American Federation of Labor
8 Dec 1886
Causes: After the fall of the Knights of Labor after the Haymarket Riot, skilled workers joined the less-utopian American Federation of Labor.
People: Samuel Gompers
Effects: The Federation aimed for a fairer share of labor, higher wages, lower hours, and better working conditions by using walkouts, boycotts, and strikes and soon grew to have 500,000 members by 1900. The AF of L did not, however, represent unskilled laborers and many women and blacks like the K of L had tried to before.