The Industrial Revolution was in full swing during America’s early years. This fast growing and uncontrolled boom meant there was a real need to protect workers from dangerous work conditions, unfair labor practices, and rising social, political, and economic inequality. Organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours, and safer working conditions, as well as leading efforts to stop child labor, provide health benefits, and give aid to workers who were injured or retired. With the 1794 creation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) in Philadelphia, America stepped into a new chapter of trade union organization.
Before labor unions were established in America, very few working class people had workplace rights or protections. The labor movement brought together people from all walks of life to have a say in American society, fighting together for social and political recognition and economic and political rights. The approach was two-pronged: 1. Focus on the rights of workers and improving conditions and 2. Fighting for social justice and equality for all, embodied in the motto, “An injury to one is a concern of all.” The two approaches worked separately towards the same goal of improving the lives for all Americans, especially the workers that had been left behind during much of the progress of the early years of the country.
The success of early American unions eventually led to the New Deal and the implementation of many of the working rights we take for granted today such as 8-hour work days, child labor laws, a minimum wage and a COLA (cost of living adjustments to wages), Social Security, and the forty hour work week. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s brought social justice unionism back to the forefront, eventually leading to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, among other lifestyle benefits for all Americans.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light a lot of the inequality many Americans face today. Union membership has grown 57% in the past year, but reports of unfair practices have risen 14% in the same time period! That's not to say there hasn't been progress recently. Over 50 Starbucks stores across the country have unionized in the past few years. At Amazon, the second largest US private employer, warehouse workers in New York City voted to form and join the first Amazon Labor Union! As workers around the country, and around the world, are reevaluating their relationship to their jobs, union efforts have been making a comeback.
As we come together to celebrate Labor Day this September 5, it is important to celebrate the victories we, as workers, have had over the course of America’s existence, as well as the sacrifices that have been made to get us to this point. Search “Labor Day” on Issues & Controversies and MasterFILE Premier or check out some of the books listed below to find out more!!
Fight Like Hell : The Untold History of American Labor
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Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate America’s civil rights movement. These are only some of the working-class heroes who propelled American labor’s relentless push for fairness and equal protection under the law. The names and faces of countless silenced, misrepresented, or forgotten leaders have been erased by time as a privileged few decide which stories get cut from the final copy: those of women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, sex workers, prisoners, and the poor. In this definitive and assiduously researched work of journalism, Teen Vogue columnists and independent labor reporter Kim Kelly excavates that untold history and shows how the rights the American worker has today—the forty-hour workweek, workplace-safety standards, restrictions on child labor, protection from harassment and discrimination on the job—were earned with literal blood, sweat, and tears.
Dolores Huerta Stands Strong : The Woman Who Demanded Justice
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When the union leaflets first come through the mill, Ella May has a taste of hope. But the mill owners claim the union is nothing but a front for the Bolshevik menace sweeping across Europe. To maintain their control, the owners will use every means in their power. Inspired by actual events, Wiley Cash brings to life the heartbreak and bravery of the struggle of the labor movement in early twentieth-century America.
"We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now" : The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages
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Tracing a new labor movement sparked and sustained by low-wage workers from across the globe, “We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now” is an urgent, illuminating look at globalization as seen through the eyes of workers-activists: small farmers, fast-food servers, retail workers, hotel housekeepers, home-healthcare aides, airport workers, and adjunct professors who are fighting for respect, safety, and a living wage. With original photographs by Liz Cooke and drawing on interviews with activists in many US cities and countries around the world, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mexico, South Africa, and the Philippines, it features stories of resistance and rebellion, as well as reflections on hope and change as it rises from the bottom up.
On the Line : A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union
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The story of two dedicated women, a labor organizer and an immigrant laundry worker, coming together to spearhead an audacious campaign to unionize one of the most dangerous industries in one of the most anti-union states--Arizona--and offering a nuanced look at the modern-day labor movement and the future of workers' rights.
Union : The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood
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Union tells the story of the struggle to create a national myth for the United States, one that could hold its rival regional cultures together and forge, for the first time, an American nationhood. It tells the dramatic tale of how the story of our national origins, identity, and purpose was intentionally created and fought over in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. On one hand, a small group of individuals--historians, political leaders, and novelists--fashioned and promoted a history that attempted to transcend and erase the fundamental differences and profound tensions between the nation's regional cultures. America had a God-given mission to lead humanity toward freedom, equality, and self-government and was held together by fealty to these ideals.
Overtime : Why We Need a Shorter Working Week
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As precarity and low pay become further embedded in the job market, at a time when work-related stress and exhaustion are endemic, it is clear that a new, radical approach to employment is required. This urgent and timely book shows what a shorter working week means in the context of capitalist economies and delves into the history of this idea as well as its political implications.