What was the first important national labor union

Knights of Labor

Paul M. Roberts (265)

knights of labor

From very early times in the United States of America people were going on strike in the '''“pursuit of happiness”''', but none of the early strikes were very organized.

In 1794 the first real labor union was the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers), which formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the year 1866 a new thing was made, the first national labor union in the United States of America, its name was The National Labor Union (NLU), it had 700,000 members at its height. It was led by William H. Sylvis. Without The NLU the Knights of Labor might have never gotten the chance to do what they did, and that would mean that I would not be writing this, since Labor Day would not be here. The NLU used the arbitration method over strikes, it fought for the eight hour work day, as well as helping small towns where no unions were present. The NLU never did much for the rights of Blacks, the Chinese, nor women. In 1868 their dream came true, the eight hour work day, how ever at first this was only for government works, President Grant ordered federal departments to not lower the money they gave to their employs, however many did not listen. Later this was passed in other states, but once more the law was less then perfect, it was filled with loophole which made that law unenforceable or ineffective. In 1872 the NLU fell apart, do the change in policy, the depression of the 1870s, and the new Knights of Labor which took many members away for the NLU.

The NLU National Labor Union was formed in 1866,and paved the way for fairness in the workplace and protected the worker from unscrupulous employers who would cheat the worker out of wages and benefits they deserved.It paved the way for the unions that we have today that do the same service.