American Workers

Wage Stagnation Era Begins: Productivity-Pay Gap Opens as Union Power Collapses

1979-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

After three decades of wages rising in tandem with productivity (1948-1979), the fundamental relationship between worker productivity and compensation breaks down completely beginning in 1979, marking the start of 45+ years of wage stagnation despite continued productivity growth. Between 1948-1979, …

American workers Corporate management Federal Reserve Business Roundtable labor-suppression wage-stagnation productivity-gap union-decline inequality +1 more

Wagner Act Establishes Federal Protection for Union Rights and Collective Bargaining

1935-07-05 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act, known as the Wagner Act after sponsor Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY), establishing federal legal protection for workers’ rights to organize unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike without employer retaliation. …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Robert Wagner U.S. Congress National Labor Relations Board American workers labor-rights wagner-act nlra new-deal collective-bargaining +1 more

Knights of Labor Reaches Peak Membership of 700,000 Before Rapid Collapse

1886-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

The Knights of Labor reaches its peak membership of over 700,000 workers (some sources report 750,000) under Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly, representing the largest and most inclusive labor organization in American history to that point. Founded in 1869 as a secret society and reorganized …

Terence V. Powderly Knights of Labor Jay Gould American workers labor-organizing gilded-age knights-of-labor union-membership labor-rights