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National Labor UnionThe National Labor Union was the first national labor federation in the United States. It was founded in 1866 when a group of labor unions, largely on the east Coast and in the industrial Midwest, combined their efforts in an attempt to pressure Congress into making labor reforms, including a movement towards arbitration of industrial disputes and the eight-hour workday, which they succeeded in securing for government workers. The Union lasted six years and boasted 600,000 members all either skilled laborers, unskilled laborers, or farmers. The NLU was not elitist like The American Federation of Labor but did exclude the Chinese and made less than feeble efforts to include women and blacks. Black workers established their own Colored National Labor Union as an adjunct but their support of the Republican Party and the habitual racism of white unionists prevented the two from working together which combined with the depression of the 1870s contributed to the end of the NLU. The National Labor Union paved the way for other organizations such as The Knights of Labor.
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