It must be understood that Movements drive Rights into the fundamental, Constitutional structure of law. The Abolitionist Movement drove the Civil War Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th) into the Constitution, ending slavery, affirming the rights of freed slaves, and extending to (male) black Americans the franchise. The Women's Suffrage Movement drove the 19th Amendment into the Constitution, and extended the vote to all women in 1920.

The Labor Movement of the 1830s and beyond attempted to drive workers' rights into the Constitution, and the Knights of Labor argued, following the Civil War, that the 13th Amendment's protections against involuntary servitude did not only apply to slavery, but extended legal protections to all workers against unsafe work conditions, long hours, inadequate pay and loss of Constitutional rights on the job. Corporate-friendly courts consistently refused to "find" workers in the Constitution, and refused to concur that the 13th Amendment was in fact a "Labor Amendment" that could fulfill the aspirations of the early Labor Movement.

Today, organized labor functions within the regulatory parameters of the National Labor Relations Board, which, under the Wagner Act, created a semi-judicial regulatory agency that permits workers to negotiate for wages, hours and working conditions within industry defined limits. No Labor Movement exists today.

Declaration of Principles of the Knights of Labor -- Founded in 1869, the Knights of Labor sought to advance the rights of workers and define a people-based system of production and industry in America.

Toward A New Labor Rights Movement -- James Pope, Peter Kellman and Ed Bruno

Furthering American Freedom: Civil Rights and the 13th Amendment -- Alexander Tsesis

The Wages of Resting Fundamental Rights on the Commerce Clause -- William E. Forbath, The New Deal Constitution in Exile

How American Workers Lost the Right to Strike -- James Gray Pope

(Cartoon - Matt Wuerker, from Building Unions)