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COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group, COPYRIGHT 2005 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation
LABOR UNIONISM (ISSUE)
A modern U.S. labor union is an organized body of workers banded together to better their standard of living by seeking higher wages and improved working conditions. Workers authorize their union representatives to negotiate with their employers in a process known as collective bargaining. If negotiation fails, the workmen often attempt to achieve their goals through strikes (withholding their labor) or by persuading others to boycott their employer's products.
Unions first appeared in the 1820s. They were usually small, local, and short-lived. As the factory system grew in the mid-19th century so did the need for workers' organizations. Before the Civil War (1861–65) such groups remained small and localized. But after the war efforts were made to form labor unions on a national scale.
The first such effort began in 1866 when several trade unions sent delegates to a convention in Baltimore. Under the leadership of William H. Sylvis this group formed the National Labor Union. The organization grew rapidly and by 1872 it claimed 600,000 members. Its main issue was the eight-hour day, a demand that was regarded as extremely radical. The National Labor Union experienced success for a short time, but numerous factors combined to destroy it: Sylvis' death in 1869, the union's conversion to a political party in 1872, and the panic...
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