National Labor Union

(noun)

The first federation of American unions, established after the Civil War. The NLU paved the way for later federated Unions such as the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Related Terms

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act
  • Knights of Labor
  • trade union
  • American Federation of Labor

Examples of National Labor Union in the following topics:

  • The Knights of Labor and the "Conditions Essential to Liberty"

    • The Knights of Labor transitioned from a fraternal organization to a labor union that promoted the uplift of the workingman.
    • In some cases, it acted as a labor union, negotiating with employers, but it was never well organized.
    • Wright, established a secret union under the name, the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor.
    • The collapse of the National Labor Union in 1873 left a vacuum for workers looking for organization.
    • As membership expanded, the Knights began to function more as a labor union and less like a fraternal organization.
  • Toward Permanent Unions

    • The American Federation of Labor was a coalition of national unions that proved durable enough to influence national politics.
    • The anarchists were blamed, and their spectacular trial gained national attention.
    • Unions began forming in the mid-1800s.
    • It was a coalition of many national unions, and helped to resolve jurisdictional disputes, created citywide coalitions that helped coordinate strikes, and after 1907 became a player in national politics, usually on the side of the Democrats .
    • Highly publicized reports of corruption in the Teamsters and other unions hurt the image of the labor movement during the 1950s.
  • The Decline of Labor

    • The policy promoted union-free "open shops," where workers would not be required to join a labor union.
    • It was endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturersin 1920.
    • This successful campaign against unions sought to depict unions as "alien" to the nation's individualistic spirit.
    • In addition, some employers, like the National Association of Manufacturers, used Red Scare tactics to discredit unionism by linking them to Communist activities.
    • Because Filipinos were rejected by traditional labor unions, they had to form their own unions.
  • A New Labor Force

    • World War I saw a change in U.S. labor: women entered the workforce as never before, and labor unions gave firm support to war efforts.
    • Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and nearly all labor unions were strong supporters of the war effort.
    • President Wilson appointed Gompers to the powerful Council of National Defense.
    • To keep factories running smoothly, Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918, which forced management to negotiate with existing unions.
    • Examine the new labor force of women, and the strong support of labor unions, during World War I.
  • Labor and Domestic Tensions

    • During the Gilded Age, new labor unions, which used a wide variety of tactics, emerged.
    • Craft-oriented labor unions, such as carpenters, printers, shoemakers, and cigar makers, grew steadily in the industrial cities after 1870.
    • These unions used frequent short strikes as a method to attain control over the labor market, and fight off competing unions.
    • Starting in the mid 1880s as a new group, the Knights of Labor grew rapidly.
    • The most dramatic major strike was the 1894 Pullman Strike which was coordinated effort to shut down the national railroad system.
  • A New Direction for Unions

    • The New Deal and the economic growth during World War II greatly empowered American labor unions, which resulted in the dramatic increase of union membership.
    • The Roosevelt administration immediately followed with the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA; known also as the Wagner Act), which offered many of the labor protection and regulation provisions that were earlier included in NIRA.
    • The act also created the National Labor Relations Board, which was to guarantee the rights included in NLRA (as opposed to merely negotiating labor disputes) and organize labor unions representation elections.
    • It established a national minimum wage and overtime standards.
    • Consequently, in the context of labor legislation and labor unions discussed in this module, the term "worker" refers mostly to industrial workers.
  • Setbacks for Unions

    • Labor unions, or associations of workers with the purpose of consolidating bargaining power and protecting workers' rights, grew very rapidly during World War I.
    • Total labor union membership soared to 5 million at its peak in 1919.
    • A second major labor dispute broke out on July 1, 1922, when 400,000 railroad workers and shop men went on a national strike over hourly wages and the length of the work week.
    • Endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in 1920, the plan promoted union-free "open shops" and the practice of forcing employees to sign "yellow-dog contracts" in which they promised not to join unions.
    • Max Gardner sent 250 National Guard troops.
  • Gompers and the AFL

    • Samuel Gompers was a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history, founding the American Federation of Labor.
    • Samuel Gompers was an English-born American cigar maker who became a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history.
    • Gompers helped found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881 as a coalition of like-minded unions.
    • As was the case with other unions of the day, the Cigarmaker's Union nearly collapsed in the financial crisis of 1877, in which unemployment skyrocketed and ready availability of desperate workers willing to labor for subsistence wages put pressure upon the gains in wages and shortening of hours achieved in union shops.
    • During a severe period of national economic recession in the early 1890s, labor unrest was at its height.
  • AFL and WWI

    • Particularly during World War I, cooperation between capital and labor was actively sought by both unions and the government as the best means of rationalizing and increasing American production on behalf of the war effort.
    • The AFL also encouraged the formation of local labor bodies (known as central labor councils) in major metropolitan areas in which all of the affiliates could participate.
    • These local labor councils acquired a great deal of influence in some cases.
    • Officially, the AFL adopted a philosophy of "business unionism" that emphasized unions' contribution to businesses' profits and national economic growth.
    • American Federation of Labor head Samuel Gompers (right) endorsed the pro-labor independent Presidential candidate Robert M.
  • Empowering Labor

    • One important attempt were labor protection and regulation provisions included in the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA, June 1933).
    • Although eventually the National Labor Board was established to handle labor-employers conflicts, NIRA failed to secure long-term workers' rights.
    • In the aftermath of NIRA's failure, the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA; known also as the Wagner Act) was passed.
    • The act also created the National Labor Relations Board, which was to guarantee the rights included in NLRA (as opposed to merely negotiating labor disputes) and organized labor unions representation elections.
    • Francis Perkins, the Secretary of Labor in the Roosevelt administration, looks on as Franklin Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act.
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