American+Federation+of+Labor

__** American Federation of Labor ** __
 The AFL is a capitalist union and structured from the Trade Union Congress in Britain. Originally founded in Columbus, Ohio, it is a cohesive non-radical organization with conservative political views. Other rival radical unions have been created such as the Industrial Workers of the World. However, the AFL remains the largest. Many of the members in the AFL are disgruntled members of the more radical Knights of Labor and the IWW. Samuel Gompers is the current president of the AFL. **Who Can Join?** The AFL accommodates skilled workers. Women, African Americans and other racial minorities are prohibited from joining the organization. The AFL upholds the philosophy of craft unionism otherwise known as the division of unions by specialty. This is a contradiction to other unions which support industrial unionism which is the grouping of workings in a company under one union. **What the AFL Stands For** The use of strikes is supported by the AFL. However, peaceful negotiations are preferred to attain fair contracts for workers from their employers. Fair contracts are used to bargain for better wages, working conditions and eight hour days .
 * About the AFL**
 * __ Samuel Gompers __**Gompers was born in London on January 27, 1850. His schooling ended at the age of ten when he began working as an apprentice shoemaker. Later he switched to his father’s profession of cigar making. In 1863 Gompers and his family immigrated to New York City where he continued in the cigar making trade and in 1864 became the first registered member of the Cigar Makers International Union (CMIU) in NYC. In 1875 he was elected president of the reorganized Local 144 of the CMIU. In 1881 Gompers became vital in the organization of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada. He was vice-president of the organization from 1881 to 1886. When the FOTLU was reorganized in 1886 as the American Federation of Labor, he was elected its first president. Gompers accepted capitalism as the natural method of organizing production and made his goal the betterment of workers within the capitalist system.

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 * __  Works Cited   __**
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 * “American Federation of Labor”. Ohio History Central. 1 July 2005. 8 Dec. 2009. [] 
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 * Knepper, George. //Ohio and Its People//. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2003. 7 Dec. 2009.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt;">Montgomery, David. //The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925//. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 7 Dec. 2009.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; msoansilanguage: EN-USmsoAnsiLanguage; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastlanguage: EN-US; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin;">"Samuel Gompers (1850 - 1924)." //AFL-CIO America's Union Movement//. 2009. American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations, Web. 7 Dec 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastlanguage: EN-US; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin;">Simkin, John. "Samuel Gompers." //Spartacus Educational//. 2009. Web. 4 Dec 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 8pt;">[]