In light of the current moves to unionize Starbucks franchises and Amazon warehouses, what did the beginnings of labor unions in the US look like?

by thepunctuator

I have been curious about the rise and fall in labor unions in the US as a part of the evolving changes in wages and staffing in the US. I've searched the archives and found plenty of information on why labor union membership decreased. My question is how did labor union membership in the US begin to increase to levels seen in the 50s and 60s and were there any similarities to the current economic and political climate?

SLavery125

Two strikes that I remember learning about were that Haymarket affair and the Pullman strike. Both involved workers asking for super reasonable things and some of them losing their life. They are (in my opinion) the foundation of workers rights in the US as they gave workers back some autonomy. When workers began to realise they had the power to change things, they began demanding more change.