LABOR HISTORY TIMELINE

The Growth of a New Nation: 1789-1830

1790

Cabinet and chair makers in Philadelphia fight an attempt by employers to blacklist union members.

First textile mill is established in Pawtucket, Rhode Island by Samuel Slater for Ezekial Carpenter. All the workers are under age 12 -seven boys and two girls.

1791

Philadelphia carpenters struck unsuccessfully for a 10 hour day and overtime pay. First building trades strike.

1792

Philadelphia shoemakers form the first local craft union for collective bargaining. Disband within a year.

1793

Cotton gin invented which makes cotton production easier and helps perpetuate slavery.

1794

The Typographic Society organized in New York by printers. They lasted over 10 years.

The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers formed in Philadelphia by shoemakers. They were tried for Conspiracy in 1806.

1797

Philadelphia carpenters go on strike.

1805

A Journeymen Cordwainers union in New York City included a closed shop clause in its constitution.

1806

Members of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers tried for conspiracy after a strike for higher wages. They were charged with combining to raise wages and to injure others. The Cordwainers were forced to disband after being fined and going bankrupt. They were the first union to be tried for conspiracy.

1819

Panic causes a six year depression. Manufacturers secure a tariff to protect them from foreign competition.

1823

Hatters in New York City were tried and convicted of conspiracy.

1824

The first reported strike of women workers occurs when they join male weavers protesting wage reduction and extension of the workday in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

1825

The United Tailoresses of New York, a women only trade organization, formed (New York City). To demand a wage increase, they struck in the first all women strike.

1827

The Mechanics Union of Trade Associations, made up of skilled workers in different trades, formed in Philadelphia. They are the first city-wide labor council.

The tailors in Philadelphia are tried for conspiracy, and the verdict stressed the "injury to trade" aspect of their organization.

1828

Workingmen's Party formed in Philadelphia.

The first all-women factory strike occurs in Dover, NH.

Philadelphia Mechanics Union of Trade Associations unsuccessfully strikes for a ten hour day.

1829

The Workingmen's Party of New York formed.

Expansion and Sectionalism: 1830-1850

1831

In New York City, 1600 female tailors go on strike for two months over wages and lose.

1833

Workingmen's Ticket is a political party formed of men and women to promote labor ideology.

1834

The National Trades Union formed in New York City. This was the first attempt at a national labor federation.

The Factory Girls' Association is formed in Lowell and goes on strike over working conditions and wages.

800 women go on strike over the right to organize and wage reductions in Dover, New Hampshire.

1835

Geneva shoemakers tried and convicted for conspiracy. See below.

1836

The National Cooperative Association of Cordwainers, the first national union of a specific trade, was founded in New York City.

A convention of mechanics, farmers, and workingmen met in Utica, NY. The wrote a Declaration of Rights which opposed bank notes, paper money, arbitrary power of the courts, and called for legislation to guarantee labor the right to organize to increase wages. They formed the Equal Rights Party to be free of existing party control.

Lowell girls go on strike again over working conditions and wages.

1837

Panic of 1837 puts an end to the National Trades Union and most other unions.

President Jackson declares ten hour day in Philadelphia Navy Yard to quell discontent caused by Panic of 1837.

1838

One-third of the nation's workers were unemployed due to the economic hard times.

1842

In Commonwealth v. Hunt, the Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that labor unions, as such, are not illegal conspiracies.

Connecticut and Massachusetts pass laws prohibiting children from working over ten hours per day.

1844

200 delegates form New England Workingmen's Association fight for the ten-hour day.

1845

Female workers in five cotton mills in Allegheny, Pennsylvania strike for the ten hour day. They are supported by workers in Lowell, Mass. and Manchester, New Hampshire.

The first professional teacher's association is created in Massachusetts.

Sarah Bagley helps form the Female Labor Reform Association (an auxiliary of the New England Workingmen's Association) in Lowell, Mass. to work for a ten-hour day.

1847

New Hampshire is the first state to make the ten hour day the legal workday.

1848

Child labor law in Pennsylvania makes twelve the minimum age for workers in commercial occupations.

Pennsylvania passes a ten hour day law. When employers violate it women mill workers riot and attack the factory gates with axes.

The Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877

1852

The Typographical Union founded which is the first national workers organization to endure to the present day.

First state law limiting women's working day to ten hours passed in Ohio.

1859

Iron Molders Union formed in Philadelphia.

1860

Successful strike of 20,000 shoemakers in New England

Apaham Lincoln, in support of New England shoemakers, says, "Thank God that we have a system of labor where there can be a strike."

1863

Emancipation Proclamation is issued by Lincoln which frees slaves in southern areas occupied by Union forces.

Working Women's Union founded.

The present-day brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers founded.

1864

Legality of importing immigrants by holding a portion of their wages or property is upheld in the Contract Labor Law. These immigrants were often used as strikebreakers. Though this law was repealed in 1868, the practice was not outlawed until the passage of the Foran Act in 1885.

1865

13th Amendment to the Constitution bans slavery in US.

Great Eight Hour League formed in Massachusetts.

1866

National Labor Union formed in Baltimore, MD.

1867

Knights of St. Crispin founded which was a union open to all factory workers in the shoe industry.

General strike of Chicago trade unions demanding an 8 hour day

1868

First federal 8 hour day passed, only applies to laborers, mechanics, and workmen employed by the government.

First state labor bureau passed in Massachusetts.

1869

In Washington DC, the Black National Labor Union founded under the leadership of Isaak Myers.

First local of the Knights of Labor founded in Philadelphia, it maintained extreme secrecy. Membership is open to blacks and women.

First national female union is organized, Daughters of St. Crispin. They hold a convention in Lynn, Massachusetts and elect Carrie Wilson as president.

1870

First written contract between coal miners and coal mine operators signed.

Due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, infant mortality in New York is 65% higher than in 1810.

1873

Panic of 1873 followed by a depression wipes out most national unions.

1874

Union label first used by Cigar Makers International Union.

In New York City, police injured dozens of unemployed at a rally.

1876

Mollie Maguires convicted for coalfield murders in Pennsylvania. Ten later hanged.

The party which will become the Socialist Labor Party organized.

1877

National railroad strikes crippled the country. Federal troops needed to be called out as some state militias sided with strikers.

The Industrial Revolution and the Progressive Era: 1877-1913

1878

Greenback Labor Party organized by a merger of the Workingmen's Party and Greenback Party.

1879

Knights of Labor elect Terrence Powderly as Grand Master Workmen.

1881

Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, forerunner of the American Federation of Labor formed in Pittsburgh.

1882

First Labor Day celebration held in New York City.

1883

Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen organized.

1884

The Garfield Assembly, the first all female local of the Knights of Labor, is created.

Federal Bureau of Labor established as part of Department of the Interior.

1885

Immigration of laborers on contract is outlawed by the Foran Act.

1885-6

Period of greatest influence by Knights of Labor

1886

In Columbus, Ohio, the American Federation of Labor is formed with Samuel Gompers as the first president.

Violence erupts following a mysterious explosion at Haymarket Square in Chicago during a rally in support of the 8 hour day.

1887

Seven accused in the Haymarket explosion are sentenced to death. Five are later executed.

1888

First federal labor relations law passed but it only applies to rail companies.

1890

The AFL, at their annual convention, announces their support for women's suffrage.

United Mine Workers of America formed.

1892

Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers lose the fight over Carnegie Steel's attempt to peak the union.

1894

Strike by the American Railway Union against the Pullman Palace Car Company near Chicago is defeated by the use of injunctions and federal troops.

1898

Erdman Act passed which provides for mediation and voluntary arbitration on the railroads. This law replaces the 1888 law.

1900

International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded.

1901

United States Steel defeats the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers after a strike which lasted three months.

United Textile Workers of America founded.

1902

Coal miners in Pennsylvania end a five month strike and agree to arbitration with a presidential committee.

1903

At the annual AFL convention, blue collar and middle class women unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League. T his organization is created to help organize women. Mary Morton Kehew is elected president while Jane Addams is elected vice-president.

The Department of Commerce and Labor is formed.

Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) leads the March of the Mill Children to President Roosevelt's home in New York. Many of the children are victims of industrial accidents.

1905

In Chicago, the Industrial Workers of the World founded.

US Supreme Court in Lochner v. New York, declares a New York maximum hours law unconstitutional under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

1906

Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle which exposes the unsafe and unclean aspects of the Chicago meatpacking industry.

The International Typographical Union struck successfully for the 8 hour day which helped pave the way for shorter hours i n the printing trades.

1908

In Muller v. Oregon, the Supreme Court rules that female maximum hour laws are constitutional due to a woman's "physical structure and ...maternal functions."

Section 10 of the Erdman Act which deals with "yellow dog" contracts and forbids a person being fired for belonging to a union was declared unconstitutional. (US v. Adair)

1909

Two month strike by the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union was settled by providing preferential union hiring, a board of grievances, and a board of arbitration.

1911

Supreme Court upheld an injunction ordering the AFL to eliminate the Bucks Stove and Range Co. from its unfair list and to cease to promote an unlawful boycott. (Gompers v. Bucks Stove and Range Co.)

146 workers, mostly women, die in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in New York City. This leads to the establishment of the New York Factory Investigating Commission to monitor factory condition.

1912

Massachusetts adapts the first minimum wage law for women and minors.

Textile strike led by the Industrial Workers of the World in Massachusetts wins wage increase.

1913

US Department of Labor established. Secretary of Labor given power to "act as a mediator and to appoint commissioners of conciliation in labor disputes."

The First World War: 1914-1920

1914

Clayton Act passed which limits the use of injunctions in labor disputes.

Ludlow Massacre in Colorado. Wives and children of striking miners are set aflame when National Guardsmen attack their tent colony during a strike against the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

President appoints the Colorado Coal Commission to investigate the Ludlow Massacre and labor conditions in the mines following an unsuccessful strike by the United Mine Workers.

1915

LaFollette Seamen's Act, which regulates the working conditions of seamen, created.

1916

8 hour day for railroad workers is created with the passage of the Adamson Act. This averts a nationwide strike.

A Federal child labor law is enacted but is later declared unconstitutional.

1917

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) strike in the Bisbee, Arizona copper mines ended with the deportation of 1200 miners to the desert by the local sheriff.

The president created a mediation commission, headed by the Secretary of Labor to adjust wartime labor difficulties.

The Federal Government took control of the railroads until early 1920 under legislation which allowed government railroad operation during wartime.

1918

National War Labor Board created by President Wilson.

Women in Industry division of the Department of Labor established.

1919

The nationwide Great Steel Strike led by William Z. Foster defeated.

Labor leaders led by AFL President Samuel Gompers, recommended the inclusion of labor clauses creating an International Labour Organization into the Versailles Treaty.

Boston Police Strike- the first strike by public safety workers in US history.

United Mine Workers struck and earn a 27% wage increase during arbitration with a presidential commission. They were denied the 6 hour day and 5 day week.

1920

The Women in Industry division of the Department of Labor became the Women's Bureau, as part of the Department of Labor by an act of Congress.

The women's suffrage amendment ratified.

The Transportation Act established Railroad Labor Boa rd.

The Roaring Twenties: 1921-1929

1921

The Supreme Court held that nothing in the Clayton Act legalized secondary boycotts or protected unions against injunctions pought against them for conspiracy in restraint of trade.

The Presidential Commission on Unemployment placed the main responsibility for unemployment relief upon local communities.

In Truax v. Corrigan, the Supreme Court ruled that an Arizona law forbidding injunctions in labor disputes and permitting picketing was unconstitutional under the 14 amendment.

1922

The United Mine Workers was held not responsible for local strike action, and strike action was held not a conspiracy to restrain trade within the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. (Coronado Coal Co. v. UMMA)

In southern Illinois, coal strikers kill twenty guards and strikepeakers in the "Herrin Massacre".

1924

AFL President Samuel Gompers dies. William Green becomes the AFL president.

An amendment to the Constitution is proposed restricting child labor but not enough states passed the measure.

1926

The Railway Labor Act required employers to bargain collectively and not discriminate against employees who wanted to join a union. The act also provided for mediation and voluntary arbitration in labor disputes.

1927

The Longshoremen's and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act was passed.

The Journeymen Stone Cutters' action in trying to prevent purchase of nonunion cut stone was held to be an illegal restraint of interstate trade. (Bedford Cut Stone Co. v. Journeymen Stone Cutters' Association, et al.)

1929

The Hayes-Cooper Act regulating the shipment of prison labor goods in interstate commerce was approved.

The stock market crash in October began the longest economic period in American history.

The Great Depression: 1929-1939

1929

The stock market crash in October began the longest economic period in American history.

1930

The Supreme Court upheld the Railway Labor Act's prohibition of employer interference or coercion in the choice of bargaining representative (Texas & N.O.R. Co. v. potherhood of Railway Clerks).

1931

In the Davis-Bacon Act, Congress provided for the payment of the prevailing wages to employees of contractors and subcontractors on public construction.

1932

The Anti-Injunction Act prohibited Federal injunctions in most labor disputes.

Wisconsin created the first unemployment insurance act in the United States.

1933

Francis Perkins becomes the Secretary of Labor and the first women named to a Cabinet position.

The Wagner-Peyser Act created the United States Employment Service within the Dept. of Labor.

1934

500,000 Southern mill workers walked off the job in the Great Uprising of '34.

The first National Labor Legislation Conference was called by the Secretary of Labor to obtain closer Federal-State cooperation in working out a sound national labor legislation program.

The US joined the International Labour Organization.

1935

The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) establishes the first national labor policy of protecting the right of workers to organize and to elect their representatives for collective bargaining.

Social Security Act approved.

Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed within the AFL to foster industrial unionism.

1936

The United Rubber Workers (CIO), in the first large sit-down strike, won recognition at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

In Flint, Michigan, United Auto Workers make effective use of the sit-down strike in a General Motors plant.

The Anti-Strikebreaker Act (Byrnes Act) declared it unlawful to transport or aid strikebreakers in interstate or foreign trade.

The Public Contracts Act (Walsh-Healey Act) established labor standards, including minimum wages, overtime pay, child and convict labor provisions, and safety standards on all federal contracts.

1937

General Motors agreed to recognize the United Auto Workers (CIO) as the bargaining agents for auto workers and not discriminate against union members following a year of sit-down strikes.

US Steel recognizes the Steel Workers Organizing Committee as the official bargaining agent of the steel workers. Workers also earn a 10% wage increase and a 8 hour day/40 hour week.

The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) was declared Constitutional by the Supreme Court (NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.).

In south Chicago, 10 people were killed and 80 wounded in the Memorial Day Massacre during the "Little Steel" strikes. Police attacked an unarmed crowd of men and women who were supporting the strike between the Steel Workers Organizing Committee an d Republic Steel.

The 5 week strike "Little Steel" strike was poken when Inland Steel employees went back to work without union recognition or other gains.

The CIO is expelled from the AFL over charges of dual unionism or competition.

The National Apprenticeship Act passed which established the Bureau of Apprenticeship within the Dept. of Labor.

1938

A Federal Maritime Labor Board is created by the Merchant Marine Act.

The Fair Labor Standards Act created a $.25 minimum wage and time and a half for hours over 40 per week.

The CIO becomes the Congress of Industrial Organizations with John L. Lewis as its president.

The Second World War: 1939-1945

1940

In Apex Hosiery Co. v. Leader, the Supreme Court ruled that a sit-down strike is not an illegal restraint of trade under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in the absence of intent to control trade.

John L. Lewis resigned as CIO president to be rep laced by Philip Murray.

1941

The United Auto Workers were recognized by Ford Motor Company. They sign a union-shop agreement- the first in the auto industry.

The United States entered World War II on December 8.

The AFL and the CIO announce a no-strike pledge for t he duration of the war.

1942

The United Steelworkers of America was created to replace the Steel Workers Organizing Committee first established in 1936 by the CIO.

President Roosevelt establishes the National War Labor Board to determine procedures for settling labor disputes.

The National War Labor Board establishes a procedure for wartime wage adjustments.

The Stabilization Act gives President Roosevelt the authority to stabilize wages based on September 15, 1942 levels.

1943

Roosevelt made an executive order to create a Committee on Fair Employment Practices to eliminate employment discrimination in war industries based on race, creed, color or national origin.

The Smith-Connally (War Labor Disputes Act) authorized plant seizure if needed to avoid interference with the war effort.

1944

There are 18,600,000 union workers in the US, 3,500,000 are women.

1945

World War II ends.

The CIO affiliated with the newly created World Federation of Trade Unions. The AFL did not join because it felt the labor organizations of the Soviet Union were not "free and democratic".

Post War America: 1946- Present

1946

Largest strike wave in history as pent up labor troubles are unleashed by the end of war-time controls.

1947

Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act which restricts union activities and permits the states to pass "right-to-work" laws.

The Norris-La Guardia Act prohibition against injunctions in labor disputes was held to be inapplicable to the Government in U.S. v. John L. Lewis.

1948

General Motors and the United Auto Workers signed the first major contract with an escalator clause, providing for wage increases based on the Consumer Price Index.

In Washington D.C., the Federal Governments first national conference on industrial safety met.

1949

An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 directly prohibited child labor for the first time.

The CIO anti-Communist drive led to the expulsion of two unions at its annual convention. Nine other unions expelled by mid-1950.

Free, democratic trade unions from various countries withdrew from the World Federation of Trade Unions which came to be dominated by communists. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions formed in London by labor representatives of 51 countries.

1950

A five year contract between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors granted pensions, automatic cost of living wage adjustments and a modified union shop

1951

An amendment to the Taft-Hartley Act permitted the negotiation of union shop agreements without previous polls of employees.

1952

President Truman seized the steel industry when companies reject the Wage Stabilization Board's recommendations. An 8 week strike followed when the Supreme Court found the president's action unconstitutional.

George Meany became president of the AFL following the death of William Green. Walter Ruether, former UAW president, became president of the CIO following the death of Philip Murray.

1955

Ford Motor Company and the UAW agreed to a supplementary unemployment compensation plan financed by company contributions.

The AFL and CIO reunited with George Meany as the first president. This pought together about 85% of all union members under one large union.

1957

AFL-CIO expelled Bakery Workers, Laundry Workers and Teamsters for corruption.

1959

The Landrum-Griffen Act (Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act) passed by Congress which regulates the internal affairs of unions in order to lessen corruption.

1962

Federal employee's unions given the right to bargain collectively with government agencies as a result of President Kennedy's executive order

1963

The Equal Pay Act prohibited wage differences for workers based on sex.

1964

The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

1966

Coalition bargaining occurred in negotiations between eleven unions and General Electric

1968

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act went into effect. It made it illegal to discriminate in hiring or firing against people between 40-65 years old on the basis of age.

The UAW left the AFL-CIO and joined the Teamsters in forming the Alliance for Labor Action (ALA).

1969

The Department of Labor started to actively promote minority placement in the Philadelphia construction industry.

1970

First mass postal strike in the history of the US Postal Service

Hawaii became the first state to allow its state and local officials the right to strike.

Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

1973

The major steel companies and the United Steelworkers of America approved an "Experimental Negotiation Agreement" where the union gave up the right to strike in favor of binding arbitration. The companies agreed to end stockpiling of products.

Washington became the first state to allow the union shop for civil service employees.

1974

Coalition of Labor Union Women formed in Chicago.

Pension funds to be regulated by Congress under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act

In response to the growth of public employee unionism, the AFL-CIO created a public employee department.

1975

80,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) went on strike in the first legal large scale strike of public employees.

1977

President and the Congress raised minimum wage to $2.65.

1980

The first woman was appointed to the AFL-CIO executive board, Joyce Miller.

1981

Most of the nation's air traffic controllers fired by President Reagan who then de certified their union in response to an illegal strike.