Labor Unions get a break.

On Friday, striking bus drivers, train operators and mechanics in Denver approved a new contract with the city's mass transit agency. According to the Washington Post, the contract ended the area's first transit strike in 24 years. If the Regional Transportation District also approves the deal, transit workers will go back to work Monday. Under terms of the contract, workers would get a wage increase of $1.80 an hour over the course of 3 years, and also an increase in health insurance by an additional $20 a month. Nearly 1,750 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 walked off the job Monday. Thousands of commuters had to use alternate transportation to get around. Union officials said workers wanted more upfront money, and they have finally reached an agreement in which both parties are satisfied.

The National Labor Union, formed in 1866 in Baltimore, was the first national labor federation in the United States. The National Labor Union was created to pressure Congress to enact labor reforms. It was made up of skilled and unskilled workers, farmers and reformers. On August 20, 1866, the NLU called on Congress to pass an eight hour day for workers. Although the Union failed to persuade Congress to shorten the workday, its efforts heightened public awareness of labor issues and increased public support for labor reform in the 1870s and 1880s. Never very strong, the NLU was a casualty of the sweeping economic depression of 1873.