Samuel Gompers, 1850-1924: 'The Grand Old Man of Labor'

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2007-08-30-voa1.cfm

He was the first president of the American Federation of Labor. Transcript of radio broadcast:
02 September 2007

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Phoebe Zimmerman.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Program, People in America. Today we tell about one of the country’s greatest labor leaders, Samuel Gompers.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Samuel Gompers was born in London, England in eighteen fifty. His parents were poor people who had moved to England from the Netherlands to seek a better life. Sam was a very good student. However, when he was ten years old, he was forced to quit school and go to work to help feed the family. He was the oldest of five sons. Like his father, Sam became a tobacco cigar maker. He liked the cigar-making industry because it had a group of members. During meetings, workers could talk about their problems. This is where young Sam began to develop an interest in labor issues.


Samuel Gompers

VOICE TWO:

But life was difficult for the Gompers family in London, even with both Sam and his father working. They soon decided to move to the United States to again try to make a better life for themselves. In eighteen sixty-three, the Gompers family got on a ship and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. Seven weeks later, the ship arrived in New York City. The Gompers settled in a poor part of New York where many immigrants lived.

VOICE ONE:

Sam soon learned that life in America was not easy. At that time, most people worked many hours each day for little money. They worked making goods in factories. Often these factories had poor working conditions. New York was known for these so-called “sweatshops.” Whole families, including young children, worked fourteen hours a day in sweatshops for just enough money to stay alive.

Sam hated the sweatshops and refused to work there. Instead, he and his father became cigar makers again. Soon Sam joined the Cigarmakers International Union. In those days, labor unions were not strong or permanent. They did little to help workers in their struggle for better working conditions and a better life. Sam believed this needed to change.

FULL story and audios at link.