An essential institutional element in industrialized nations, unions have organized key manufacturing sectors of the labor force, giving workers greater opportunities for control over the conditions influencing their work lives. Labor unions, as found today, have been developing for centuries.
Labor unions have their origins in craft societies.
In the 1790's, craft societies were organized by groups of craftsman, such as shoe makers. These societies were aimed at increasing wages, and organizing strikes and boycotts. As these groups developed, they came together, forming trade unions. In 1830, the National Trades Union was formed. It changed the role of unions by publicly advocated free public schooling, the retraction of voting qualifications, as well as improvements in the workplace.