We do want more, and when it becomes more, we shall still want more. And we shall never cease to demand more until we have received the results of our labor.

Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted "thorough" organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages the first essential steps he believed to emancipating labor.