Essays on The Labor Movement

The Haymarket Affair was the consequence of the event that took place on May 4, 1886, in Chicago and was a part of the labor movement for the eight-hour workday. It started peacefully and ended in blood after somebody threw the dynamite at the policemen who tried to prevent the riot. The Haymarket Affair played a crucial part in the failure of the achievements of American working unions. This paper aims to discuss the main roots and results of the Haymarket Affair for American workers between the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century. How and why ...

Question 1

The federal government attempted to smooth over problems in the relationship between labor and management during World War 1 by extending the industrial disputes investigation act to war production. Why did labor oppose this action? With the increased strained relation between labor and management during the World War 1, the government saw the extension of IDIA as the inevitable solution, a move that occasioned even much opposition from the labor movement. Much of the contention traces roots to the recent experiences. The experiences among the employees can be traced to the Kaiserian and profiteering principle (Fudge & Tucker, 2015). Both ...

The nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century have brought some dramatic changes in all aspects of human life. Technological advances, industrial development, new political and social movements have changed the common perception of the social structure, the rights of the different social groups, and the wealth distribution paradigm. In the United States, the period is known as the Progressive Era, where positive changes, improvements in all aspects of life were embraced by the majority of the population and, most of all, by the emerging middle class. Labor movement, socialist ideas and women’s suffrage were all products ...

The history of unions and strikes in America is a history of democratic struggles and successes in hopes of achieving change in the workplace. A union of workers was found necessary to achieve change in the workforce including improvements in conditions, attainment of the right to representation, inclusion of collection bargaining and ending bias and discrimination. Unions are democratic economic stabilizers benefiting both workers and the general public. Workers gained benefits from the formation of unions including pay, pensions, and healthcare, as well as grievance processes and holiday pay. Often times, however, many of these conditions were not achieved ...

Industrializing Canada (1850-1890)

Introduction The queries concerning the effects of early industrialization on the distribution of wealth and income are central to economic and social history. The past experiences provide stories of the changing actions and conditions of the working people in Canada. Most adults in the country today earn a living in the form of salaries and wages sharing the terms of the working class society in Industrial Canada. The development of organized job conditions cannot be evaluated without considering the unions or organizations that pursued objectives designed to benefit employees (Heron, 2014). Child labor also played a vital role in ...

In the past century and a half, the American people have undergone tremendous changes, both in disposition and social advancement. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, and the development of the major modern city, workers have been required to adapt in order to survive. With the world becoming smaller, people of all races and economic classes have had to work together and find ways to coexist, particularly in the workforce. In the experience of labor movements in the United States from the late nineteenth century to today, certain themes have emerged over and over again as central to the ...

Fletcher, Bill, and Fernando Gapasin. Solidarity divided: the crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.

In Bill Fletcher's book Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice, the authors delve into the intricacies of the US labor trade union movement. Today, the struggle for labor and union rights is ongoing and extremely complex; the authors examine the various issues that are causing the complexity and advocate for a greater sense of social justice. The purpose for writing this book is to win the war for ...