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membership has been relatively 
stable for the past few years, the 
percentage of the U.S. workers 
belonging to a union has steadily 
declined since its peak in the 
1950s. In that decade, about 30% 
of the American workforce were 
organized. In 1980, the rate was 
about 20%; today, it is about 
11%. However, this number still 
represents a sizable chunk of the 
U.S. workforce, about 14 million 
employees, and a powerful voting 
bloc in local and national politics.

ORIGIN OF THE MODERN 
LABOR MOVEMENT 
Labor unions have existed 
in America since the 1790s. 
In Michigan, the first unions 
appeared in Detroit in the 1830s: 
typographers (workers who set 
type for printing newspapers 
and books) and cordwainers 
(leather workers and shoemakers). 
Following a tradition set by 
guilds in medieval Europe, early 
union members were organized 
around a particular craft or trade 
to guard their skills and protect 
their employment. Since 1886, 
the American Federation of Labor 
(AFL) has served as an umbrella 
organization for trade unionists. 
The nature of the labor 
movement in America changed in 
the 20th century. By 1900, the U.S. 
had become a global industrial 
powerhouse, which meant it 
generated millions of unskilled and 
semi-skilled manufacturing jobs. 
This industrial-based economy was 
coupled with mass immigration to 
the U.S. The 30 years between 1890 
and 1920 saw the greatest wave of 
immigrants to America from places 
such as Italy, Germany, Poland, 
Russia and many other European 
lands. This migration of millions of 
people included many Jews.
By 1900, for one example of an 
industrial city, Detroit was famous 
for producing cast-iron stoves, 
railroad cars, cigars, ships and 
pharmaceuticals; industries that 
employed thousands of men and 
women. 
Within the next 25 years, 
Detroit transformed itself into the 
automobile capital of the world, the 
undisputed Motor City, a city with 
hundreds of thousands of semi- 
and unskilled automotive jobs. 
Likewise, at the same time, cities 
such as Chicago, Cleveland and 
Pittsburgh also became powerful 
bases for steel, rubber and other 
heavy industries. Indeed, by the 

1930s, America’s main economic 
engine was manufacturing. 

THE GREAT DEPRESSION ERA
The nature of union organizing 
dramatically changed with the 
Great Depression, the worst 
economic crisis in the history of 
America and the world. It began 
with the stock market crash in 
October 1929 and lasted until 
America entered the second 
World War in 1941. At the nadir 
of the Depression, over 25% of 
the American workforce was 
unemployed. People were desperate 
for work, food and shelter, 
and sought alternatives to the 
contemporary political economy. 
One of the options was to join a 
union.
During this era, John L. Lewis, 
president of the United Mine 
Workers, and other like-minded 

labor leaders, formed the Congress 
of Industrial Organizations (CIO). 
Unlike the AFL, the CIO organized 
unions by entire industries, not 
by trade. When thousands of 
factory workers banded together 
to negotiate wages and working 
conditions, they had tremendous 
power. If factory workers decided 
to strike in mass numbers 
(individual factories employed 
thousands; industries at-large 
employed millions), workers were 
much harder to replace. It gave 
unions unprecedented power. 
The AFL merged with the CIO 
in 1955. Although it is not itself a 
union, it is still the largest labor 
organization in America and 
represents 60 different unions.
Based in Detroit, the UAW was 
first formed as an affiliate of the 
American Federation of Labor. In 
1936, it became an independent 

From 
the DJN 
Archives, 
July 10, 1998

