American Federation of Labor (AFL) — formation to World War I (1886–1918)
In December 1886, leaders from several craft (skilled trade) unions met in Columbus, Ohio, and formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The new federation aimed to coordinate unions and focus on practical workplace goals like wages, hours, and working conditions. Samuel Gompers became the AFL’s first president and its best-known spokesperson.
In its early years, the AFL promoted a strategy often described as “pure and simple” trade unionism: using collective bargaining, strikes, and boycotts to win concrete improvements. This approach emphasized economic action at work more than building a broad political party. It also reinforced the AFL’s identity as a federation of craft unions.
During the 1892 Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania’s steel industry, the union fight ended in defeat after a long and violent conflict. The AFL refused to call for a national boycott of Carnegie products, reflecting the limits of federation-wide solidarity across industries. The defeat became a major setback for union organizing in steel for years.
In 1894, the Pullman Strike spread from a company town near Chicago into a national rail shutdown after a boycott of Pullman cars. The federal government obtained court injunctions and sent troops, and the strike was defeated; leader Eugene V. Debs was arrested. These events highlighted how court orders and federal intervention could sharply limit strikes, shaping AFL concerns about injunctions in later years.
In 1895, Samuel Gompers returned as AFL president after a one-year break from the office. Over the next decades, he helped keep the federation focused on collective bargaining and on strengthening national unions. His long tenure also made him the public face of the AFL’s strategy and priorities.
In 1900, the National Civic Federation (NCF) was organized to bring together business leaders, civic reformers, and major labor figures in an effort to reduce industrial conflict. Gompers and other labor leaders joined its advisory group and mediation work. This reflected a growing push for negotiation and settlement mechanisms alongside strikes.
In 1902, more than 100,000 coal miners struck in Pennsylvania’s anthracite (hard coal) region for better pay, shorter hours, and union recognition. President Theodore Roosevelt intervened and pushed for arbitration, a major shift in federal involvement in labor disputes. The settlement raised wages and reduced hours, though it did not grant full union recognition.
In 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago by unionists who criticized the AFL’s craft-based structure and moderate strategy. The IWW favored industrial unionism—organizing all workers in an industry into one union—and often used more confrontational tactics. The split highlighted major disagreements inside the wider labor movement about goals and methods.
In the Buck’s Stove and Range dispute, courts issued injunctions to block a boycott and related public “unfair” listings. AFL leaders Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, and Frank Morrison faced contempt proceedings connected to those injunctions. The legal fight became a major example of how injunctions could restrict union tactics such as boycotts and public pressure campaigns.
In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a key case involving AFL leaders accused of contempt in the Buck’s Stove and Range boycott dispute. The Court did not reopen the underlying injunction but reversed the convictions because the lower court handled the contempt as criminal when it was treated as civil. The decision showed the complicated legal risks unions faced when courts issued injunctions during labor disputes.
In 1914, Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act, including Section 6 stating that “the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce.” The AFL strongly supported this language and presented it as a major step toward protecting unions from being treated like illegal business monopolies under antitrust law. Even so, the courts would continue to debate how much the law limited injunctions and antitrust suits against unions.
In 1916, the Adamson Act set an eight-hour workday (with overtime pay rules) for many interstate railroad workers. Congress passed the law in part to prevent a nationwide rail strike. It was an important federal step toward standardizing work hours in a major private-sector industry.
As the United States prepared for World War I, federal planning expanded, including the Council of National Defense and its Advisory Commission. Samuel Gompers served on the Advisory Commission and chaired its labor committee, giving the AFL direct access to national policy discussions. This wartime partnership helped the AFL press for labor standards while discouraging strikes that could disrupt production.
In April 1918, President Woodrow Wilson created the National War Labor Board to mediate labor disputes during wartime production. The board generally supported collective bargaining and helped set expectations on wages, hours, and the right to organize while aiming to prevent strikes from stopping war work. By the end of World War I, this system strengthened the AFL’s influence and contributed to a sharp rise in reported AFL membership.
The armistice ending major fighting in World War I arrived in November 1918, closing the period when wartime boards helped manage labor disputes. The AFL entered the postwar era larger and more politically connected than it had been in 1914. At the same time, the end of wartime controls set the stage for renewed conflict between employers and unions in the years immediately after 1918.