"Who was responsible for the first reforms on child labour, unions or philanthropists?"
Not a pissing competition - Christian philanthropists versus reformers - surely??
The Trades Unions were set up to organise workers - hence the name
Owen was a utopian Socialist - his followers attended the First Communist International
He was not a Victorian Reformer as you claimed - your reformers did not attempt to give the working man a voice, in fact many of them opposed such revolutionary ideals
Their role was to patronise the workers, not to empower them
Who made the long term demands of better working and living conditions so working families could rely on themselves rather than the charity of the reformers the reformers or the Trades Unions?
If workers had relied on the handouts of the reformers we'd still be living in 19th century conditions.
Your church was the greatest opponent of these reforms.
Many of the reformers you refer to, did so in order to win kudos for the church rather than help the poor - typical of these was the FRENCH WORKER PRIESTS
When them upstairs realised how their scemes were backfiring and workers were beginning to take action for themselves the were all pulled out
Jim Carroll