In the United States, the term treaty is used in a more restricted legal sense than in international law. U.S. law distinguishes what it calls treaties from congressional-executive agreements and sole-executive agreements.
Knights of Labor (KOL) Knights of Labor (KOL), the first important national labour organization in the United States, founded in 1869. Named the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor by its first leader, Uriah Smith Stephens, it originated as a secret organization meant to protect its members from employer retaliations. Secrecy also gave the organization an emotional appeal. The organizationâs original platform was partly ideological.
Employers and craft unions opposed the Knights of Labor, and the Knights declined in power after the 1880s. The Knights helped establish the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) in 1886, the first central labor body to represent Canadian workers by advocating legislative and political reform.he first workers to unionize in Canada were skilled artisans, such as printers and carpenters, whose skills were in demand. Their skills gave them bargaining power, and beginning in the mid-19th century they were able to establish craft unions to protect their jobs and the standards of their work.