1. Labor in the American Economy

2.  Industrialization Creates Change (1800s) - new machinery - new methods of manufacturing - exchanged labor for payments (wages)  Poor Working Conditions - low wages - dangerous working environment - business owners took advantage

3.  Labor Unions- organizations of workers that seek to improve wages and working conditions and to protect members’ rights  1790s - first American unions were formed - trade unions- made up of workers in one particular trade (carpentry)

4.  The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor (1886) - unite the working class - skilled and unskilled workers  American Federation of Labor (AFL) - united smaller trade unions - only skilled workers - collective bargaining- the process by which representatives of the unions and business try to reach agreement about wages and working conditions

5.  The Weapons of Labor - Unions used methods to try and force employers to meet their demands. - slow-down - sit-down - boycott - strike

6.  The Weapons of Business - Business owners responded to strikes in various ways - strikebreakers “scabs” - lockouts - yellow-dog contracts - blacklists

7.  Gains and Losses - What gains and/or losses did unions and businesses have using their methods? - What were some important victories won by labor unions by 1920?

8.  National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) 1935 - required employers to bargain with unions - outlawed several methods that business owners had to weaken unions - could not set up ‘company unions’  Limits put on unions - Taft-Harley Act of 1947 - Landrum Griffin Act of 1959

9.  AFL-CIO (1955) - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations united - Today, most powerful voice of organized labor in the United States - more than 13 million members

10.  Labor’s Accomplishments  Common Interest