“ TheUnion” In colonialAmerica, most of the manufacturing was done by hand in a home. Labor took placein workshops attached to the side of a home. As towns grew into cities, thedemand for manufactured goods increased. Some workshop owners began hiringhelpers to increase production. Relations between the employer and helper weregenerally harmonious.
They worked side by side, had the same interests and Thefactory system that began around the mid 1800s brought great changes. Theemployers no longer worked beside their employees. They became executives andmerchants who rarely saw their workers. They were less concerned with theirwelfare than with the cost of their labor. Many workers were angry about thechanges brought by the factory system. In the past, they had taken great pride in their handicraft skills, and now machines didmost of the work, and they were reduced from the status of craft workers tocommon laborers.
The were also replaced by workers who would accept lowerwages. The Industrial Revolution meant degradation rather than progress. As thefactory system grew, many workers began to form labor unions to protect theirinterests. The first union to hold regular meetings and collect dues was organizedby Philadelphia shoemakers in 1792.
Soon after, carpenters and leather workers in Boston and printers in New York alsoorganized unions. Labors tactics in those early times were simple. Members ofa union would agree on the wages they thought were fair.
They pledged to stopworking for employers who would not pay that amount. “ M