Essay写作-Labor Law and Labor Unions in the US

www.lxws.net meeloun论文网 专业留学生essay写作品牌机构Essay写作-Labor Law and Labor Unions in the USLabor unions and movements play a major role in the United States. Although they are treated synonymously, the labor movements encompass a broader scope than labor unions. Some of the examples of current labor unions and movements include National Guestworker, Domestic Workers United and Wal-Mart workers groups. The heart of the current labor initiatives in the United States can be traced back to the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Collier & Collier, 2002). The labor law was imperative since it was intended to put the power of the government behind the workers right to organize unions and bargain collectively with their employers on issues such as wages, hours and working conditions. In the last thirty years, labor unions have declined in both membership and influence. The primary reasons for the reduced labor unions include weak labor laws and employer opposition. This paper will entail an analysis of the labor unions and movements in the United States including their history, current status and impact on business.In the United States, the earliest form of labor organization constituted mutual aid societies that ensured restriction of entry into the craft and enforced workplace standards. The labor organization did not raise conflicts or cause problems since the craft workers were few and the companies were small (Collier & Collier, 2002). The origins of the labor movement can be found in the formative years of the nation during the emergence of a free wage-labor market in the artisan trades during the colonial period. The earliest strike in labor history took place in 1768 after the New York journeymen tailors protested a reduced wage. The creation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) in 1794 marked the onset of sustainable trade union organization among workers in America (Collier & Collier, 2002). After that union, local craft unions increased in the cities, publishing the prices for their work and protecting their trades against diluted and cheap labor.The industrial development in the early nineteenth century increased the gap between employers and skilled workers. The workers began to think of factories and industries as a threat to their wages and status. The workers soon created fledgling craft unions to resist undesirable working conditions. The craft unions sought to resist immediate wage reductions, increased working hours and unsafe working conditions. The unions also aimed to protect their political, social and economic rights. The unions moved from local to national movements as both labor and product markets became national as a result of improvements such as transportation (Collier & Collier, 2002).Several factors inspired the early labor movement beyond the job interest of the craft members. It harbored the ideals of a just society based on the Ricardian labor theory of value and the republican conceptions of the American Revolution (Brody, 1993). Such ideals and revolutionary conceptions fostered social equality, honest labor and depended on an independent and virtuous citizenship. The industrial capitalism and the associated economic transformations contradicted the labors vision. The solution as early labor leaders saw it was to categorize the society into the poor and the rich. The advocates of equal rights presented a series of reform beginning with the workingmens parties. Some of the notable labor reforms created included the Knights of Labor and the National Labor Union (Brody, 1993).During the 1880s, the labor unions reinforced their relationship with trade unionism. The Knights of Labor recruited scores of workers with the vision of improving their immediate conditions (Brody, 1993). A conflict occurred between the national trade unions and the Knights of Labor as they performed their strikes. The national trade unions demanded the Knights to remain within the professed labor reform purposes. Their refusal led to the national trade unions uniting to form the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1886 (Brody, 1993). The AFL took several lessons from the fallen Knights that enabled it to consider the position of collective bargaining as an acceptable compromise. The compromise was necessary in the face of the ongoing labor strike that ranged from slowdowns to industrial sabotage through the destruction of equipment (Reynolds, 1984).The institution of the American Federation of Labor took place after the previous strikes ended in the defeat of the existing labor movements and unions. The new union was convinced that the previous forms of unionization were diffuse and fragment. The old unions did not stand a chance against the violence that the companies could bring upon the workers. The leaders of the previous unions organized themselves as a federation of narrow and self-interested unions (Reynolds, 1984)The new federation marked a s