National Labor Union

Part of a series on
Organized labor
Labor movement National-syndicalism
Labor rights Freedom of association Collective bargaining Child labor Unfree labor Diversity, equity, and inclusion Equal pay Employment discrimination Legal working age Four-day week Sabbatical Eight-hour day Annual leave Paid time off Occupational safety and health Overwork Professional abuse Sick leave Toxic workplace Minimum wage Occupational safety and health Employment protection
Trade unions Trade unions by country Trade union federations International comparisons ITUC WFTU
Strike action Chronological list of strikes Hartal General strike Bandh newspapers Green bans Lockouts Overtime bans Pen-down strikes Sitdown strikes Solidarity action Walkouts Whipsaw strikes Wildcat strikes Work-to-rule
Labor parties Australia Barbados Brazil Fiji Georgia Hong Kong Ireland Israel Malta New Caledonia New Zealand Netherlands Norway Portugal Singapore South Korea United Kingdom Sweden
Academic disciplines Industrial relations Labor economics Labor history Labor law
v t e

The National Labor Union (NLU) is the first national labor federation in the United States. Founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1873,^[1] it paved the way for other organizations, such as the Knights of Labor and the AFL (American Federation of Labor). It was led by William H. Sylvis and Andrew Cameron.

Organizational history

The National Labor Union (NLU) followed the unsuccessful efforts of labor activists to form a national coalition of local trade unions. The NLU sought instead to bring together all of the national labor organizations in existence, as well as the "eight-hour leagues" established to press for the eight-hour day, to create a national federation that could press for labor reforms and help found national unions in those areas where none existed. The new organization favored arbitration over strikes and called for the creation of a national labor party as an alternative to the two existing parties.

The NLU drew much of its support from construction unions and other groups of skilled employees but also invited the unskilled and farmers to join. On the other hand, it campaigned for the exclusion of

In early 1869, the Chicago Tribune boasted that the NLU had 800,000 members; Sylvis himself put the figure at only 600,000. Both of these figures turned out to be greatly exaggerated.[2] The organization was spectacularly unsuccessful at the polls and lost virtually all of its union supporters, many of whom moved on to the newly formed Knights of Labor. The depression of the 1870s, which drove down union membership generally, was one of the final factors contributing to the end of the NLU, the other being the dismantling of policies instituted during Radical Reconstruction.

National Labor Reform Party

By the 1870s the organisation increasingly relied on political action to meet its goals and in 1872 transformed itself into the National Labor Reform Party.

The NLRP nominated David Davis of Illinois, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, as its presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Davis later, however, withdrew his candidacy and the party made a poor showing at the polls. After holding one last convention in 1873, the National Labor Union collapsed and dissolved.

See also

• Labor federation competition in the U.S.
• International Workingmen's Association in America

Footnotes