UNION
|
STYLE
OF ORGANIZING
|
FIGHTS
RACISM?
|
SUPPORT
CAPITALIST SYSTEM?
|
VISION
OF POWER SOURCES & STYLE OF WORK
|
American Federation of Labor
(AFL) 1880's
|
Craft--An Agent for Employers;
Organized by skill; Supported by elites
|
No--Crafts were inherently racist
|
Yes--"Labor Imperialism"
|
Alienated workers from
action--Legal Work-Political Action
|
Knights of Labor (K of L) 1880's
|
Craft-Industrial-Social group
|
Yes--sometimes
|
Yes
|
Mass direct action
|
Western Federation of Miners
(WFM) 1900
|
Industrial--Organized entire
industry in one union
|
Often anti-racist--did organize
Chinese laborers
|
Perhaps
|
Direct action
|
Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW) 1905
|
Industrial and Organized
unemployed
|
Yes
|
Anarcho-Syndicalists
|
Mass direct action on the
job--general strike
|
Committee for Industrial
Organization (CIO) 1936
|
Industrial--Reflected shifted
form of production
|
Sometimes
|
Yes--But drew heavily on
communist leadership
|
Direct action + legal action +
voting, etc.
|
AFL-CIO Merger 1955
|
Crafts dominate
|
No
|
Yes--"Labor Imperialism"
|
Alienated from workplace;
reliance on law
|
Communist Party
|
Political Party
|
Yes
|
Mass leadership in reform.
Movements: Social Security, Collective Bargaining, 8 hour day, child
labor
|
Direct action voting. Legal
action: all avenues. But saw law as aid and tool of workplace oppression
|