there were no genuine labor unions in the united states until 1935.
there were no genuine labor unions in the united states until 1935.
there were no genuine labor unions in the united states until?
1935
in the early 1930s afl president william green (president, 1924–1952) experimented with an industrial approach to organizing in the automobile and steel industries. the afl made forays into industrial unionism by chartering federal labor unions, which would organize across an industry and be chartered by the federation, not through existing craft unions, guilds, or brotherhoods. as early as 1923, the afl had chartered federal labor unions, including six news writer locals that had formerly been part of the international typographical union. however, in the 1930s the afl began chartering these federal labor unions as an industrial organizing strategy. the dues in these federal labor unions (flus) were kept intentionally low to make them more accessible to low paid industrial workers; however, these low dues later allowed the internationals in the federation to deny members of flus voting membership at conventions. in 1933, green sent william collins to detroit to organize automobile workers into a federal labor union. that same year workers at the westinghouse plant in east springfield ma, members of federal labor union 18476, struck for recognition. in 1933, the afl received 1,205 applications for charters for federal labor unions, 1006 of which were granted. by 1934, the afl had successfully organized 32,500 autoworkers using the federal labor union model. most of the leadership of the craft union internationals that made up the federation, advocated for the flu's to be absorbed into existing craft union internationals and for these internationals to have supremacy of jurisdiction. at the 1933 afl convention in washington, dc john frey of the molders and metal trades pushed for craft union internationals to have jurisdictional supremacy over the flu's; the carpenters headed by william hutchenson and the ibew also pushed for flu's to turn over their members to the authority of the craft internationals between 1933 and 1935. in 1934, one hundred flus met separately and demanded that the afl continue to issue charters to unions organizing on an industrial basis independent of the existing craft union internationals. in 1935 the flus representing autoworkers and rubber workers both held conventions independent of the craft union internationals.
american federation of labor
bullet::::- a plurality of democrats wanted labor unions to have more influence, at 45%.









































bullet::::- the majority of americans believed labor unions mostly helped members of unions by a 68 to 28 margin.









































bullet::::- a plurality of americans believed labor unions mostly helped the companies where workers are unionized by a 48-44 margin.









































bullet::::- a plurality of americans believed labor unions mostly helped state and local governments by a 47-45 margin.









































bullet::::- a plurality of americans believed labor unions mostly hurt the us economy in general by a 49-45 margin.
labor unions in the united states