The Struggle of Organized Labor: Attempts to Organize National Unions: Knights of Labor; American Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers (dec 1, 1869 – dec 2, 1886)

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The Knights of Labor was a national labor union that started as a secret society to avoid detection by employers. It opened membership to all workers after going public, including African Americans. They advocated for worker cooperatives, the abolition of child labor, and the abolition of trusts and monopolies. This group, unlike the National Labor Union, resorted to arbitration instead of strikes. Since it was loosely organized, the union could not be controlled in strikes, which played a hand in the violence of the Haymaker riot that turned majority opinion against them. The American Federation of Labor, led by Samuel Gompers, aim to increase wages and improved working conditions. Gompers directed his local unions hard workers to walk out until the employer agreed to negotiate to their demands.

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