"The term labor movement is often applied to any
             organization or association of wage earners who join together to
             advance their common interests. It more broadly applies,
             however, to any association of workers by geographical area,
             trade or industry, or any other factor. While labor unions have
             been the almost exclusive center of the modern labor movement in
             the United States, in Western Europe, and in many other
             countries, the term labor movement has come to embrace
             labor-oriented political parties as well as labor unions,
             usually combined in a loose alliance." (Flagger, 2)
             Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the ups
             and downs of the business cycle have influenced labor movements
             in the United States. The expansion of economic activity --
             bringing with it growth in the demand for labor -- creates
             conditions favorable to union organization and to demands of
             wage earners for improved living standards. Correspondingly,
             significant economic decline weakens the position of workers and
             labor unions and often leads to a greater emphasis on government
             Generally, American unions had their greatest successes
             among blue-collar, or manual, workers, especially in the great
             goods-producing sectors of the economy. (Flagger 9) In recent
             decades there has been a shift away from goods to service
             production. Unions have not been as successful in organizing
             workers in the services, large numbers of whom are women,
             including many part-time employees.
             It was during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that
             the United States saw the true effects labor unions could cause.
             Through powerful leaders it was obvious how much could really be
             accomplished in favor of workers. Leaders such as Samuel
             Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and John
             L. Lewis, president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
             were just two of this countries great l...