By Michael A . Martorelli

This 12-year-old schoolboy easily met the seventh-grade requirement to memorize the meaning of the abbreviation : AFL- CIO stood for the American Federation of Labor — Congress of Industrial Organization . But he had no idea about the nature , purpose or history of that federation of labor unions that had been formalized less than a decade earlier . This year marks the 70th anniversary of that “ union of unions ” and an appropriate time to review the history of its component parts .

Early Organizing Efforts

Throughout the colonial and the federal eras , workers ’ rights to organize a union were under question since English criminal law considered a union ’ s negotiating activities to be an unlawful conspiracy . The industrial revolution that emerged in the early 19th century forced Americans to confront a new relationship between an employer and his employees . The factories and mills that emerged in those years hired dozens of men and women . They enforced a relentless pace of work ; maintained strict rules about dress , working hours and discipline ; and paid little attention to the safety of the workplace .

AFL-CIO strikers picketing in Laredo , Texas , June 1967 .

Early labor reformers took President Andrew Jackson ’ s cue and began to agitate for the right of workers to have more dignity and freedom from workplace abuses . Their efforts were aided in 1842 when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that bargaining for benefits was legal if a union used legal means to achieve its goals . Unfortunately , the lingering effects of the Panic of 1837 meant that such newly empowered unions failed to prosper , and in many cases , to survive .

Umbrella Organizations

As the economy rebounded in the late 1840s , groups of skilled workers in a variety of trades formed local unions in more than a dozen large cities . Some locals began joining larger trade organizations that promised to spread their organizing activities beyond one city or region . In 1866 , 77 delegates from almost as many unions met in Baltimore to attend the inaugural meeting of the National Labor Union ( NLU ), the first umbrella organization formed to advance the interests of all workers . The NLU was different from the smaller umbrella organizations formed in the 1850s . It included skilled and unskilled workers as well as farmers . This organization eschewed strikes , emphasized negotiations and arbitration and lobbied Congress to pass a law imposing an eight-hour work day . The data is sketchy , but historians believe the NLU grew to include between 200,000 and 400,000 members in more than a dozen states .

Successive leaders saw the NLU as more than a coalition of unions charged with promoting and supporting its members ’ interests . They viewed it as a social movement seeking a range of economic reforms and heeding the Jacksonian-era calls for workers to receive a greater share of the nation ’ s productive output . The NLU focused more attention on political activities involving immigration and tariff policy than on specific actions to increase workers ’ wages and improve their working conditions . By 1871 , it became apparent that the once-groundbreaking idea of having a labor union trying to achieve social aims was just not working . The NLU passed into history .

In 1869 , a small group of tailors in Philadelphia formed a secret trade union they called the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor . Even in the teeth of the Panic of 1873 , this organization also had an NLU-like objective of enhancing the standing of ordinary workers in American society . It welcomed skilled workers in many crafts , and it grew slowly and steadily , albeit quietly , throughout the decade . In 1879 , its new Grand Master Terence Powderly led the drive to eliminate its secrecy provisions , shorten its name and adopt a new vision for what was thereafter simply called the Knights of Labor ( KOL ). This federation attracted members from unions all across the United States and Canada . Some viewed it as an umbrella organization focused solely on gaining higher wages and better working conditions for its members . Others considered it a fraternal organization collaborating

24 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2025 | www . MoAF . org