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Unions began forming in the mid-19th century in response to the social and economic impact of the Industrial Revolution. National labor unions began to form in the post-Civil War Era.
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Most notable were the National Labor Union, launched in 1866, and the Knights of Labor, which reached its zenith in the mid-1880s.
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1872 - Canada's first union federation is attempted in Toronto with the creation of the Canadian Labour Union (CLU), but the effort is short-lived, lasting only six years until 1878.
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In the history of America's trade and labor unions, the most famous union remains the American Federation of Labor (AFL), founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers.
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The following years saw the formation of several labour associations and unions. The first clearly registered trade-union is considered to be the Madras Labour Union founded by B.P. Wadia in 1918, while the first trade union federation to be set up was the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920.
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The AFL-CIO is the largest union federation in the world, made up of 55 national and international unions with 12.5 million members worldwide. Its member unions span from the Actors Equity Association to the Utility Workers Union of North America.
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Size matters in industrial disputes, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions is the world's largest by far, counting 190 million members today. Like many other trade unions, the ACFTU was considered a revolutionary organization upon its formation in 1925
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The most important challenges unions from developed countries are facing today are globalization and international competition; demographic changes through migration and an ageing workforce; technological changes via elements like the sharing economy and digital innovation like automation; and the impact of climate.
