History of Unions
Founders of the IBEWWork in the United States picked up considerably in the 1860’s. There were steel mills, mines, factories, meat packing plants, roads and bridges being built and construction everywhere in the northeast. Hundreds of thousands of workers were working up to 16 hours a day 7 days a week. Working conditions were horrible with workers getting sick, crippled or dying. Remember, there were no worker’s rights laws or environmental laws to govern the companies and the pay was a disgrace. Immigrants from Europe were pouring into the United States quickly integrating with the native workforce and were exploited by the companies who hired them.

But, workers were tired of being exploited while their company was reaping in profits. They lived in slums and their children didn’t go to school. Instead, they worked in dirty and dangerous factories and lost their limbs and their lives. And enough was enough. They did the unspeakable. They did something that people today frown upon and know nothing about. They went on STRIKE! That’s right. They talked amongst each other and decided that they were not going to suffer through life anymore without standing up and doing something about it. They organized groups of workers together all across the northeast in every steel mill and textile factory and told the boss that if he didn’t cut down the hours or pay better or make working conditions safer, then they were dragging up and he can do the work himself! But it was not easy. Those workers were locked out, harassed, beat up, shot at and blown up. Really. But did they give up, no.
Fruits of Their Labor

The workers before the turn of the 20th century and for a few decades after did more for this great country than any other group in our history. You see, the companies were lining their pockets with gold while their employees’ lives and health suffered. The workers did not have any other alternative except to network and stand united with their co-workers. They rallied in the streets and walked the picket line where they worked. They had no money, no means of health care, transportation, but they did have something that the companies were no match for: SOLIDARITY!

What is solidarity? Solidarity is the unity of workers standing strong and working together towards a common goal. The following are examples of what workers achieved, in solidarity, after decades and decades of blood, sweat, tears and pain:

• (1773) Laborers protest royal taxation in the Boston Tea Party

• (1791) First strike in building trades by the Philadelphia Carpenters for a 10-hour day

• (1847) New Hampshire enacts first state 10-hour day

• (1890) Carpenters strike and win the eight hour day for 28,000 workers

• (1909) Unorganized immigrant steel workers strike in McKees Rocks, Pa. and wins all demands

• (1913) Woodrow Wilson takes office as President and appoints the first Secretary of Labor, William B. Wilson, of the mine workers

• (1931) Davis-Bacan Act provides for prevailing wages (scale) on publicly funded projects

• (1935) National Labor Relations Act and Social Security Act passed

• (1938) Fair Labor Standards Act establishes first minimum wage and 40 hour work week

• (1962) President John F. Kennedy’s order gives federal workers the right to bargain