The Labor Movements of America

To begin my research on the history of labor in American, I came across an article that gives a general overview of all of the major labor movements in the U.S. This article defines a labor movement as the organization of a mass of workers who wish to forward their interests. The first labor movements specifically mentioned in the article happened in the early 1800's, yet the articles extends all the way to 21st century. This shows that labor has been progressing along side with our country. With each new movement, the overall conditions of labor become better. Whether pay was increased or work was just made safer for all the employs, labor movements helped create the work conditions we have today. The labor movements specifically began in 1886, when Samuel Gompers formed the American Federation of Labor, or AFL for short. This led into the Haymarket Square riot of 1886 and the Pullman strike of 1894. These were two of the first major incidents of workers lashing out at their employers. This led into the early 20th century. This was a time that major improvements to working conditions were made. Thousands of workers joined unions, and participated in strikes in order to give themselves a fair pay for their hard work. All of these major improvements in the American labor system would not continue though. When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, many Americans lost their jobs or suffered a wage cut of some sort. It was Franklin D. Roosevelt's election that led American into a new labor era. By creating enough new jobs for everyone, our economy recovered enough so labor in the U.S. would remain stable. Labor unions continue to be present today, keeping everything fair for both the employer and the employee. It will be interesting to see how the most recent economic crisis will evvect labor in the long run.

"labor movement." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

Labor - Initial thoughts

Life in America is focused around labor. We are all educated from a very early age. This education allows us to secure a profession later in life. A majority of Americans go to college. In the end, going to college has no other real purpose than allowing people have a successful job. Having a job with a steady pay is a goal that everyone in this country has. Jobs will always be a major topic because they are directly related to our country's economy. When people have jobs, they have money to spend. When they spend that money, it helps the economy. This connection between labor and the economy can be seen in Obama's State of the Union last night. His solutions to our economic crisis in some way always was tied back to labor. This shows that labor will play a role in the near future of America. Labor also has a history though, and it will be interesting to see how labor in th U. S. has chnagesd oer the years.

The State of the Union

Last night, Obama gave his first State of the Union address. I have always been a supporter of Obama so I was very pleased that the speech that he gave was very powerful. The speech addressed all of our countries current issues, and provided an idea on how to solve each problem. Although i did not agree with every idea Obama suggested, many of them seemed like exactly what the nations needs to fix its respective problem. He would help fix the economy by drastically increasing the amount of U.S. exports. He said this would not only increase the country's wealth, but it would also open a large amount of jobs. Helping the economy recover seemed to me to be the main focus of this speech. Obama also said that in 2011, the government will freeze spending, this would help lower our national debt, which will in turn help the economy. Obama would also try to stop the cost of college, because he said that no American should spend their life in debt because they decided to go to college. He said that the best anti-poverty program he can provide for America is a world class education. There is a lot of truth behind those words, it is often the level of ones education that will often determine if they are employed or not. Obama did mention other issuses like health care, and the divided senate, but thoes all stood behind the economy.

Here are some clips from the speech :

The MMG Experience has begun!

The second semester for me is starting out pretty nice. My schedual is all-around easier, and I have a lot more free time. The lacrosse season is strating soon, so its nice to have this time while I can. This year in lacrosse is going to be very exciting. This is the last year before lacrosse becomes an ISHA sponsered sport. This is ultimately a good thing, but that also means that this is the last year that we have to win the lacrosse cup.

Here is a link to the lacrosse website: http://legacy.dist113.org/dhs/Sports/Lacrosse/Boys/index.htm