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