Unions and federations.
Organization Methods.—Trade unions are composed of the wage-earners in a particular trade or occupation.[[181]] A local union is formed among the wage-earners of each city or town. These unions, usually called “locals”, hold regular meetings, elect their own officers, and collect small monthly dues from each member. In the earlier stages of the labor movement these local unions were not federated into any national body, but in 1866 the National Labor Union was formed by uniting many of the local associations. This national organization became too much involved in politics, however, and soon went to pieces. In its place arose another national organization known as the Knights of Labor, which gained considerable strength during the twenty years from 1870 to 1890. The Knights of Labor did not attempt to federate the local unions but took individual members directly into their own ranks. In the end the organization became involved in several unsuccessful strikes and gradually weakened, although even today it still maintains a nominal existence. Since 1890 the most important national organization in labor circles has been the American Federation of Labor. Meanwhile, however, the unions in particular trades (such as garment workers, mine workers, railroad trainmen, etc.) had begun to affiliate into individual national unions of their own. State and city federations had also been formed, made up of all the unions in a given state or city. All this made more easy the rise of a giant national federation.
How the A. F. of L. is organized.
The American Federation of Labor.—The American Federation was organized in 1881 but at first its growth was slow. Today it claims a membership of about four million workers. It is a federal organization comprising various national unions in particular trades, state federations of labor, city federations, and a large number of directly affiliated unions. Directly or indirectly the American Federation of Labor has brought into affiliation nearly thirty thousand local organizations throughout the United States and Canada. Every year it holds a convention made up of delegates from the component organizations, and this convention determines the Federation’s policy. The annual convention also elects the Federation’s general officers. The Federation has no compulsory authority of its own but merely exercises such powers as the organizations of which it is composed may concede to it. Its chief function is to bring representatives of unions together once a year for the discussion of common problems, to secure general agreement upon a common program, to give the labor movement greater strength through united action, and to represent the interests of labor before the public authorities.
The demands of “organized labor”.
The Federation’s Program.—The Federation’s program comprises both economic and political aspirations. Among the former are included the demand for a rate of wages in all trades sufficient to enable the worker to live and bring up his family in accordance with “American standards of living”; the establishment of an eight-hour workday in all occupations, with a half holiday on Saturdays; the prohibition of paid labor by children under sixteen years of age; the more effective inspection of workshops, factories, and mines in order that proper sanitary conditions may be ensured and industrial accidents prevented; and the establishment of a system of social insurance against sickness, disability, accident, and old age. Among the political changes advocated by the Federation are the nation-wide use of the initiative, referendum, and recall; the election of a President by direct popular vote; the restriction of the Supreme Court’s right to declare laws unconstitutional; the prohibition of injunctions in labor disputes; and the extension of government control over railroads. The Federation also urges that greater attention be given to vocational training in the schools. It should be understood that the foregoing program is not fixed and inflexible; it may be changed by the annual convention at any time and is being constantly modified.[[182]]
The radical element in labor’s ranks.
Revolutionary Labor Organizations.—In recent years it has become apparent that the relatively moderate program and the strictly peaceful methods of the American Federation do not satisfy the more radical elements in its own ranks. Repeated attempts have been made at the annual convention to displace Mr. Gompers, the head of the Federation, in favor of some leader with more radical views, but thus far these attempts have failed. In some of the labor organizations the radicals have from time to time got out of hand and have gone on strike in defiance of their leaders. Strikes of this sort are commonly known as “outlaw strikes”.
The I. W. W.—its history and aims.
But more particularly the drift to radicalism in labor’s ranks has been shown by the organization and progress of the Industrial Workers of the World (the I. W. W.), which aims to supplant the American Federation of Labor and to combine all the workers of the country into “one big union”. The history of the I. W. W. goes back to 1898, but it gained little strength as an organization until about 1910. Estimates as to the extent of its present membership are uncertain. The program of the I. W. W. includes the abolition of all capitalism, the control of all industry by the workers, and the union of workers throughout the world. The I. W. W. opposes the making of agreements with employers and is at war with the whole existing economic system. It favors the overthrow of the present system of government and the establishment of a proletarian dictatorship.