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General Strike in Philadelphia
20,000 workers who wanted a ten hour day and a wage increase. It was the first general strike in North America and the ruling was in the workers favor. -
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HIstory of the Labor Movement
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10 Hour Work Day Law
New Hampshire became the first state to enact the 10 hour work day law. -
Great Shoemaker's Strike
Started with 3000 shoemakers in Massachusetts fighting for better wages. Soon it spread to 25 New England towns; 20,000 workers left their jobs and others marched in parades and rallies. They got partial victory with their efforts. -
National Labor Union Founded
The NLU was the first national labor federation in the United States. It followed the unsuccessful efforts of labor activists to form a national coalition of local trade unions. -
American Federation of Labor
The AFL was the first federation of labor unions in the United States. Samuel Gompers was elected president. It was founded in Colombus, Ohio by craft unions. -
Women's Trade Union League
The WTUL was formed at an AFL convention. It was founded to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. -
Industrial Workers of the World
The IWW or the "Wobblies" is an international revolutionary industrial labor organization. They feel that all workers should be united as a social class and that capitalism and wage labor should be abolished. Their views clashed with those of the AFL. Their motto is "an injury to one is an injury to all." -
The Ludlow Massacre
In Ludlow, Colorado 1,200 miners went on strike protesting their low wages and poor working conditions. Tension grew for several months between the miners and the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation’s (CF+I). Deaths occured from October until April 20th when the National Guard was called into action. Troops went into the camps with machine guns killing twenty-six people that day. Sixty-six people were killed over the time period causing it to be one of the most brutal attacks on organised labor. -
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
It was the first African American labor union that received a charter in the AFL. Led by A. Philip Randolph and Milton P. Webster. -
Committee for Industrial Organization
John Lewis created the CIO within the AFL for industrial unions. -
Congress of Indusstrial Organization
In 1936 the AFL suspended the 10 CIO unions. In 1938 these unions joined together to form the new CIO (Congress of Industrial Organization.) -
The Great Strike Wave of 1946
The year of 1946 had the most strikes with the largest percentage of workers on strike than any other year in recorded U.S history. -
AFL and CIO Merge
The AFL and CIO were rivals for years that had very different ideas about labor movement. However in 1955 they realized they would be stronger if joined together. This formed the AFL-CIO. -
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
Regulates labor unions internal affairs. It is also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act. It was created to prevent union corruption. -
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Also known as OSHA it was created to give working men and women safe conditions by setting standards and enforcing these. -
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Affiliated within the AFL-CIO, it is a organization of African American trade union members. CBTU has improved the influence and power of black workers in the trade union movement as well as in their communities. -
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
It was formed to provide Latin American trade union members a "voice" with the AFL-CIO. -
Coalition of Labor Union Women
The CLUW was formed to bring the feminist movement into the labor movement. It is the only national union solely for women union members. -
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
It was the first and remains the only national organization for Asian Pacific American union members. -
Pride at Work
Pride at Work (PAW) was formed in 1994 and is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group of labor union activists which seeks full equality for LGBT workers in their workplaces and their unions. -
Industrial Union Council
The IUC was created to bring together manufacturing unions to develop strategies and promote policies to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing industries. -
Workers Uniting
The United Steel Workers union (USW) joins with unions in Britain, Ireland, Canada, and the Caribbean to form the global union, Workers Uniting.
