AP U.S. History: Unit 9 – History of Labor Unions
A History of Labor In the United States (This list comes from Labornet)
1648 Boston Coopers and Shoemakers form guilds
1663 Maryland Indentured Servants' Strike
1675 Boston Ship Carpenters' Protest
1677 New York City Carters' Strike
1684 New York City Carters' Strike
1741 New York City Bakers' Strike
1768 New York City Tailor's Strike
1774 Hibernia, New Jersey, Ironworks Strike
1778 Journeymen printers in New York combine to increase their wages
1791 Philadelphia carpenters carry out first strike in the building trades
1792 Philadelphia shoemakers form first local union organized for collective bargaining
1794 Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers formed in Philadelphia
1805 A journeymen cordwainers' union in New York City includes a closed-shop clause in its constitution
1806 Philadelphia shoemakers found guilty of criminal conspiracy after striking for higher wages
1824 Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Textile Strike
1825 The United Tailoresses of New York, a trade union organization for women, organized in New York City.
1827 The Mechanics Union of Trade Associations, made up of skilled craftsmen in different trades, formed in
Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Carpenters' Strike
1828 The Workingmen's Party formed in Philadelphia.
Paterson, New Jersey, Textile Strike
1829 The Workingmen's Party of New York formed
1831 New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and other Workingmen formed.
Lynn, Massachusetts, Shoebinders' Protest
1832 Boston Ship Carpenters' Ten Hour Strike
1833 Lynn, Massachusetts, Shoebinders' Protest begins.
Manayunk, Pennsylvania, Textile Strike.
New York City Carpenters' Strike.
1834 National Trades Union, first attempt at a national labor federation, formed in New York.
Lowell, Massachusetts, Mill Women's Strike
Manayunk, Pennsylvania, Textile Strike
1835 Ten-Hour Movement among skilled workers
1835 Paterson, New Jersey, Textile Strike.
1836 National Cooperative Association of Cordwainers, the first national union of a specific craft, formed in New York City.
Lowell, Massachusetts, Mill Women's Strike
New York City Tailors' Strike
Philadelphia Bookbinders' Strike
1840 President Martin Van Buren establishes the ten-hour day for employees on federal public works projects.
1842 Commonwealth vs. Hunt: Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that labor unions are not illegal conspiracies.
Anthracite Coal Strike
1844 Lowell Female Labor Reform Association formed
1847 New Hampshire passes first state law fixing ten hours as the legal workday
1848 Pennsylvania's child labor law makes twelve the minimum age for workers in commercial occupations
1850 New York City Tailors' Strike
1852 Typographical Union founded - first national union of workers to endure to present day
1859 Iron Molders' International Union founded
1860 New England Shoemakers' Strike
1861 American Miners' Association, the first national coal miners' union is formed in St. Louis, Mo.
1863 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers founded
1864 Cigar Makers' Union founded
1866 National Labor Union founded - an attempt at creating a national federation of unions
1867 Knights of St. Crispin founded - a union of factory workers in the shoe industry
1868 First federal eight-hour law passed - applied only to laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by the
government.
Anthracite Coal Strike
1869 Colored National Labor Union founded.
Knights of Labor organized in Philadelphia.
Troy, New York, Collar Laundresses' Strike.
1870 First written contract between coal operators and coal miners signed
1872 National Labor Reform Party formed
1873 Miners' National Association formed
1874 Tompkins Square Riot in New York City
1875 Conviction of Molly Maguires for anthracite coalfield murders - twenty are eventually hanged.
Anthracite Coal Strike
1876 Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers founded.
Workingmen's Party founded - first Marxist party in the United States. Later becomes Socialist Labor Party.
Greenback Party formed
1877 Federal and state troops are called out to crush the first nationwide strike in US history when railroad
workers walk off their jobs.
Cigarmakers' Strike.
San Francisco Anti-Chinese Riots
Members of the militant Molly Maguires, a rank and file anthracite coal miners' organization, are hanged after being framed by a Pinkerton spy.
1878 Socialist Labor Party founded.
1878 Greenback Labor Party organized.
International Labor Union founded.
1881 Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada founded; predecessor
of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners founded
Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party formed
1882 First Labor Day celebration held in New York City.
Congress passes Chinese Exclusion Act.
Cohoes, New York, Cotton Mill Strike.
1883 International Working People's Association (anarchist) formed.
Lynchburg, Virginia, Tobacco Workers' Strike.
Molders' Lockout begins.
1884 Federal Bureau of Labor established in the Department of the Interior.
Fall River, Massachusetts Textile Strike.
Union Pacific Railroad Strike.
1885 Congress passes Foran Act to forbid importation of foreign laborers on contract.
Cloakmakers' General Strike.
McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Strike.
Southwest Railroad Strike.
Yonkers, New York, Carpet Weavers' Strike.
1886 In Chicago, 350,000 workers demonstrate for the eight-hour workday, founding May Day as an
international workers' holiday.
Eight-hour-day movement fails.
"Haymarket Massacre (Riot)": Police attack Haymarket Square labor rally in Chicago, sparking violence
and the frame up of eight labor leaders.
American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded with Samuel Gompers as first president.
Augusta, Georgia, Textile Strike.
Eight-Hour Day Strikes.
McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Strike.
Southwest Railroad Strike
Troy, New York, Collar Laundresses' Strike
1887 Seven anarchists sentenced to death for the Haymarket bombing (five eventually executed).
Port of New York Longshoremen's Strike
1888 First federal labor relations law enacted - applied only to railroads
International Association of Machinists founded
Burlington Railroad Strike
Cincinnati Shoemakers' Lockout
1889 Baseball Players' Revolt begins
Fall River, Massachusetts, Textile Strike
1890 United Mine Workers (UMW) of America founded in Columbus, Ohio.
Carpenters' Strike for the Eight-Hour Day
1891 People's (Populist) Party formed.
Savannah, Georgia, Black Laborers' Strike.
Tennessee Miners' Strike.
1892 International Longshoremen's Association founded.
Seamen's Union founded
Strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania, by iron and steel workers gains national attention
Coeur d'Alene Miners' Strike
New Orleans General Strike
1893 American Railway Union founded.
Western Federation of Miners founded.
Federal court in Louisiana applies the Sherman Antitrust Act to unions for the first time in finding a
sympathy strike to be in restraint of trade.
National Civic Federation formed.
1894 Nationwide Rail Strike led by American Railway Union in Pullman, Ill. paralyzes nation's transportation.
Coxey's Army of the unemployed marches on Washington, DC
Cripple Creek, Colorado, Miners' Strike
Great Northern Railroad Strike
1894 Labor Day becomes an official US holiday
1895 U.S. Supreme Court, in In re Debs case, upholds an injunction restraining the Pullman strikers based on the power of the government to regulate interstate commerce.
Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance founded
Haverhill, Massachusetts, Shoe Strike
1896 Leadville, Colorado, Miners' Strike begins.
1897 Lattimer, Pennsylvania, Massacre, a sheriff and deputies gun down 19 striking miners and wound 40
others during a peaceful protest
1898 Congress passes the Erdman Act providing for mediation and arbitration of railroad labor disputes.
American Labor Union founded
Marlboro, Massachusetts, Shoe Workers' Strike begins
1899 Brotherhood of Teamsters founded
Buffalo, New York, Grain Shovelers' Strike
Cleveland, Ohio, Street Railway Workers' Strike
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Miners' Strike
New York City Newsboys' Strike
1900 International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union founded
Anthracite Coal Strike
Machinists' Strike
1901 Socialist Party of America founded
United Textile Workers founded
Machinists' Strike
National Cash Register Strike
San Francisco Restaurant Workers' Strike
Steel Strike
1902 Great Anthracite Coal Strike, miners walk off the job for 164 days.
Chicago Teamsters' Strike
1903 Department of Commerce and Labor created by Congress.
Women's Trade Union League founded.
Cripple Creek, Colorado, Miners' Strike begins.
Oxnard, California, Sugar Beet Strike.
1903 Telluride, Colorado, Miners' Strike begins.
Utah Coal Strike begins
1904 New York City Interborough Rapid Transit Strike.
Packinghouse Workers' Strike.
Santa Fe Railroad Shopmen's Strike begins
1905 Industrial Workers of the World founded in Chicago.
New York Supreme Court, in Lochner v. New York, declares maximum hours law for bakers
unconstitutional
1906 Eight-hour day widely installed in the printing trades
1907 Goldfield, Nevada, Miners' Strike begins
An explosion kills 361 miners in Monongah, West Virginia in the nation's worst mining disaster.
1908 US Supreme Court, in Adair v US, finds that yellow-dog contracts are constitutional.
US Supreme Court, in Danbury Hatters Case, holds a boycott by the United Hatters Union against a
manufacturer to be a conspiracy in restraint of trade under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
US Supreme Court, in Muller v. Oregon, declares an Oregon law limiting working hours for women
Unconstitutional.
IWW Free-Speech Fight in Missoula, Montana.
1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded
Georgia Railroad Strike
IWW Free-Speech Fight in Spokane, Washington
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, Steel Strike
"Uprising of the 20,000" Garment Strike in New York
Watertown, Conn. Arsenal Strike
1910 Bethlehem Steel Strike
1910 Cloakmakers' Strike
Chicago Clothing Workers' Strike
Los Angeles strike wave
Philadelphia General Strike
1911 US Supreme Court, in Gompers v. Bucks Stove and Range Company, upholds an injunction ordering the
AFL to remove the company from its unfair list and cease a boycott.
Fire kills 146 workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City.
Illinois Central and Harriman Lines Rail Strike begins
Southern Lumber Operators' Lockout begins
1912 Massachusetts adopts the first minimum wage act for women and minors.
Chicago Newspaper Strike.
Fur Workers' Strike.
IWW Free-Speech Fight in San Diego, California.
Lawrence, Massachusetts, Textile Strike, twenty thousand textile workers representing 26 different
nationalities win the 60 day "Bread and Roses" strike.
Louisiana Timber Workers' Strike begins
New York City Hotel Strike
Pain Creek and Cabin Creek, West Virginia, Mine Strikes
1913 US Department of Labor established
Ludlow, Colorado, Massacre
Machinists Strike and Boycott
Michigan Copper Strike
Paterson, New Jersey, Textile Strike
Rubber Workers' Strike
Studebaker Motors Auto Workers' Strike
1914 Congress passes the Clayton Antitrust Act. Ostensibly limits the use of injunctions in labor disputes
Amalgamated Clothing Workers founded
Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill Strike begins
Company gunmen attack a tent colony of striking UMWA families in Colorado and kill 19 men, women, and children in the Ludlow Massacre
1915 Congress passes the LaFollette Seamen's Act - regulates working conditions for seamen
Standard Oil Strike
Youngstown, Ohio, Steel Strike begins
1916 Congress passes Federal Child Labor Law - later declared unconstitutional
Congress passes the Adamson Act establishing the eight-hour day for railroad workers
Six killed and forty wounded in bombing of San Francisco preparedness parade - labor leaders arrested
American Federation of Teachers founded
Arizona Copper Strike
Minnesota Iron Range Strike
New York City Transit Strike
New York Cloakmakers' Strike
Standard Oil Strike
1917 Supreme Court, in Hitchman Coal and Coke v. Mitchell, upholds the legality of yellow-dog contracts
Green Corn Rebellion in Oklahoma
Bisbee, Arizona, Miners' Strike
Butte, Montana, Miners' Strike
Pacific Northwest Lumber Strike
1918 War Labor Board is created
First national conference of women trade unionists
1919 Huge postwar strike wave sweeps across the nation
Communist Party of America founded
Red Scare begins
Actors' Strike
Boston Police Strike
New England Telephone Strike
Seattle General Strike
16,000 Silk Workers in Paterson, NJ strike for a shorter workweek
Steel Strike
1920 Trade Union Educational League founded
Alabama Miners' Strike
Clothing Workers' Lockout
West Virginia Coal Wars begin, ten people killed in the Matawan Massacre in a battle over the right to organize the southern West Virginia coalfields
1921 Supreme Court, in Duplex Printing Press v. Deering, rules that the Clayton Act notwithstanding, federal
courts could enjoin unions for actions in restraint of trade
Congress restricts immigration to the United States and establishes the national origin quota system
Seamen's Strike
Battle of Blair Mountain, 2000 US troops block miners' attempt to organize in southern West Virginia
1922 Conference for Progressive Political Action founded
Anthracite Coal Strike
Bituminous Coal Strike
Railroad Shopmen's Strike
1924 Samuel Gompers dies. William Green becomes president of the American Federation of Labor
1925 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded
Anthracite Coal Strike
1926 Congress passes the Railway Labor Act, which requires that employers bargain with unions and forbids discrimination against union members
Passaic, New Jersey, Textile Strike
1927 Nicolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Mass. labor activists are executed
Bituminous Coal Strike
1928 New Bedford, Massachusetts, Textile Strike
Convict-labor system for coal mining is outlawed in Alabama
1929 Stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression
Trade Union Unity League founded
Conference for Progressive Labor Action founded
Gastonia, North Carolina, Textile Strike
1930 National Unemployed Council formed
Imperial Valley, California, Farm workers' Strike
1931 Congress passes Davis-Bacon Act providing for payment of prevailing wages to workers employed on
public works projects
"Scottsboro Boys" arrested in Alabama
Harlan County, Kentucky, Miners' Strike
Tampa, Florida, Cigar Workers' Strike
1932 Congress passes the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which prohibits federal injunctions in labor disputes and outlaws yellow-dog contracts
Bonus Army March of World War I veterans on Washington, DC
American Federation of Government Employees founded
California Pea Pickers' Strike
Century Airlines Pilots' Strike
Davidson-Wilder, Tennessee, Coal Strike begins
Ford Hunger March in Detroit, Michigan
Four workers killed as protesters march on Ford Rouge Plant near Detroit seeking jobs during the Great
Depression
Vacaville, California Tree Pruners' Strike
1933 Congress passes the National Industrial Recovery Act, which guarantees rights of employees to
organize and bargain collectively.
Frances Perkins becomes secretary of labor and the first woman named to a presidential cabinet
Newspaper Guild founded
Briggs Manufacturing Strike
California Farm workers' Strikes
Detroit, Michigan, Tool and Die Strike
Hormel, Iowa, Meat-Packing Strike
New Mexico Miners' Strike
1934 Southern Tenant Farmers' Union founded
Harlem, New York City, Jobs-for-Negroes Boycott
Imperial Valley, California, Farm workers' Strike
Minneapolis Teamsters' Strike
Newark Star-Ledger Newspaper Strike begins
Rubber Workers' Strike
San Francisco Longshoremen & General Strike
Textile Workers' Strike
Toledo, Ohio, Auto-Lite Strike
1935 US Supreme Court declares the National Industrial Recovery Act unconstitutional