- Person
- Samuel Gompers
- Lived
- 1850–1924
- Field
- Labour movement
- From
- British-born American
The story
Samuel Gompers joined the cigar makers' union in New York in 1864, at the age of 14, and by 1875 he was president of Local 144 of the Cigar Makers' International Union. He was a skilled and respected cigar roller and an outspoken leader among his shopmates.
The union nearly collapsed in the economic crisis of 1873 to 1877, when unemployment soared and desperate workers were willing to labour for subsistence wages. In 1877 a coordinated lockout by cigar manufacturers put about 7,000 workers out on the street for four months. The strike failed for lack of money and discipline, and only a small fraction of the union's members stayed on.
Gompers and his friend Adolph Strasser, who became the union's international president in 1877, drew lessons from the defeat and used Local 144 as a base to rebuild the union. The international officers gained authority over the locals. They introduced higher dues to build up funds and created programmes to pay out-of-work benefits, sick benefits, accident benefits and death benefits to members in good standing. Members now had a reason to stay in the union through hard times, and the union had money to support strikes.
Gompers told workers that they were powerless alone while employers were united, and that one of the main aims of their organisation was "the elevation of the lowest paid worker to the standard of the highest". The rebuilt union grew quickly: between 1879 and 1883 its number of locals rose from 35 to 185, with about 10,000 members.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, other unions emulated the cigar makers' programme, which led in 1881 to the formation of the federation that became the AFL. Gompers remained a vice-president of the Cigar Makers' International Union from 1886 until his death in 1924, even while leading the national federation. The idea that a union should protect members against illness, injury and joblessness became a lasting part of American trade unionism.
Why it matters
Gompers's benefit system gave working families a safety net against illness, injury and unemployment, and became a model for other unions.
About Samuel Gompers
London-born Jewish cigar maker who founded and led the American Federation of Labor for nearly four decades, making collective bargaining a fixture of American working life.
More about Samuel Gompers
- Samuel Gompers backed amnesty for political prisonersAlthough he strongly supported the First World War, Samuel Gompers later backed amnesty for people imprisoned under wartime emergency laws for their opinions.
- Samuel Gompers spoke for 25,000 jobless workers in 1893During the 1893 depression, Samuel Gompers addressed 25,000 unemployed workers in Chicago and argued that cutting wages hurt not only workers but the whole economy.
- Samuel Gompers championed collective bargainingSamuel Gompers built the AFL around collective bargaining for higher wages, shorter hours and safe working conditions, procedures between labour and management still used today.
- Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of LaborSamuel Gompers helped found the American Federation of Labor in 1886 and led it as president, except for one year, until his death in 1924.
- Samuel Gompers helped build Canada's union movementIn the 1890s and 1900s Samuel Gompers helped Canada's Trades and Labour Congress with money and organisers as part of his vision for an international federation of labour.
- Samuel Gompers chaired the 1919 labour commissionAt the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Samuel Gompers chaired the Commission on International Labour Legislation, whose workers' rights charter was written into the Treaty of Versailles.
Sources
- Samuel Gompers Wikipedia
- Samuel Gompers Jewish Virtual Library
- Cigar Makers' International Union Wikipedia
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