Labor unions and their forefathers, the guilds, have been part of the fabric of America throughout its history. Their roots go back as far as the craft guilds of the eastern America's seabord in the 1700's. These were organized along the lines of labor skills, there being guilds for cabinet makers, cordwainers, cobblers, and others. The Continental Congress did its historic work in the Carpenter's Hall (a guild meeting place). The Declaration of Independence was signed in this building.
As the nation evolved in the remainder of the 18th and throughout the 19th century as the fledgling national economy spread across the continent, all manner of businesses enterprises were founded. Ownership had a free hand to establish work rules and pay scales for their employees. No greater or deeper decision process existed than the employer looking at what needed to be done, offered the tasks to a willing labor force, and hired those accepting the offer (or challenge) in as few numbers as the employer could afford, the free market was at work.
The next generation of labor organization evolved in the second half of the 19th century. Terrance Powdery led the Knights of Labor, formed in 1869. Membership was open to all, skilled and unskilled, black and white, all who wanted to join. After reaching a peak membership estimated at 750,000 in the mid 1880's. Membership waned following the Haymarket Square riot and the Kinghts eventually ceased to exist. It was replaced by the American Federation of Labor, founded in 1880 by Samuel Gompers. Gompers' union was an umbrella for indivdual specific unions, defined by industries or trades.
January of 1890 gave birth to the UMW, formed with this statement as the preamble to their founding declaration "We have founded the United Mine Workers of America for the purpose of...educating all mine workers in America to realize the necessity of unity of action and purpose, in demanding and securing by lawful means the just fruits of our toil." Although the initial focus of this new group was safety in the mines, the phrase "just fruits" imnplied wages as a demand more clearly in to focus.
From here forward union demands often were in response to severe and dangerous working conditions and were often coupled with violent response. The Pullman strike of 1894 was over a relatively benign issue with management but brought a response from management that included 3,400 "special deputies". Later, President Grover Cleveland moved in federal troops to break the strike. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 killed 150 young women. This tragedy brought what was a criminal safety situation to light relating to the confinement of employees during their workday to a specific area secured by locked doors. Eventually much needed work rule changes were mandated by the Federal government, although it took until 1934 to get the laws enacted. The wheel of union, management and government cooperation was now grinding but slowly. Also imbedded in this time period was the Davis Bacon Act in which the Federal government mandated the wage rate on Federal projects. This bill was introduced and managed by two Repbulicans (Senator James J. Davis of Pennsylvania and Representative Robert L. Bacon of New York) and signed in 1931 by a Republican President (Herbert Hoover).
All this to lay some perspective groundwork. Unions in America today are a different breed than their trade related origins. They first evolved in to a supplement to market place competition with wages, benefits, and work rules mandated by multiyear contracts and renewal negotiations. Instead of a labor market made up of millions of individual units, those units combine in much smaller numbers of groups called unions, and that group of units (unions) negotiate for the masses. Sounds a lot like the represetative form of government our founders handed to to us. More on unions in the next installment.
