They are just as great enemies of trade unions as any employer can be. Gompers repudiated socialism and advocated a pragmatic "pure and simple" unionism that emphasized agreements with employees--which would spell out for a stipulated period the wages, hours of work, and the procedures for handling grievances. Gompers proposed that agreements contain clauses stipulating that employers hire only union members the closed shop and that any employee should be required to pay union dues. Employers advocated the open shop, which could employ non-union members.
During the s and s, unions sought to secure and retain a foothold in such major industries as railways, steel, mining, and construction. It was in the building trades where the craft principle was most dominant that the American Federation of Labor developed its largest membership. Miners merged their crafts into the United Mine Workers of America, an industrial union that admitted to membership of those working in and about a mine, whether skilled or unskilled. Gompers' office was an 8 by 10 room in a shed.
Most of the work associated with the Union movement consisted of testifying before Congress and State Legislatures on labor laws, rallying his troops at labor rallies, and negotiating strike settlements. Gompers was well known and respected for his integrity, his generosity and his willingness to stand up to power. During his entire career as a labor leader, Gompers preached moderation. He was considered by many to be too conservative. He stressed cooperation by labor and management rather than strike action to obtain management concessions.
Under his leadership the AFL grew from a few struggling labor unions to the dominant organization in the U. Gompers' wife Sophia died in He was devastated and suffered from loneliness. He married a year later to Grace Neuschler. He was then 74 years old. To this day he is remembered as the founder and father of the American labor and trade union movement. Financial considerations altered the original plan for a defensive work near present-day Wall Street.
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In , he joined the Cigarmakers' Union, quickly attaining a leadership role. Gompers assumed control of the union in , and he set about reforming it. Under his direction, the Cigarmakers' Union began to charge high dues. These funds were then used to form strike and pension funds for the workers. Gompers also sought to unite local unions into a national organization. He focused the union's activities on improving wages, guaranteeing job security for workers, and increasing other benefits.
Many members of these two groups were disgruntled members of the Knights of Labor, the most influential labor organization in the United States during the s.
Gompers served as the AFL's first president.
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