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In order:
The right to bargain collectively, unionize, and strike in the first place!
Shorter work days!
Better wages!
Safety regulations!
Pensions!
Health insurance!
Protections against unexpected layoffs/banning no-cause firings!

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AFL: American Federation of Labor. First lasting/surviving cross-industry union (sorry Knights of Labor)
CIO: Congress of Industrial Organizations. First lasting cross-industry union to appeal to unskilled workers, a position the AFL renounced.
UAW: United Auto Workers. One of America's largest unions today, boasting almost a million members. Highly influential in politics.
UFW: United Farm Workers. Almost defunct today, but won great victories in public relations for a time and made trade unionism less scary to the middle class.
NLRA/NLRB: National Labor Relations Act/Board. The Act guarantees the right to unionize, the right to strike, and the right to bargain collectively, amongst other things.

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Could be:
George Meany, cofounder and first president of the AFL-CIO, nation's largest union by membership. Kind of prickly, but he got things done.
Samuel Gompers, the original trade unionist and first president of the AFL. Got the concept of "one big union" rolling.
Cesar Chavez, helped found United Farm Workers, folk hero amongst all trade unionists for his come-from-nothing story.
Walter Reuther, who did EVERYTHING- but for our purposes,  was president of both the UAW and the CIO, considered for the vice presidency, other AFL-CIO cofounder, and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner.
Eugene Debs, founded the American Railway Union, multi-time candidate for President, wrapping up a significant 6% of the vote once.
(It's Reuther! He was a pretty handsome guy.)

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AFL founded 1886, CIO founded 1935, they merge 1955
Pullman strike 1896
Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire 1911
Debs' best presidential run was 1912
National Labor Relations Act passed 1935
Taft-Hartley Act passed 1947
Highest ever raw count of union members 1979

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Most industry, meaning most union workers and most strikes, lived in a fairly narrow band across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The Pullman strike sparked in Chicago, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire was in NYC, so on and so forth. The strongest union cities were Pittsburgh with the United Steelworkers and the Detroit-Flint-Saginaw belt with United Auto Workers.

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Things were, patently, miserable. The Pullman strike happened because Pullman cut wages by 10-25% but did not reduce prices or rents in the company town at all, then fired those who complained. Over a hundred people, mostly women and children, died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire because of bad decisions by management. The Pemberton Mill collapse that killed 165 people and injured another 144 happened because of shoddy construction. Going to work was gambling with life and limb, and the house always wins.

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What's the government's position on this?

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What's the government's position on this?

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Depends. State and local governments were often hostile, but they rarely took charge. The federal government's position shifted drastically between administrations. Grover Cleveland used the Army to disperse the Pullman strikers, Woodrow Wilson spearheaded the Clayton Antitrust Act, FDR passed the NLRA, and Harry Truman vetoed Taft-Hartley. The Supreme Court is more clear- NLRB v. Jones and Laughlin Steel was a pro-labor decision, but after that it gets rough. Overall evaluation- depends on the weather.

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Maaaaybe. Union membership today is lower than it's ever been with the precipitous decline in skilled manufacturing jobs as a whole. The largest unions in the AFL-CIO are teachers and government clerical workers. Taft-Hartley is still in force to tamp down on union activities, and the direct political power of unions has gone down tremendously. If we have won one thing, it's safety regulations. We have made incredible steps in not dying horribly at work since the beginning of the fight.

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aflcio.org (especially Chavez' biography)
Encyclopedia Britannica