ployees. He became an executive and a merchant
             who rarely saw his workers. He was concerned less with their welfare than with the
             cost of their labor. Many workers were angry about the changes brought by the
             factory system. In the past, they had taken great pride in their handicraft skills; now
             machines did practically all the work, and they were reduced to the status of common
             laborers. In bad times they could lose their jobs. Then they might be replaced by
             workers who would accept lower wages. To skilled craft workers, the Industrial
             Revolution meant degradation rather than progress.
             As the factory system grew, many workers began to form labor unions to protect their
             interests. The first union to hold regular meetings and collect dues was organized by
             Philadelphia shoemakers in 1792. Soon after, carpenters and leather workers in Boston
             and printers in New York also organized unions. Labor's tactics in those early times
             were simple. Members of a union would agre
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