EFFECTS OF DEVELOPMENT ON THE WORKER/LABOR

AND UNIONS

Wage Earners

1900 – 2/3 of Americans worked for wages (10 hrs a day, six days a week)

Supply and Demand David Ricardo “Iron Law of

Wages” Most families needed 2-3

incomes In 1890, 11 million of 12.5

million families in the US averaged $380/year. ($8958.14)

Industrial Warfare

Lockout – closing the factory Blacklists – names of pro-union workers Yellow-dog contracts – workers agreed

not to join a union Private guards, state militias, court

injunctions

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Depression Wage cuts by

many railroads (had been $1.75 per day for 12 hours ($2.90/hour))

Dangerous working conditions

B&O Railroad workers stop trains in WV

Crowd gathers, police can’t stop

It Intensifies

Governor sends in militia Strikers and militia exchange fire, one striker dies 600 trains stopped Governor applies for federal troops

Troops out west, Congress didn’t give money, but a few wealthy bankers offered to pay only officers.

Trains begin to move again

It Spreads Baltimore, thousands

surround National Guard armory. Throw rocks, soldiers fire. 10 strikers dead, 1 soldier

wounded 15k people surrounded the

depot 500 soldiers quiet things down

OMG “Strikes were occurring almost every hour. The

great State of Pennsylvania was in an uproar; New Jersey was afflicted by a paralyzing dread; New York was mustering an army of militia; Ohio was shaken from Lake Erie to the Ohio River; Indiana rested in a dreadful suspense. Illinois, and especially its great metropolis, Chicago, apparently hung on the verge of a vortex of confusion and tumult. St. Louis had already felt the effect of the premonitory shocks of the uprising. . . . “ - Joseph Dacus, editor of the St. Louis Republican

New RR, same story P&P Railroad –

required “double headers”

Crew refused to go Strikers joined by men

from mills and factories

2000 cars idle, Philadelphia militia kills 10 workingmen

Crowd surrounds troops, buildings and cars set on fire 24 people eventually

killed 79 buildings burned

Locations Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Pottsville, Reading

Pennsylvania Chicago – police vs. crowds (18 dead by

clubs and guns) St. Louis – Multicultural workingman’s strike New York

Totals/Result Hundreds dead Thousands jailed 100,000 gone on

strike Half of railroad

lines stopped

“The railroads made some concessions, withdrew some wage cuts, but also strengthened their "Coal and Iron Police." In a number of large cities, National Guard armories were built, with loopholes for guns” – Howard Zinn

Early Unions National Labor Union – All

workers into 1 union. 640,000 members by 1868. 8 hour day Equal Rights for women and

blacks Lost support after 1877 strike

Knights of Labor Secret society early Open to women and African

Americans Worker coops Abolition of child labor Abolition of trusts and

monopolies

Early Unions, cont’d

American Federation of Labor Practical

economic goals

1 million strong by 1901

Little thought to social reform

Strikebreaking Haymarket Bombing

1st May Day movement Anarchists set off a bomb Police fire at protesters,

police and strikers die Seven sentenced to death,

though the prosecution admitted they didn’t throw the bomb

Americans thought unions were violent, membership declined

Strikebreaking, cont’d Homestead Strike

See video Pullman Strike

Railroad sleeping cars, company town

General cut in wages, fires negotiators

American Railroad Union / Eugene V. Debs encourages boycott of Pullman cars

Railroad owners link cars to mail trains

President steps in Debs and others arrested

Summitup

By 1900 only 3% of workers were in unions

Management could rely on police, state, and federal troops

All levels of government seemed to be on the side of management, ignoring the plight of workers.

Today “Right to Work” states 12.5% in Unions (1 in 8)

28 % in 1954 CEO pay is 263 TIMES that

of the average worker