Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers was an American labor leader who co-founded and led the American Federation of Labor from 1886 until his death in 1924.

American Federation of Labor: A U.S. federation of craft unions founded in 1886 and led by Gompers for most of his career. Gompers co-founded this federation and made it the center of his labor organizing.
Craft unionism: A form of union organization that brings together workers according to their trade or craft. Gompers built the AFL around autonomous unions organized by skilled trades.
London: The capital city of England and the United Kingdom. Gompers was born in London in 1850 before emigrating to the United States.
Clayton Antitrust Act: A 1914 U.S. federal law addressing antitrust practices and labor’s status under antitrust law. Gompers supported the act, whose labor provisions he hoped would limit injunctions against unions.
Adolph Strasser: A cigar makers’ union leader and labor organizer who worked with Gompers in the early American labor movement. Strasser helped Gompers build the cigar makers’ union that became his organizational base.
Collective bargaining: Negotiation between workers, usually through a union, and employers over wages, conditions, and employment terms. Gompers prioritized negotiated improvements in wages, hours, and working conditions.
Cigar makers: Workers who roll and finish cigars, historically often employed in small shops or factories. Gompers learned union organization as a cigar maker in New York.
Adamson Act: A 1916 U.S. federal law establishing an eight-hour workday for railroad employees. The AFL’s political pressure helped secure this major federal hours-law victory.
John Mitchell: An American labor leader who headed the United Mine Workers of America from 1898 to 1908. Mitchell’s union partnered with the AFL during Gompers’s presidency.
Pure and simple unionism: A labor strategy focused on immediate workplace gains rather than replacing capitalism with a new economic system. Gompers used this phrase for the AFL’s practical, non-socialist organizing approach.

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