The American Federation of labor
Founded in 1886 in Ohio, the AFL was on of the first federations of labor in the United States. The AFL was created to focus on promoting the interest of skilled workers. They had three main goals: A) to convince companies to recognize unions and agree to collective bargaining, B) supported and pushed for closed shops (meaning companies could only hire unions workers), and C) it promoted an eight-hour day. At first members of the union grew slowly, but by 1800 it was the largest unions in the country with over 500,000 members. In the earlier times the AFL represented 15% of all nonfarmers. All the members were also white as unions usually discriminated against African Americans. Few women were accepted.
samuel gompers
Samuel Gompers was the first AFL president, and continued to be president until his death in 1924 (with the exception of a year). While other unions strived to be involved in politics, Gompers tried to avoid controversy. He believed the union should be focused on "pure and simple" unionism, as well as wages, working conditions, and hours.