Unionism is the concept that traditionally business, especially big businesses are inherently going to exploit their employees. Therefore, in order to protect themselves, the workers form organizations called unions, in which all laborers who work at a certain craft, or in a certain industry band together. By this process of joining forces, the unions gain power in numbers. Unions traditionally try to protect employee interests by negotiating with employers for wages and benefits, working hours, and better working conditions.Unions have been around for a long time. The first recorded union was in 1792, when shoemakers in Philadelphia met to consider matters of common interest. This earliest form of union was called a craft union. In 1886, the AFL (American Federation of Labor) was founded, and regulated labor activity in America for the next forty years. In the 1930s, the AFL unionized the steel and automobile industry. A split in the AFL and the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) occurred in 1938, but the two later reconciled their differences in 1955, merging their over 16 million members. Federal legislation passed in 1959 gave union members distinct rights, and also required unions to report on their internal operations. Since that time, memberships in unions have significantly decreased.There are many tactics that both sides can and do use to try and get the other side to yield first, when negotiations are under way. Unions organize strikes, which means that no workers show up for work, and instead stand out front in picket lines. Sometimes unions encourage people to boycott products from an industry or company. Managers can bring in strikebreakers, who work, but are not a part of the union. They can also use a lockout, which means that the management just locks the employees out, until they agree to the terms of the contract that the management draws up.Unions in America today have grown smaller and smaller in the past 3...
