The early years of union organization is very rich in history and it paved the way for the establishment of unions. The first organization to discuss is the Knights of Labor (KOL). This secrecy was maintained in order to protect their workers from being fired in the event that the employer discovered that an employee was participating in a union organization. At this time, unions were looked upon as a very bad thing by management. There were no laws stopping employers from getting rid of anyone who participated. The KOL was the first nationally spread union in the United States and it had more prestige than any other organization in this time period. The KOL had simple goals: to “change the existing labor-management relationship so that the depersonalized and specialized aspects of mass production can be avoided” and to “attain moral betterment from employees an

Next the American Federation of Labor which was formed in 18865 after some national unions were expelled from the KOL. The primary founder of the AFL was Samuel Gompers. At one time Gomper's was a member of the KOL, but he believed their objectives were way off target. Gomper’s set up this union much differently than the KOL did previously. This union was not recognized as just one sole entity, it was made up of many separate unions that kept their identity, but collectively were one. Their primary objective was economic betterment. However Gomper’s objective was to stress the idea of “pure and simple unionism” (Holley, 2001). They believed that capitalism must flourish in order for both sides of labor to receive the most economic benefit. Their third movement which also paved the way for the future of unions was in the political arena. Gomper’s believed that in order for the union to increase its power and respect they have to get political backing. They got this backing by giving financial support to those candidates who believed in the same ideas that they did. Gomper’s ideas changed the face of unions and many of his ideas and moves that were begun then are still used today.

d society” (Holley, 2001). At the time mass production was coming in and taking the common specialist out of the world. By producing shoes and other items in mass quantities, there was no way that shoemakers could compete in price with this monster of mass production taking over. One of the first real battles fought by a union was fought by the KOL to try and get mass production eliminated. As is known today, they did not succeed in that goal but instead, paved the way for the formation of other unions.

Another major incident that occurred was in the railroad industry and it was the Pullman Strike of 1894. George Pullman was a man that essentially owned a town. He owned the housing, factory, and services of this small town and almost all of those that lived there worked for him. In 1894 he cut the wage rates for all of his employees, but kept the rental fees of his houses the same. Thi

Some topics in this essay:
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