Central Labor Union

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The name Central Labor Union was a name for trade union organizations in the United States of America in the 19th century, which organized themselves in a city or district basis and with their federal structures were open to all workers and craftsmen .

history

In the early nineteenth century, artisans and workers in the northeastern United States began organizing locally and forming many different professional unions or affiliations. The names for these organizations were as varied as the organizations themselves. One of the first associations whose founding and existence is documented was the New York Society of Journeymen-Shipwrights , founded on April 3, 1803 " House Carpenters of New York " and " Tailors of New York" followed"(Schneider) 1806. The aim of this and the following organizations was to fight for wage increases and to achieve reductions in working hours.

" City Federation ", " Trades Alliance ", " Trades Council ", " Workingmen's Union ", " Workingmen's Assembly " and " Trade and Labor Alliance " are just a few of the many names of workers' and artisan organizations that we look back on today cause confusion on the labor movement in the United States. But one name was very common from the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865), the name of the " Central Labor Union ". Even if the form of a federal organization to bring local trade unions together under a common roof already existed in 1833 through the " General Trades Union ", after the collapse of the union organizations as a result of the economic crisis of 1857 and the American Civil War, one had to A fresh start can be made. The country's economic centers, with New York , Boston , Baltimore , Philadelphia and Chicago, were pioneers .

1866 was invited to a national congress in Baltimore by the Central Labor Unions and other workers' bodies in New York and Baltimore. On August 20, 1866, the " National Labor Union " was finally brought into being by 61 represented unions . Their common goal was to enforce the eight-hour day . When the National Labor Union decided at its congress in Columbus , Ohio in 1872 to move to the political arena with the support of David Davis as a presidential candidate , more and more local unions separated from the central association.

Another economic crisis (1873) did not spare the trade union movement either. Wages fell and many became unemployed. Due to the upswing of 1878 and the experiences of the economic crisis , the Central Labor Unions, Trade Councils and Trade Assemblies formed anew and strengthened the cohesion of the local trade unions. The need to unite and reorganize nationally was created by the two competing unions, which differ in their organizational structure , the Knights of Labor (founded in 1869) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which became the Federation of Organized Trades founded in 1881 in 1886 and Labor Unions (FOTLU).

Based on the six Central Labor Unions from St. Louis , Cleveland , Indianapolis , Terre Haute , Boston and Chicago, the FOTLU was founded in 1881 with 25 union organizations, including 11 Central Labor Unions. In the successor organization AFL there were already 79 Central Labor Unions in 1899. All these unions were independent organizations, allied and affiliated to the AFL, whereas the Central Labor Unions of the Knights of Labor represented a kind of sub-organization in the tight hierarchy of the Knights. After the Knights of Labor lost importance from 1886 due to a lost strike, the Haymarket assassination attempt and internal wars over direction, more and more Central Labor Unions separated from the Knights and some of them went over to the AFL with their local organizations. Central Labor Unions as local organizations of the AFL still exist today.

Labor day

The Central Labor Union of New York, which held the first Labor Day on September 5, 1882 with up to 50,000 participants in New York City, became more known through publications . Central issues at the time were the enforcement of the legally regulated eight-hour day, the abolition of child labor and, in addition to the general improvement of working conditions, the demand for a legally documented holiday for workers, Labor Day.

swell

  • William Maxwell Burke, History and Functions of Central Labor Unions , for the Columbia University, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1899.
  • Norman J. Ware, The Labor Movement in the United States 1860–1895 (A Study in Democracy) , Vintage Books, Toronto, Canada, 1929.
  • Jacob H. Hollander and George E. Barnett, Studies in American Trade Unionism , Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1907.
  • John Rogers Commons, History of labor in the United States , The Macmillan Company, New York, 1918.