1865 – Union Stock Yards open
1866 – National Labor Union founded
1867 – Illinois passed an act making Eight hours a legal day’s work
1869 – Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor and Colored National Labor Union formed
1877 – Knights of Labor chartered in Chicago
1886 – American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded
1886 – Haymarket Protest
1890 – Retail Clerks International Union, then known as the Retail Clerks
National Protective Union, was chartered by the AFL
1903 – Women’s Trade Union League formed
1904 – Meat Packers Strike
1909 – Ten Hour day law for women passed in Illinois
1912 – Bill creating Department of Labor was passed
1913 – Federal Department of Labor established
1935 – National Labor Relations Act passed
1935 – Illinois Six Day Work Week Law was passed
1935 – Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed within AFL
1937 – Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee (PWOC) created by CIO
1937 – Illinois Eight Hour Day Law for Women passed
1938 – Fair Labor Standards Act establishes first minimum wage and 40-hour week
1938 – Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) forms as an independent federation and splits from AFL
1943 – Illinois Equal Pay for Women Act passed
1943 – PWOC officially becomes United Packing- house Workers of America (UPWA) with its headquarters located in Chicago
1947 – Taft-Hartley Act restricts union members’ activities
1951 – United Leather Workers International Union merged with AMCBW
1955 – AFL-CIO merge back together
1955 – Stockyard Association of America merged with AMCBW
1955 – International Fur and Leather Workers merged with AMCBW
1960 – National Agricultural Workers merged with AMCBW
1963 – Equal Pay Act bans wage discrimination based on gender
1964 – Civil Rights Act bans institutional forms of racial discrimination
1968 – UPWA merges with AMC & BW of NA
1970 – Chicago’s Union Stock Yard closed
1970 – Occupational Safety and Health Act passed
1971 – Illinois Minimum Wage Law passed
1972 – Coalition of Black Trade Unionists formed
1974 – Coalition of Labor Union Women founded in Chicago
1974 – A Professional Employees Division was established within the Retail Clerks Union which included the health care fields and related professions
1979 – The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) was formed after a merger between Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Retail Clerks Union
2005—The UFCW left the AFL-CIO and Joined Change to Win
2013—The UFCW left Change to Win and re-joined the AFL-CIO