Labor Unions

Following the Reconstruction, America was moved into a time period known as the "Guilded Age." This age was known for the changes and advances made by the people within the country, and so much that even the presidents during this time period were known as the 'no-name' presidents. Laissez-faire was the primary philosophy for Americans in 1875-1990; little government involvement in people's affairs, which included labor. Labor unions were amateur during this time, unorganized, and thrown together in the hopes of reaching for something more. Working conditions following the civil war had been terrible, wages were low, and technology and advanced machinery was getting rid of the need for workers in agriculture, creating a lot of unemployment. In order to try and fight back against this, workers began to form legally recognized groups of representatives within their positions; unions. Unions were established because people began to realize that if they stood together as a whole and demanded higher wages and better working conditions, they could for the most part receive them. However, between 1875-1990, they were amateur, most of the times exclusive, had brief life spans, and were sort of merely experimental for workers. That is why labor unions only had mild success during this time period for the workers, but laid down the stepping stones for the greater, more successful unions to come, and were therefore entirely important.

In the beginning of the formation of unions there was much more failure than success. Because corporations and big, blooming businesses during this time period possessed dominance in American society, it was intimidating at first to stand up against them. And the government, even from the very beginning, saw unions as violent nuisances. Strikes were often suppressed by troops and then the single most powerful weapon of unions would become disabled, but some of them stood together and just got stronger, giving unions some immediate success. Hours in the factories have been long and difficult for as long as Americans can remember, and even with the formation of the unions the average 10 daily hours in the factory did not change from 1875 til 1885. Wages were even lower than the $16.92 a week in 1875 in the first nine years of labor unions; getting as low as $13.79 a week. This was probably on account of the weakness of the unions in the beginning. To the government, businesses, and even most Americans in favor of them, there seemed little success in this new establishment of unions. It was not until 1886 that things began improving for the laborers, and around 1890, improving dramatically, mostly because the workers did not stop trying.

In the newly blossoming America, where machinery was being made far more effectively and efficiently, 'it took 100 men what it took 300 or 400 men to do fifteen years ago'. Therefore, in this new time and place, workers were only learning a small part of a trade instead of an entire trade, putting them on the same level with everyone else and making no one unique in terms of job skills, causing even more unemployment