The American Labor Movement of the nineteenth century developed as a result of the citywide organizations that unhappy workers were establishing. These men and women were determined to receive the rights and privileges they deserved as citizens of a free country. They refused to be treated like slaves, and work under unbearable conditions any longer. Workers joined together and realized that a group is much more powerful than an individual when protesting against intimidating companies. Unions, coalitions of workers pursuing a common objective, began to form demanding only ten instead of twelve hours in a workday. Workers realized the importance of economic and legal protection against the powerful employers who took advantage of them. (AFL-CIO American Federalist, 1).
The beginnings of the American Labor Movement started with the Industrial Revolution. Textile mills were the first factories built in the United States. Once factory systems began to grow, a demand for workers increased. They hired large amounts of young women and children who were expected to do the same work as men for fewer wage. New immigrants were also employed and called "free workers" because they were unskilled. These immigrants poured into cities, desperate for any kind of work. (Working People, 1).
Child labor in the factories was not only common, but also necessary for a family's income. Children as young as five or six manned machines or did jobs such as sweeping floors to earn money. It was dangerous, and the large, heavy machinery often hurt them. No laws prevented the factories from using these children, so they continued to do so. (AACTchrNET, 1).
"Sweatshops" were created in crowded, unsanitary tenements. These were makeshift construction houses, dirty and unbearably hot. They were usually formed for the construction of garments. The wages, in factories, were pitifully low, no benefits were made, and the worker was paid by the number of pieces he or she completed in a day.