PURE AND SIMPLE UNIONISM. The expression "pure and simple unionism" was coined by Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), in a speech at the 1890 AFL convention in Detroit in which he opposed the inclusion of political parties in trade union organizations. Gompers argued that "the trade unions pure and simple are the natural organizations of the wage workers to secure their present and practical improvement and to achieve their final emancipation." The phrase came to... morePURE AND SIMPLE UNIONISM. The expression "pure and simple unionism" was coined by Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), in a speech at the 1890 AFL convention in Detroit in which he opposed the inclusion of political parties in trade union organizations. Gompers argued that "the trade unions pure and simple are the natural organizations of the wage workers to secure their present and practical improvement and to achieve their final emancipation." The phrase came to represent the AFL's rejection of political action and social reform in favor of pragmatic economic strategies servicing the immediate needs of its members, such as wages, hours of work, and procedures for handling grievances.
Wendy Wahl
Cronyism and Marxism however have infiltrated pure and simple unionism in ways that have made unions less about workers rights and more about the Social Justice Agenda and the destruction of Capitalism and the Free Market.