The American Labor Movement
The rise of the huge and powerful railroads and other giant industries during and after the American Civil War (1861–65) signaled a loss of voice for workers. In the small, employer-owned businesses of earlier times, the worker and employer usually came to terms with each other as individuals, settling their differences and agreeing on wages, hours, and other issues through face-to-face discussions. This changed drastically in post-Civil War industry, when the owners hired professional managers to streamline the work. In the new era of mass production, in which goods are produced on a large scale, getting the most work from laborers at the lowest possible wages was a matter of company policy. With machines taking over many jobs, more labor became unskilled. Less value was placed upon the skills of the craftsmen, and workers were easily replaced. Large national labor unions arose to play an essential part in the fight for the rights and dignity of the workers. Labor unions are associations of workers formed to protect their common interests, particularly with respect to wages and working conditions.
The history of U.S. labor unions dates back to colonial times. Workers in certain trades, such as carpenters, shoemakers, typesetters, cabinetmakers, machinists, and tailors, began to create associations to obtain better wages and to keep inferior, untrained workmen who worked for lower wages out of their industries.
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