The Rise of the Modern Union

Today, Unions are a normal fact of life. We often hear about the automotive unions and trade unions, and we just assume that they've been here forever. It seems ridiculous that workers could be rejected or discriminated against merely due to their Union affiliation. However, the reality is that Unions made their final entrance into American society following the Great Depression. The AFL, the CIO, and other such Unions were only able to rise from the failure of the Knights of Labor after the Wagner Act and the election of Roosevelt. America at the time was so anti-Union that it took over 50 years since the Industrial Revolution began for organized labor to be accepted legally. And while they did receive legal representation, Unions were still discriminated against and were often victims of violence. We often see Unions as a constant factor in society, but in reality, Unions were a product of the recovery from the Great Depression and only recently became part of the American Culture.