Civil wars led to an increase in the number of members in unions. The first reason that facilitated the increase in membership is the fact that people realized that through violence, their needs could be easily responded to. They therefore opted to join unions where they would fight for their rights easily (Sloane,2010).
The other factor that facilitated the increase was that people benefited through the unions. The government supported labor unions so that the labor unions could support them in return in the civil war. Government leaders sought for assistance from the labor unions. This is what encouraged people to join labor unions (Sloane, 2010).
After the civil war, labor unions continued to grow. This is because people gained more skills and realized their rights. In order to fight for these rights, they found it important to join labor unions. During this time, industries were growing at a very first rate. They aimed at achieving their objectives of increasing their profits through exploitation of the workers. They employees had to join labor unions so that they could get better pay, better working conditions and reasonable working hours and days per week (Sloane, 2010).
After the war, there were many immigrants. These immigrants were willing to work for less pay. Industries also found it cheaper to hire children and women since they were willing to accept less pay. Some workers faced the risk of being layed off. To ensure their job security, they found it important to join labor unions so that their rights could be fought for. The labor unions became more political in that they benefit if a political leader wins through support of labor unions. Due to these factors, it can be said that labor unions have grown to an extent since the civil wars (Sloane, 2010).
References.
Sloane, A.A. & Witney, F. (2010). Labor relations (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
