The craft unions had their origins in the medieval guilds. The next stage was the industrial unions, which really organized all of the workers in a particular industry. And those were very large scale and therefore extremely led to some of the most militant actions that we think about in the history of unionization.
We don't know about you, but we are fans of weekends. And social security. And health insurance. And the end of child labor! And all of these workplace protections exist because of the advocacy of labor unions. In this episode, American political scientist Margaret Levi shares the long history of organizing labor, and explains how unions create equality and protect worker rights. Margaret also discusses her optimism about today’s young workforce and why she believes that an equitable future requires a revival of the labor movement.