The IWW was started in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois, USA at a big meeting of many unions. For its first few decades, the IWW had many thousands of members who led many of the most important fights against bosses. The United States government and other unions often worked together to enforce more conservative labor relations. Partly because this happened membership dropped and there were few members for many years after. Today the IWW has grown back to a few thousand workers and has members in most continents of the world.