A Brief History of the Labor Movement
During the early nineteenth and late eighteenth centuries, America saw a transformation in which the economy became industrialized. This also marked the birth of inequality, with some people owning the industries and reaping tremendous profits while the workers were paid incredibly low wages. Populations in industrial districts were rapidly rising, resulting in more labor than positions available, which industry owners were able to exploit. This exploitation occurred when they were compelled to work long hours while their annual income remained below the poverty line: A Brief History of the Labor Movement.
They had to labor in hazardous conditions because their employers did not want to spend money on securing these environments. Locke and Wright. (2019). As a result of harsh working conditions, the labor movement emerged, campaigning for higher wages, shorter working days, and worker rights. The Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) were two groups that spearheaded this movement (Locke & Wright, 2019).
The labor movement also wanted workers to be able to organize unions, giving them the collective ability to fight for their rights. However, the company’s tremendous wealth enabled them to fight back by utilizing political influence, law enforcement agents, and private security contractors as strikebreakers. Another technique utilized by the businesses was to terminate anyone who dared to attend union meetings or be a member of a union. For example, Jay Gould’s rail companies sacked a Knights of Labor member for attending a union meeting (Locke & Wright. 2019).
This topic is important because even today, nearly two and half centuries later, American workers are still facing the same struggles. According to Locke & Wright. (2019), in 1890, the wealthiest one percent of individuals in America owned approximately a quarter of the country’s wealth and the top ten percent had about seventy percent of the country’s wealth. As of 2021, the top one percent owned about half of the world’s wealth, with the greatest number of people in this group being Americans. The inequality has only continued to rise to unprecedented levels and those at the bottom, the workers continue to struggle with the bare minimum.
In addition, the same tactics that were used back then to discourage the unionization of workers are being used today. For example, in new article by Ghaffary titled “Amazon Fired Chris Smalls. Now the New Union Leader is One of Its Biggest Problems”, tells of how Amazon fired an employee because he had allegedly planned to protest unsafe working conditions in the company (Ghaffary, 2022). Another incident is in another news article by Kelly, titled “The Warrior Met Striker by Alabama United Mine Workers Miners Ends”, whereby she covers the longest strike to ever happen in America’s history, lasting two years but still unsuccessful at the end (Kelly, 2023).
The company was wealthy enough to sustain itself throughout the strike but the workers were not so they ended up conceding defeat and going back to work with no improvements at all. Further, the reporter also highlights how workers were protesting for better pay and they were subjected to anti-strike tactics similar to those used centuries ago (Kelly, 2023). Companies have only become stronger over time and the dream of worker’s rights only seems to get further and further away.
Question: Seeing as companies have for centuries continued to exploit workers and deny them their rights, and the remedy to this is unionization, which the same companies utterly oppose, should laws be passed to make unions essential for the sake of workers’ rights?
References
Ghaffary, S. (2022) “Amazon Fired Chris Smalls. Now the New Union Leader is One of Its Biggest Problems.” Vox, Vox, 7. https://www.vox.com/recode/23145265/amazon-fired-chris-smalls-union-leader-alu-jeff-bezos-bernie-sanders-aoc-labor-movement-biden
Kelly, K. (2023) “The Warrior Met Striker by Alabama United Mine Workers Miners Ends.” Fast Company.https://www.fastcompany.com/90856238/warrior-met-strike-alabama-mine-workers-ends.
Locke, J., & Wright, B. (Eds.). (2019). The American Yawp: A massively collaborative open U.S. history textbook. Stanford University Press. https://www.americanyawp.com/text/wp-content/uploads/yawp_v2_open_pdf.pdf
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Question 
Final Essay Paper OPTION
Due December 13th @ 10:00 am.
“A Brief History of _______________,”
Write a 2-3 page-long essay entitled, “A Brief History of ____,” where the space is filled in with a topic or issue reviewed in this course. It can be on something you worked on, such as your primary source.
To tell the brief history of your topic or issue you must use at least 3 sources, which can be the American Yawp eBook, an image or primary source included in the American Yawp, and a third source which can be an online source such as YouTube video from NBC Learn, PBS, History Channel, or an entry from Twitter, Instagram, or Wikipedia.
In your essay, make sure you address the following points
- Explain why the topic or issue is important or what it tells us about the United States at a given point in time and/or why the topic or issue mattered in the past or even today.
- Draw on your sources to indicate key points related to the topic or issue you are examining.
- Prepare a question that will allow the class to discuss the significance of the term you selected. No true or false, yes or no questions, but rather questions that prompt the class to participate or take a stance on the issue or topic addressed in your paper.
RUBRIC
An essay earning an A
MUST have a strong argument, and use of sources as evidence
evidence is well chosen and is specific, detailed
Has good use/analysis of evidence and examples
is free of factual errors
A Brief History of the Labor Movement
An essay earning a B
MUST have solid argument
Demonstrates understanding of the source material
Has a good synthesis of readings and sources, but not as many as necessary to really “nail” the answer
lots of information; covers a lot of ground
An essay earning a C
Has a weak argument or lacks an argument
Shows effort, tried to incorporate evidence—examples chosen are not that good, chosen from only one source, or not interpreted
Doesn’t have any quotations or examples.
is too short, very vague
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