Labor's Problem: Real Wages

Labor's Problem: Real Wages

Samuel Gompers

Labor Problems in History

Samuel Gompers was the First President of the American Federation of Labor from 1886-1924. Gompers, for whom Gompers Park in Chicago's Northwest Side was named, was one of the founders of the American Federation of Labor in 1886. Gompers held the position of president, expect for one year, until his death 38 years later. As a result of his integrity, generosity, dedication, and hard work Samuel Gompers became the most well known and respected representative of the labor movement. Gompers was said to be a leader of men, and became the most influential labor leader of all time. Under his leadership, AFL expanded from struggling labor unions to the dominant organization in the Labor Movement in the United States.

The Life of Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers, the leader of American organized labor for almost a half a century, used his diplomatic skills to unify workers behind the war effort during World War I. Samuel Gompers was born in London, England, on January 27, 1850. (Hamilton, 2002) He was the son of Dutch Jewish immigrants from Holland. His father was a cigar maker, a skilled occupation in the days before machine rolling. When Gompers was six years old, he attended a tuition-free Jewish school.

At the age of 10, he was taken out of school to become an apprentice shoemaker since his family was struggling to make a living. In 1863, his family moved to New York City and Samuel took up his father's profession of cigarmaking. At the age of 17 he met and married Sophia Julian. They had five children: three sons and two daughters. His wife later died in 1920 and a year later Gompers married Grace Gleaves Neuscheler. (Salvatore, 1984 & Yellowitz, 1989)

During Gomper's early life, industrialism was reshaping the American economy and the worker's place within. The machine that was being used put former skilled tradesmen out of work. The increase immigration brought in numerous unskilled workers who spoke different languages and neither easily organized by craft nor occupation.

Cigarmakers International Union (CMIU)

In the immigrant filled cigar factories of New York, Gompers received an informal education on the latest social theories coming from Europe. He and others discussed the industrial changes taking place and recognized the need for improved workers union. He was respected by his fellow workers, who elected him president of Cigar Makers Union Local 144. (Chasen, 1971 & Kaufman, 1973)

Gompers developed a system of labor organization which was heavily influenced by his reading of the works of Karl Marx and by the socialism popular with contemporary immigrant labor groups. In 1877, Gompers put this plan into action by becoming active in the Cigarmakers International Union (CMIU). In the CMIU, Samuel Gompers and his friend Adolph Strasser reorganized the union and introduced benefits that would be imitated by other unions. The introduction of hierarchical structure and implementing programs for strike and pension funds were linked with charging high membership dues, but they provided unemployment compensation, sick relief funds, and travel money so that unemployed members could search for new jobs. (Chasen, 1971 & Kaufman, 1973)

Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions reorganized into AFL

As a way to mitigate the central control at the time of the Knights of Labor, in 1881 Gompers organized a loose federation called the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions. The federation was structurally weak and ineffective. It was made up of skilled craft workers. This was to be an annual congress of national unions and local labor councils designed to educate the public on working-class issues, prepare labor legislation, and lobby the U.S. Congress to act on it. As an officer of FOTLU from 1881 to 1886, Gompers worked for compulsory school attendance laws, the regulation of child labor, and the eight-hour day, among other issues. (Salvatore, 1984)

Gompers soon learned that the new federation had neither the money nor the authority to do much more than talk about these issues. So in 1886 he supported P.J. McGuire's call to organize an American Federation or Alliance of all National and International Trades Unions to aid and assist each other and to secure national legislation in the interest of working people and influence public opinion in favor of Organized Labor. (Kaufman, 1973)

In 1886, various affiliates of the Knights of Labor and the Federation sent respective delegates to a conference in Columbus, Ohio. The key purpose was to establish a trade union movement that would surpass its predecessors in staying power and effectiveness. In December 1886, the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Union was reorganized into, which is better known as the American Federation of Labor (AFL). As the Knights of Labor dissolved, a pragmatic philosophy of trade unionism reemerged, stressing organization on a craft basis and goals such as job protection, higher wages, and shorter hours. (Chasen, 1971)

The American Federation of Labor was created when representatives of 25 labor groups met to form an organization that would exist for the sole purpose of promoting the interests of their individual crafts. Samuel Gompers, the first president of the American Federation of Labor, called this approach "New Unionism," and it was to characterize the labor movement for decades to come. He held that position for the rest of his life, except for a one-year sabbatical in 1895 when John McBride, president of the United Mine Workers of America, replaced him. (Kaufman, 1973)

Gompers was the chief exponent of the policies that gave the AFL its character as a conservative federation of autonomous craft unions. He resisted efforts of socialist infiltration and control of the federation and fought the openly antagonistic and more militant Industrial Workers of the World. Gompers used the growing influence of the AFL to secure the passage of federal and state legislation favorable to labor. He formulated the federation's policy of urging its members to support candidates for public office, regardless of political affiliation, who were considered friendly to labor. (Salvatore, 1984)

Under Gompers, the organization grew from a handful of struggling labor unions to become the dominant organization within the Labor Movement in the United States and Canada. The AFL represented 250, 000 members. Four years later, the AFL had grown significantly to over one million. The guiding principles surrounding