The American Labor Movement Of The United States

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The American Labor movement called attention to working condition problems in the United States. Gompers states (1919: 183) “The American labor movement will cooperate with all other agencies to help in this reconstruction time. Our movement is not to destroy, but to construct”. It was a time for change, there was a rapid growth of population, manufacturing factories and exploitation of its workers. The American Labor movement fought for worker’s rights and created lasting labor laws to protect individuals from exploitation. Many immigrants came to The United States searching to obtain the American Dream; to be successful and own property they could call home. In the book The Jungle, Sinclair (1990) paints a picture of the many immigrants that came in the early 1900s with their hearts set on working hard and having that pay off only to have the American Dream be just that, a dream. As immigrants arrived in Packingtown, a meatpacking district in Chicago, they were soon met with many struggles and the reality that America was not what they expected; with horrible living condition, unbearable working and sanitation conditions. As a result, organized groups, such as, unions started to develop and grew rapidly, giving voice to the workers. The development of these organized collection groups affected the workers, the factories they worked for and untimely labor laws in the United States. What I like explore are what were the factors that affected and influenced the growth of organized collection action during the early labor movement era? To better understand collection action, David S. Meyer clarifies it as organized mobilization; a significate number of individuals and organizers who build a sense of likeminded community,... ... middle of paper ... ...g with those who saw political means and basic social change. From 1886 to 1890 membership decline and by 1917 the union influence deteriorated and was terminated. As a result of the internal conflict and before the Knights termination, the American Federation of Labor was founded in 1881 by Samuel Gompers. According to United States, Bureau of Labor Statistics (1964) the organization was known as pure and simple unionism. The AFL intentions were higher wages and better working conditions. During the depression of 1873, they financially assisted members and their families during strikes, unemployment, injury, or death. By World War I they saw membership grow to two millions and by 1920 it rose to four millions. Conclusion Though these collection action saw a short duration, they made huge strives towards workers’ rights. Congress established the eight hour day

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