Student Essay on AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO

Summary:   A history of the AFL-CIO, consisting of unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

American Federation of Labor and (CIO)

It all began when workers were being mistreated and having to work in such unruly working conditions of their everyday jobs. Strikes were held to wake up the society in what they should know about what is going on with their products that are being brought to them. Workers had to suffer from sickness, disease, and sometimes even death. Everyday workers also have to feed their families but due to the low pay on their paycheck, they were not able to have food on the table for their families. Unions started to up rise in the industries to help the unfairly treated workers. The American Federation of Labor was one of the first unions to help the workers. The American Federation of Labor is basically a union which helps workers fight for better pay, equality in race, and better working conditions. The Congress of Industrial Organization branched off from the American Federation of Labor. The Congress of Industrial Organization merged with the American federation of Labor to create what is now called the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organization later on in the late 1950's. The AFL-CIO still exists today. We chose this subject because it was about a union. Union's fight for what they want and won't stop to get it. A great example is the work-to-rule going on in Silver Creek. So it is important to realize that unions can accomplish anything with teamwork.

The American Federation of labor (a.k.a AFL) started in Colombus, Ohio in 1866. Samuel Gompers founded this union. The American Federation of Labor was started because of some dissatisfaction of trade union leaders with the Knights of Labor. The American Federation of Labor did not exclude people because of their race or color. The American Federation of Labor supported the legislation. They were for the literacy tests and other ways of the legislation that would minimize the unskilled immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. Samuel Gompers wanted the congress to reauthorize the 1882 Chinese exclusion act in 1901.The American Federation of Labor was a strong union indeed. The Knight of Labor began to weaken as the American Federation of Labor grew even stronger. The American Federation of Labor was the only national union in American in the late 1890's. The American Federation of Labor was a light to the people. People started to make and join other unions because of the American Federation of Labor. United Mine workers, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and the United Brewery Workers were just some of the unions to come out. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the American Federation of Musicians helped formed the American Federation of Labor. The American Federation of Labor influenced refusal of expulsion. By using that influence, the AFL helped heal rival unions claiming to be a union of the same cause, or to join their two unions to make one bigger and stronger union. The American Federation of Labor wanted to obtain exemption from the anti-trust laws. While they were doing that, the courts reversed legislative successes that the American Federation of Labor won. The American Federation of Labor did not like dual unionism. The Industrial Workers of the World was created in 1905. The IWW acted as an alternative to the American Federation of Labor. The AFL wanted to overthrow the IWW, but it didn't seem as a big threat to the American Federation of Labor. Dual unionism was a big problem which caused a union to rival another union. The brewers and the Teamsters both claimed to represent beer truck drivers, the Machinists and the International Typographical Union both represented print room employees. The American Federation of Labor's method of settling this rivalry was usually favoring the bigger more influential union that would make it far in the future. Since American Federation of Labor was a big organization, departments began to form within the AFL to regulate other unions supporting that cause. The Metal Trades Department controlled shipbuilding. The Pipefitters, Machinists and the Iron Workers joined forces to represent a group of workers known as the Railway Employees Department. The AFL was the largest union in the first half of the twentieth century. The American Federation of Labor even created what is known as the Congress of Industrial Organizations (aka CIO) by unions that left the AFL in 1938. During the years that the AFL was booming, several people were presidents of the AFL. Samuel Gompers (1886-1894) was the founder of the AFL. George Meany (1952-1955) was the last president of the AFL as well as the CIO

Also, the Congress of Industrial Organization is a federation of unions that organized the industrial workers in the U.S. The original name is actually the Committee for the Industrial Organization. Eight unions within the AFL detached from the American Federation of Labor to pressure them. When they failed, five of the eight unions formed what is called the CIO as a rival federation in 1938. The Congress of industrial organization rejoined the AFL to form the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organization (a.k.a AFL-CIO) in 1955. The reason why the eight detached themselves from the American Federations of Labor is over an argument on how to organize the industrial workers. The two sides were craft unionism and Industrial unionism. Craft unionism was not organizing workers on an industrial basis. For example, unions that represent all of the production workers in an enterprise. The people who were for industrial unionism were for organizing workers in an industrial basis, Which would mean dividing workers in a single plant then dividing them into different number of crafts represented by different organizations. Within the 1930's, the argument of having industrial unionism or not became more intense. The great depression came and wiped out some unions like the United Mine Workers, and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Some unions thought that their own unions would not last while the workers in the basic industry were not unionized. They started to push the American Federation of Labor to change their policies. Many unions thought this then left the AFL to pursue another type of union. Hence, the Congress of Industrial Organization was born. The Congress of Industrial Organization did pretty well on its own. The CIO had many victories. One of which is the forty day sit-down strike. The sit-down strike was an attempt to crush the steel industry. The UAW built a membership of 25,000 workers and planned to shut down the production building in Flint, Michigan. They succeeded and took over many GM factories in Flint, Michigan. After many years, the head of the Congress of Industrial Organization was discussing about merging the Congress of Industrial Organization with the American Federation of Labor. The AFL learned to embrace industrial organization and included some industrial unions like the International Association of Machinists. Both the AFL and the CIO embraced the cause of civil rights. The American Federation of Labor still had unions that openly discriminated against blacks. The American Federation of Labor was twice as large as the Congress of Industrial Organization and CIO had some internal conflicts as well as rivalries which made CIO even weaker. The head of the CIO had some conditions when merging with AFL: guarantees against racial discrimination, provisions supporting industrial unionism, and to clean up corrupt unions. With that said, AFL was able to follow through with some of the conditions. The unions within the Congress of Industrial Organization were now members of the newly found organization American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organization. CIO disappeared during the merging phase.

After all the hardships of workers, they have gone far too where they are today. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations helped start off many unions to help the workers who are being mistreated in today's society. Unions such as National Union of Teachers, Central Labor Union, United Mine Workers, Teamsters Union, and etc. are still around today helping mistreated workers around the world a fair chance of giving them decent pay or better working conditions. Today there are still obstructions where workers do their job but thankfully there are many unions out there that will help workers to be treated fairly. One union that is very familiar in the State of California is the Teachers Union. Teachers in our school are fighting for better things in their schools that they teach in. Budget Cuts and Lay Offs are some of the things that the Governor of California has done to public schools in the state. The game of musical chairs with the teachers has frustrated everyone which forced them to join a union to stop the silly game that the Governor is playing. Labor Day is a day that we celebrate for the labor workers of the world. Labor Day started by Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those workers who worked in hardships and suffered worse than any person. The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. In 1884, the first Monday of September was selected to be the "workingman's holiday." The American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Labor had set off the greatest example that any union has given which was fight for what you want.

After all the hard work that the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organization has gone through, today's society is a bit stronger because of these unions. If it were not for the workers who stood up and spoke for themselves, workers today and jobs all over the world would be corrupted and unfair. The American Federation of Labor went through a lot of struggles with the Congress of Industrial Organization and wonders of a merger which was successful. The merger of the two union organizations made one of the greatest, strongest, most influential union group in the nation. Learning about the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organization helps people know that there is a support system where a worker can go to help them help themselves to find fairness and equality in their jobs. Knowing that there is a support system out there for a struggling workman helps make the nation a much more secure place. The AFL-CIO helped the nation become equal and fair for all people.