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Knights of Labor founded
The Knights promoted the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected Socialism and radicalism, demanded the eight-hour day, and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism. -
Samuel Gompers founds the American Federation of Labor
one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio in May 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. -
Strike by ILGWU wins pay gains, shorter workdays
Cloakmakers in New York City go on strike, and their action becomes known as "The Great Revolt." Louis Brandeis helped to develop the "Protocol of Peace" between the ILGWU and the Manufacturers' Protective Association, by which the union gained higher wages, recognition, and a system for dealing with grievances. -
John L. Lewis becomes president of United Mine Workers by leading successful strike
American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the driving force behind the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which established the United Steel Workers of America and helped organize millions of other industrial workers in the 1930s. -
Wagner Act gives workers right to orgainze
The Wagner Act is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector that create labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
federal statute of the United States. The FLSA introduced a maximum 44-hour seven-day workweek,established a national minimum wage,guaranteed "time-and-a-half" for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor", a term that is defined in the statute. -
ALF and CIO merge to create ALF-CIO
is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of fifty-seven national and international unions,together representing more than 11 million workers (as of June 2008, the most recent official statistic) -
Increase in public-sector unions; decline in overall union membership
is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector (government-owned, supported or regulated) organizations. Public sector unions have become some of the larger or more influential unions in certain areas of the world in recent times as private sector union membership has declined sharply.