AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR (AFL)

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was originally founded in 1881 as the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions. Trade union leaders representing some fifty thousand members in the United States and Canada formed the group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a part of reorganizing in 1886, the association of unions changed its name to the American Federation of Labor and elected their president, Samuel Gompers (1850–1924). For nearly forty-years he shaped the AFL by fostering a policy that allowed member unions autonomy.

Unlike the open-membership policy of the Knights of Labor (from whom the AFL gained numerous members in 1886), the AFL decided to organize by craft. This decision, however, was no inhibition to growth, since its member unions included a total of 140,000 skilled laborers. Similarly, the AFL departed from pursing long-term, abstract goals such as Knights leader Terence Powderly's objective of making "every man his own master—every man his own employer." Instead, the AFL focused its efforts on specific, short-term goals such as higher wages, shorter hours, and the right to bargain collectively (when an employer agrees to negotiate with worker representatives, usually labor union representatives).

In the 1890s the AFL was weakened by labor violence which raised public fears over labor unions. A July, 1892, strike at the Carnegie Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, turned into a riot between angry steelworkers and Pinkerton guards. The militia was called in to monitor the strike; five months later, the strike ended in failure for the AFL-affiliated steel-workers. Nevertheless, membership of the AFL grew to more than one million by 1901 and to 2.5 million by 1917. At that time the AFL included 111 national unions and 27,000 local unions.

The AFL inaugurated many important advances on behalf of laborers. By collecting dues from its members, the federation was able to create a fund to aid striking workers. By avoiding party politics, they were able to seek out and gain the support of labor advocates regardless of political affiliation. The AFL worked to support the establishment of the U.S. Department of Labor (1913) which, in turn, administered and enforced statutes promoting the welfare and advancement of the American work force. The AFL also supported the passage of the Clayton Anti–Trust Act (1914), an important piece of legislation which protected the interests of organized labor in three important ways. Price fixing was outlawed (the practice of pricing below cost to eliminate a competitive product). Executives could no longer manage two or more competing companies (a practice called interlocking directorates). And corporations were prohibited from owning stock in a competing corporation.

See also: Clayton Anti-Trust Act, Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), Samuel Gompers,

Homestead Strike, Knights of Labor, Labor Movement, Labor Unionism, Trade Unions

American Federation of Labor. Formed in 1886 as an umbrella organization to represent craft unions, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) emphasized practical “bread and butter” unionism, promoted the integity of its affiliates, and upheld the sanctity of union contracts. Apart from one two‐year interval (1893–1895), Samuel Gompers served as President from 1886 to 1924. Early on, its leaders mediated jurisdictional conflicts among affiliates and promoted legislation considered beneficial to organized labor, including immigration restriction. It also sought to establish powerful city and state federations.

The burgeoning strength of its member unions in the early twentieth century created a vibrant AFL and solidified trade union power. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential administration bestowed critical recognition on the AFL by establishing a separate Department of Labor in 1913. An alliance between labor and the Democratic party took shape during World War I when the administration created a National War Labor Board empowered to encourage trade union recognition. A grateful Gompers worked tirelessly for Wilson's war programs, promoting the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy and attacking more radical labor organizations. Stimulated by the AFL's alliance with the administration, trade union membership expanded from 1,562,000 in 1910 to 4,125,000 in 1919. The war's end brought an employer backlash, however, and subsequent unsympathetic Republican administrations weakened the AFL still more.

The Great Depression of the 1930s brought further strains as the industrial unions within the AFL's ranks, most notably John L. Lewis's United Mine Workers of America, challenged it to organize mass‐production workers. Refusing to devote scarce resources to a risky endeavor, the more cautious members of the AFL executive board balked. This strategy backfired in 1938 when eleven industrial unions created the rival Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

Although the AFL had initially failed to organize the millions of nonunion workers seeking representation rights, it competed aggressively for new members throughout World War II and the postwar years, growing more rapidly than the CIO. Diluting their craft principles, AFL affiliates accepted masses of new members regardless of skill or job title. By the mid–1950s the AFL had 50 percent more members that the CIO (9 million to 6 million). In 1952 the incumbent Presidents of the two rival labor organizations died, clearing the way for a merger. The merged AFL‐CIO held its first convention in December 1955.
See also Federal Government, Executive Branch: Other Departments (Department of Labor); Gilded Age; Industrialization; Labor Movements; New Deal Era, The.

Bibliography

Philip Taft , The A.F.L., 2 vols., 1957–1959.

Colin J. Davis

American Federation of Labor (AFL) A federation of North American labour unions, mainly of skilled workers, founded in 1886. From its formation until his retirement in 1924, it was decisively shaped by its President Samuel Gompers. After mass disorders culminating in the HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT and the subsequent eclipse of the KNIGHTS OF LABOR, Gompers wanted a cohesive non-radical organization of skilled workers committed to collective bargaining for better wages and conditions. However, growing numbers of semi-skilled workers in mass-production industries found their champion in John L. Lewis, leader of the more militant United Mine Workers. When he failed to convince the AFL of the need to promote industry-wide unions in steel, automobiles, and chemicals, Lewis formed (1935) the Committee (later the Congress) of Industrial Organizations (CIO), its members seceding from the AFL. In 1955 the rival organizations were reconciled as the AFL–CIO under George Meany and Walter Reuther with a total of 15 million members. This body remained the recognized voice of organized labour in the USA and Canada.

American Federation of Labor, see AFL