Labor unions in the United States

In the political cartoon “The Curse of California” G. F. Keller depicts a frightening image of the railroads as a giant octopus. Each tentacle engulfs a different rail interest, wheat, wine, United States bonds, wine, Farmers, Miners, and so on. The eyes of this octopus are the railway magnates, Mark Hopkins and Leland Stanford. This depicts the rail companies as monoliths of business that had swallowed up everything of value. Indeed, it implies that none could possibly stand up to these giant conglomerates without failing. Opposed to this is the book, “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America”, by Richard White. He is of the belief that the railroad companies were mostly incompetent, and could not have done what they had without their own corrupt practices. He states that Rail companies were, not necessarily incompetent, but ineffectual. To survive, they needed government funds (payed back without interest), received from bribery (lobbying), the use of unfree labor (through the Chinese), huge land grants (also achieved from lobbying in part), and tax dodging.Through these practices, the men at the head of these corporations, careless, and without an understanding of fair practices, managed to bamboozle an entire generation into supporting their bloated corporate body. Indeed, White calls this “Survival…

and labor is far richer, more nuanced, and diverse than the field’s critics admit, but the subject itself has become one of the most dynamic within labor history.” 2. Break down the general structure of the author’s essay. What happens in the first part of the essay? What happens next? Keep going until you reach the end of the essay. Eric Arnesen’s general structure for his article is broken down into four different sections, which consist of an introduction, a beginning, middle, and ending…

Jones traveled all around to inform people about unions and help anyone that was a part of a labor strife. She went in and out of jail because of protesting and riots. Mary was a true fighter. She once said, “I have been in jail more than once and I expect to go again. If you are too cowardly to fight, I will fight,” (Mary “Mother” Jones). Jones began to organize ways of attacking child labor abuse. Child labor was very popular for boys because men did not believe in women working. Mary Jones…

not have a doctorate in economics, he has written numerous books on the subject. He has also served as the secretary of labor under the first…

manager. I have served in a leadership and management role for over 10 years in various classifications within my State Career. An example of my leadership experience is portrayed during my tenure as the Chief of the Office of Resource Planning and Reduction (RPRS). As the Chief of RPRS, I was responsible for overseeing and implementing various layoff plans for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Preceding my appointment to…

The article “Locked in the Cabinet”, by Robert Reich is a very interesting memoir about the events of the author throughout the opening months of his time as the Secretary of Labor. Initially in the piece, the author is jumping through the hoops of being freshly appointed to the cabinet position after being a university professor. He starts by attempting to gather his team by June in order to get the department set up quickly. Furthermore, he states several pieces of criteria that a member of…

Before we can understand the labor dynamics of what Filipino immigrants faced in the United States, we have to retract to earlier history between the formation of the United States and Philippine relationship. In 1898 after Spain surrendered the Philippines to the United States, President McKinley issued the Benevolent Assimilation program “…which promised that the Americans came as friends and not as conquerors” (Mabalon 29). This eventually opened the gates of Filipino migration to the United…

Labor Unions In the United States, labor unions are organizations which fight for workplace justice and to improve the quality of life for the average working family. They are typically made up of an organized group of workers who band together to make decisions or lobby about conditions affecting their collective workplaces. There are over 60 unions representing over 14 million workers throughout the country (What is a Union, 2015). Most people believe that unions only represent industrial…

Labor Unions have been part of American working society since the late 19th century. The formation of labor Unions reaped enormous improvements to the worker including increased wages, reduced working hours and improved working conditions. Unions overall provided representation for the large amount of factory workers who otherwise would have had no voice. Unions worked when there were jobs that could benefit from Union representation. Since the 1980s trade policies and technology has left Unions…

people to spy on workers in unions and report back to them with information on what was going on. The Wagner act of 1935, also known as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), was created by Senator Robert R. Wagner and signed into action by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in July of 1935. President Roosevelt and the Wagner Act had an immense influence on the labor movement and the American work force we know today. Before the NLRH employers had monarch like power over their employees.…