BOC Week 9: History of labor unions in the United States

In the United States unionism in some form is almost as old as the nation itself. Crafts that form local unions in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth century included printers, carpenters, tailors, and weavers. Their chief purpose was to keep up craft standards and to prevent employers from hiring untrained workers and importing foreign labor. (http://Infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0861691.html) Thus begins the long and colorful history of labor unions in the United States. To some people, they conjure up thoughts of organized crime and gangsters like Jimmy Hoffa. To others, labor unions represent solidarity among the working classes, bringing people together across many professions to lobby for better rights, wages, and benefits. As of 2006, 15.4 million people were union members, and although union membership peaked in 1945, when 35 percent of the nonagricultural work force were union members, unions are still a powerful influence in the United States (and even more powerful in many other countries). They are also an important and fundamental part of the history of United States commerce and the country’s growth into an economic powerhouse. (http://money.howstuffworks.com/labor-union.htm) Today labor unions are generally thought of in a favorable manor, at least in Las Vegas. They provide stability in an economy that is far from it. Craft unions represent workers who essentially have the same skills or perform the same tasks. A union consisting solely of plumbers or electricians is a craft union. Industrial unions represent workers in given industries. (Managing Hospitality Human Resources, p.350) Industrial unions are found all over Las Vegas. They encompass such professions as bartending, food serving, and almost any other job found in a casino.