What issues led to the formation of labor unions?
During the late 19th century, Big Business began to boom. While business owners had previously hired skilled labor, they now began to trade skilled workers in for machinery and immigrants who were willing to work for lower wages. As a result, many Americans found themselves without work or working in subpar conditions. Workers felt a growing sense of helplessness, and looked to collective action to bring about change. And thus, the labor union was born. Labor unions wished to abolish class privilege and monopoly, earn higher wages and an eight-hour workday, and combat the presence of immigrant workers. Many people of this era held the belief that Anglo-Saxons were superior to all other races; additionally, they felt thretened by immigrant workers, as mentioned before. Becuase of this, many of the newly formed labor unions excluded immigrants and unskilled workers from their ranks.
