americanfederationoflabor



A third national union that was led by Samuel Gompers. It was a craft union and it sought to organize only skilled workers in a network of smaller unions. Each of those is devoted to a specific craft. They grained greatly through time but still represented a small portion of the nation's total labor force. the union was first opened for African Americans but whites found a way to exclude them from membership. Women were also not welcomed. Gomper believed that the presence of women membership would drive wages down.

Information provided by: Prentice Hall America Pathways to Present pg. 248 Picture provided by: http://images.encyclopedia.com/ency4beta_getimage.aspx?id=2802140&hero=yes