AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR

The American Federation of Labor ( AFL ) was organized as an association of trade unions in 1886, growing out of an earlier Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions founded in 1881. The afl 's president, Samuel Gompers (who served nearly every year until 1924), was convinced that unions open to workers of all types of skills within a given industry—called industrial unions—were too diffuse and undisciplined to withstand the repressive tactics that both government and management had used to break American unions in the past. The answer, he believed, was craft unions, each limited to the skilled workers in a single trade. According to Gompers's "pure and simple unionism," labor should not waste its energies fighting capitalism; its sole task was to hammer out the best arrangement it could under the existing system, using strikes, boycotts, and negotiations to win better work conditions, higher wages, and union recognition.

Applying this philosophy to politics, the afl refused to ally itself with the Socialist party or with independent labor parties. Instead, Gompers argued that labor should "reward its friends and punish its enemies" in both major parties. After 1908, the organization's tie to the Democratic party grew increasingly strong, but the afl continued to concentrate on political protection for unions, rather than seeking social change through legislative action.

By 1904, the afl claimed 1.7 million members. Although the union represented only the more privileged members of the country's work force, it gained increasing influence as the recognized voice of American labor . Its membership declined between 1904 and 1914 in the face of a concerted open-shop drive by management but rose again during World War I, when unions were given considerable government protection. By 1920 the afl had nearly 4 million members. After the war, however, business resumed its union-busting activities, and the afl lost ground throughout the 1920s.

By the time the New Deal opened the door again to organized labor , the afl —now led by William Green (president, 1924-1952)—was facing increasing dissension within its ranks. Craft unions had proved ineffective as a way of organizing the huge industries, such as auto, rubber, and steel, that now dominated the economy. Many in the afl believed that only industrial unions fit the modern pattern of production. In 1935 John L. Lewis led the dissenting unions in forming a new Committee for Industrial Organization within the afl. This group, which became the Congress of Industrial Organizations ( cio ), grew so powerful that the afl expelled the ten cio unions in 1937. The afl and cio continued as separate organizations during World War II but were reunited in 1955.

The afl — cio was now the nation's dominant labor organization, but this achievement was already being undermined by changes in the American economy and work force—most notably, the growing loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector where unions had been strongest. In 1945 nearly one-third of American workers belonged to a union; by 1990 the proportion had fallen to less than one-fifth.