But from the start nothing was so important to him as the small Cigar-makers' Local Union No. Gompers immediately rose to leadership of the group. At the age of 16 he regularly represented his fellow workers in altercations with their employers, and he discussed politics and economics with articulate workingmen many years his senior.
This was a time of technological flux in cigar-making, as in practically every branch of American industry. Machines were being introduced which eliminated many highly skilled workers. The cigar-makers were distinguished, however, by the intelligence with which they studied their problems. The nature of the work—the quietness of the process, for example—permitted and even encouraged discussion of economic questions, and this environment provided Gompers with an excellent social schooling.
The most significant influence upon his life was a formerly prominent Scandinavian socialist, Ferdinand Laurrel, who had become disillusioned with Marxism and taught Gompers that workingmen ought to avoid both politics and utopian dreaming in favor of winning immediate "bread and butter" gains in their wages, hours, and conditions.
In fact, Gompers had many contacts with socialists, though, from his earliest days, he had little time for their ideals.
Basing his own unionism on a "pure and simple" materialistic approach, he built the Cigar-makers' International Union into a viable trade association despite technology and unsuccessful strikes.
With Adolph Strasser, the head of the German-speaking branch of the Cigar-makers' Union Gompers led the English-speaking branch , and several other trade union leaders, Gompers helped to set up in a loose federation of trade unions which, in , became the AFL.
Founded during the heyday of the Knights of Labor, the AFL differed from the older organization in nearly every respect. The Knights emphasized the solidarity of labor regardless of craft and admitted unskilled as well as skilled workers to membership. The AFL, with Gompers as its president, was a federation of autonomous craft unions which admitted only members of specific crafts carpenters, cigar-makers, and so on and made no provision for the unskilled. The Knights looked forward to a society in which the wage system would be abolished and cooperation would govern the economy, whereas the AFL unions were interested only in improving the day-to-day material life of their members.
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Book Club. Educator's Updates. What he learned during those years prepared him for and formed the foundation of his leadership in the trade and labor unionism for the rest of his life. Its objective was to influence legislation in behalf of labor, prepare labor legislation, and to lobby Congress.
Gompers was one of the chief founders and he became effectively its leader. As an officer of FOTLU from to , Gompers worked for compulsory school attendance laws, regulation of child labor, the eight hour day, higher wages, safe and sanitary working conditions, and workplace democracy. He remained AFL's president until his death in During the early days of the AFL the organization was tiny.
Gompers' office was an 8 by 10 room in a shed. Most of the work associated with the Union movement consisted of testifying before Congress and State Legislatures on labor laws, rallying his troops at labor rallies, and negotiating strike settlements.
Gompers was well known and respected for his integrity, his generosity and his willingness to stand up to power. During his entire career as a labor leader, Gompers preached moderation. He was considered by many to be too conservative. He stressed cooperation by labor and management rather than strike action to obtain management concessions. Under his leadership the AFL grew from a few struggling labor unions to the dominant organization in the U.
It also adopted, or prepared to adopt, sickness, accident, and unemployment benefits. Gompers became known for his poignant speeches and passionate appeals. He championed collective bargaining and contracts. His revitalization of the union prompted workers in other trades to model their labor organizations after the Cigar Makers International Union.
This federation, comprised of various trade unions, collectively advocated for their rights. Gompers was elected president of the new organization, and served in that position with the exception of the year until his death in Gompers and his family lived in the three-story row-house on First Street, NW for 15 years His house became a discussion center on labor issues and how to solve them.
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