Farm Bureau Federation Essay Example for Free

Farm Bureau Federation Essay The following year, the group put an end to its secrecy and opened it to all workers. The Knights of Labor advocated for several changes, some of which were earlier campaigned by NLU: creation of cooperatives, abolition of convict-labor competition, greenbacks, et al (Tindall and Shi, 19991, p. 914). However, the Knights of Labor was one step ahead of its time, accepting women and even black laborers. They also allowed membership to all workers, regardless of skills, which made the group extremely popular. While Stephens served as the fist leader, he gave way to Terence Powderly in 1879 (p. 542). He detested the use of strikes to fight for the labor and this led to some members backing out of the group. But the success of the Knights of Labor was still visible. In 1885, they led a victory against Jay Gould, a speculator. Gould had lessened the wages in his railroads. When the Knights of Labor intervened, Gould reinstated the wage cuts (p. 915). Victories such as these increased the popularity and membership of the knights of Labor. The group reached its peak in 1886 (p. 915). However, like all union groups at that time, the Knights of Labor fell down and ceased existence a few years later. Like NLU, the Knights of Labor attained marked achievements during its existence. For one, it was during its time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics was created (p. 916). Additionally, the Foran Act of 1885 was enacted, which castigated employers who would import contract labor (p. 916). Likewise, the Knights of Labor was responsible to instilling the value of unionism. The group fostered the sense of solidarity, uniting skilled and unskilled workers, regardless of sex, creed of color. At the same time of the Knights of Labor, another group had started to emerge. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was created in 1886 to unite national craft unions (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson and Williams, 1991, p. 543). Founded by Samuel Gompers, the group became the most important, emerging union by the 1890s. Gompers believed that majority of the workers would be workers all their lives, thus his goal was to uplift the lives of the workers. By the turn of the century, the group had around 500,000 members, surpassing the Knights of Labor (Tindall and Shi, 1999, p. 919). However, unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFL excluded unskilled workers, along with women, blacks and immigrants (Brinkley, 2003. P. 496). This led women to form their own groups, such as the Women’s Trade Union League (p. 496). The presence of different labor unions, ironically, hindered the progress of American labor. Racial and ethnic discrepancies made it impossible to unite laborers. Additionally, the surge of immigrants made it unfeasible to organize well especially since workers, even the natives, were prone to move around to look for higher-paying jobs. But one major force that kept American labor to rise was actually America itself. Corporate organizations wanted nothing more than to cream efforts of workers to seek higher wages, less working hours and safe working conditions. The government also was unable to help the laborers, perhaps for fear that that these corporate giants would pull out, thus affecting the national economy. Workers did not share in the profits raked in by these corporate giants during the industrial age. As America began to take shape as an urban nation,, the idea of socialism, which was then popular in Europe, had started to shore up. While socialism did not really fly high in the country, there were attempts to restore industrial unionism (Tindall and Shi, 1999, p. 924). The creation of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) served as a stepping stone (p. 924). The IWW was rooted in â€Å"class struggle† and its existence was based on the idea that there should be â€Å"harmony† between the capitalist and the working class (p. 924). However, as will all groups, tensions among and between members were widespread. In the end, IWW went kaput during World War I. As the twentieth century was ushered in, American labor was still unrest. In 1902, the Farmers’ Union was founded, followed soon by the American Farm Bureau Federation (Tindall and Shi, 1999, p. 1214). Organized labor saw a few setbacks, especially with the occurrence of the Red Scare which gave a bad image to the unions. It also did that help that a world war broke, putting many people in a depression. Some people stood out during this time, such as Henry Ford who pioneered higher pay rates, shortened work weeks and started paid vacations (Brinkley, 2003, p. 651). Workers, for the first time in their lives, soon became eligible for pensions (p. 652). Welfare capitalism helped laborers gain economic benefits but still was not enough; there was still discrimination among blacks and other immigrants. In 1921, business groups in Chicago initiated the American plan, which gave the employee the right to hire anyone (p. 1215). It worked well in theory but in reality, it signaled discrimination against union members. Additionally, there was what they call â€Å"yellow-dog’ contracts which obliged workers not to enter any unions (p. 1215). Some employees even started churning schemes such as profit-sharing, pensions, helath-programs and other benefits to keep employees away from unions. Such propaganda eventually led to a decrease in union memberships. By 1935, Congress enacted the Wagner Act, which initiated collective bargaining agreement between employees and employers (Jordan and Litwack, 1991, p. 684). Additionally, the government established the National Labor Relations Board which was tasked to investigate labor-related cases (p. 684). AFL, which had survived, was having problems. Some AFL members founded the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) and in 1955 the two groups were merged (p. 685). President Roosevelt’s New Deal Reform had included the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 which reduced working hours and secured sufficient payment standards (p. 688). As the years passed on, American labor had managed to survive and progress. A changing environment for workers had started to shape, with both the government and corporations starting to see the plight of the laborers. References Brinkley, A. (2003). American history a survey 11th ed. USA: McGraw-Hill. Divine, R. , Breen, T. H. , Fredrickson, G. , and Williams, R. H. (1991). America the people and the dream. Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. Jordan, W. and Litwack, L. (1991). The united states combined ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Tindall, G. and Shi, D. (1999). America: a narrative history vol. 2 USA: W. W. Norton and Company.