"What can Labor do for itself? The answer is not difficult. Labor can organize, it can unify; it can consolidate its forces. This done, it can demand and command." -Eugene V. Debs
Why are Unions Important?
The unions had many effects. The workers' conditions improved. For example wages were increased by about 20%. Also, it was very important to workers to have a 40 hour work week, and before unions, many were working about 60 hours per week or more. With unions, people had more power to make change happen. Moreover, benefits and compensation were increased by about 28%. Also, they set a standard wage that some other non unionized paid their employees. However, these changes came at a cost. To raise wages, companies had to fire many employees. Instead of distributing $100 to ten people ($10/person), they could distribute $100 to five people ($20/person). This caused many more people to become unemployed. Also, companies couldn't fire everyone, so they had to make a little more money. There were many ways to do this. The Standard Oil Company did this by cutting the supply to increase demand and prices. Or, a company could get a monopoly and increase prices. If a company couldn't make a monopoly, they could form a trust and all agree to raise prices. This raised a bunch of prices. This all hindered the economic recovery. For example, in the 1982 and 1991 recessions, states with more unions recovered more slowly. So, eventualy anti-trust laws were set in place to prevent all these consequences.