The Early Years

1. The Early Years • 1773   Carpenters dressed as Mohawk Indians help lead the Boston Tea Party • 1786      Printers in Philadelphia walk out to protest a wage reduction. Result: Gained a $6 a week minimum wage. • 1792     Philadelphia shoemakers form the first local craft union for collective bargaining. Disbanded within a year. • 1805     A Journeymen Cordwainers union in New York City included a closed shop clause in its constitution. • 1806     Members of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers tried for conspiracy after a strike for higher wages. Charged with combining to raise wages and to injure others. Forced to disband after being fined and went bankrupt. First union to be tried for conspiracy.

2. EXPANSIONS YEARS • 1828    Workingmen's Party formed in Philadelphia. The first all-women factory strike in Dover, NH. Philadelphia Mechanics Union of Trade Associations unsuccessfully strikes for a ten hour day. • 1834 The National Trades Union formed in New York City. The first attempt at a national labor federation. • 1845    Female workers in five cotton mills in Allegheny, Pennsylvania strike for the ten hour day. They are supported by workers in Lowell, Mass. and Manchester, New Hampshire. First professional teacher's association is created in Massachusetts.   Sarah Bagley helps form the Female Labor Reform Association (an auxiliary of the New England Workingmen's Association) in Lowell, Mass. to work for a ten-hour day.

3. CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION • 1860 Successful strike of 20,000 shoemakers in New England.  Abraham Lincoln, in support of New England shoemakers, says, "Thank God that we have a system of labor where there can be a strike.“ • 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln which frees slaves in southern areas occupied by Union forces.      Working Women's Union founded. The present-day Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers founded • 1868   First federal 8 hour day passed, only applies to laborers, mechanics, and workmen employed by the government.  First state labor bureau passed in Massachusetts. • 1881 Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, forerunner of the American Federation of Labor formed inPittsburgh

4. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION • 1886   In Columbus, Ohio, the American Federation of Labor is formed with Samuel Gompers as the first president.   Violence erupts following a mysterious explosion at Haymarket Square in Chicago during a rally in support of the 8 hour day. • 1888 First federal labor relations law passed but it only applies to rail companies . • 1892 Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers lose the fight over Carnegie Steel's attempt to break the union. • 1894 Strike by the American Railway Union against the Pullman Palace Car Company near Chicago is defeated by the use of injunctions and federal troops.

5. PROGRESSIVE ERA • 1898 Erdman Act passed which provides for mediation and voluntary arbitration on the railroads. This law replaces the 1888 law. • 1900 International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded. • 1901 United States Steel defeats the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers after a strike which lastedthree months.  United Textile Workers of America founded • 1903 At the annual AFL convention, blue collar and middle class women unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League. This organization is created to help organize women.  The Department of Commerce and Labor is formed.  Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) leads the March of the Mill Children to President Roosevelt's home in New York.Many of the children are victims of industrial accidents.

6. PROGRESSIVE ERA • 1898 Erdman Act passed which provides for mediation and voluntary arbitration on the railroads. This law replaces the 1888 law. • 1900 International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded. • 1901 United States Steel defeats the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers after a strike which lastedthree months.  United Textile Workers of America founded • 1903 At the annual AFL convention, blue collar and middle class women unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League. This organization is created to help organize women.  The Department of Commerce and Labor is formed.  Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) leads the March of the Mill Children to President Roosevelt's home in New York.Many of the children are victims of industrial accidents.

7. THE 20’s and 30’s • 1926 The Railway Labor Act required employers to bargain collectively and not discriminate against employees who wantedto join a union. The act also provided for mediation and voluntary arbitration in labor disputes • 1929  The stock market crash in October began the longest recession economic period in American history. • 1930  The Supreme Court upheld the Railway Labor Act's prohibition of employer interference or coercion in the choice of  bargaining representative (Texas & N.O.R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Railway Clerks). • 1931  In the Davis-Bacon Act, Congress provided for the payment of the prevailing wages to employees of contractors and subcontractors on public construction. • 1932  The Anti-Injunction Act prohibited Federal injunctions in most labor disputes. Wisconsin created the first unemployment insurance act in the United States.

8. The 30’s • 1933 Francis Perkins becomes the Secretary of Labor and the first women named to a Cabinet position.  The Wagner-Peyser Act created the United States Employment Service within the Dept. of Labor. • 1934 500,000 Southern mill workers walked off the job in the Great Uprising of '34.  The first National Labor Legislation Conference was called by the Secretary of Labor to obtain closer Federal-Statecooperation in working out a sound national labor legislation program. The US joined the International Labour Organization. • 1935 The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) establishes the first national labor policy of protecting the right of workers to organize and to elect their representatives for collective bargaining. • 1936 Social Security Act approved. Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed within the AFL to foster industrial unionism

9. Second World War • 1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act created a $.25 minimum wage and time and a half for hours over 40 per week. • 1941 The United Auto Workers were recognized by Ford Motor Company. They sign a union-shop agreement- the first in the auto industry. The United States entered World War II on December 8. The AFL and the CIO announce a no-strike pledge for t he duration of the war. • 1946  Largest strike wave in history as pent up labor troubles are unleashed by the end of war-time controls. • 1947    Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act which restricts union activities and permits the states to pass "right-to-work" laws. • The FMCS is also created to help establish industrial peace. • The Norris-La Guardia Act prohibition against injunctions in labor disputes was held to be inapplicable to the Government in U.S. v. John L. Lewis

10. Modern times • 1949 Child labor amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act • 1955 Bakery Workers, Laundry Workers and Teamsters expelled from AFL-CIO • 1959 Landum Griffin (LMRDA) passes which regulates internal affairs of Unions Hospital Workers begin organizing in New York City • 1962 Executive Order allowing Federal Unions the right to collective bargaining • 1963 Equal Pay Act prohibited wage differences based on sex • 1964 The Civil Rights Act

11. Modern Times • 1970 Congress passes OSHA • 1974 Pensions placed under ERISA Public Employee Union Division created HEALTH CARE WORKERS AND NON-PROFIT EMPLOYEES get the first legal right to organize • 1975 AFSCME conducts first legal strike of public employees • 1977 Minimum Wage $2.65 per hour • 1981 PATCO strikes and air traffic controllers are fired by President Reagan • 1980-Present Merger of many Unions in specific Internationals along craft, industry and skill lines • 1990 American with Disabilities Act • 1993 Family Medical Leave Act • 1997 Minimum Wage $5.15 • 2003 First proposed Amendment to Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 • 2004 Congress changes proposed amendments to FLSA