key facts about labor unions, labor laws, and labor strikes

Key Facts About Labor Unions, Key Facts About Labor Unions, Labor Laws, and Labor StrikesLabor Laws, and Labor Strikes

The Knights of Labor

• Terence V. Powderly, 1886

• Grew rapidly because of a combination of open membership policy, the continuation of industrialization, and the growth of urban population

• Knights welcomed unskilled and semiskilled workers, including women, immigrants, and African Americans

• Had an ideal vision that they could eliminate conflict between labor and management

– Believed labor should own industries

• Haymarket Square Bombing signaled end of Knights influence

The Industrial Workers of the World

• IWW was led by “Mother” Jones, Big Bill Haywood, and Eugene Debs

• Strove to unite all laborers, including unskilled workers

• IWW’s motto was “an injury to one is an injury to all”

– “One Big Union”

• IWW endorsed violent tactics and class conflict (unlike Knights of Labor)

• Never as big as Knights, collapsed during WWI

The American Federation of Labor

• Led by Samuel Gompers

• An alliance of skilled workers in craft unions

• Concentrated on bread and butter issues such as higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions

– Most conservative of early labor unions

– Did not support unions for women and African-Americans

Great Railroad Strike, 1877

• Considered the first general strike in American history

• Paralyzed the nation’s commerce for 45 days

• Governors in 10 states forced to use state militia to reopen rail traffic

Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890

• This act forbade unreasonable combinations or contracts in restraint of trade

• Little immediate impact

– Actually used against labor unions

• Act declared illegal “every contract, combination in the form of trust, or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade among the several states”

Homestead Strike, 1892

• Strike began as a dispute between iron and steel workers union (AA) and Carnegie Steel Company

• AA refused to accept pay cuts and went on strike in Homestead, PA

• Strike culminated in a battle between strikers and private security guards hired by the company (Pinkertons)

Pullman Strike, 1894

• Late 19th century characterized by a number of violent strikes

– Two best known were Homestead, 1892 and Pullman, 1894

• Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages but maintained rents and prices in a company town of 12,000, workers struck

• Pullman Strike halted a substantial portion of American rail commerce

• Strike ended when President Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops to Chicago (injunction) to crush the strike (protection of interstate commerce)

Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

• This was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania

• It was arbitrated with the active involvement of President Theodore Roosevelt; this marked the first time the federal government intervened in a labor dispute as a neutral arbitrator

The Wagner Act of 1935

• AKA the National Labor Relations Act

• Often referred to as the Magna Carta of Labor because it ensured workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively

• Passage of the act led to a dramatic rise in labor union membership

Congress of Industrial Workers

• Led by John L. Lewis

• Organized unskilled and semiskilled workers in basic manufacturing industries such as steel and automobiles

• Split between AFL and CIO

– AFL favored organization based on skills and trades

– CIO favored organization of all workers in a particular industry

Taft-Hartley Act, 1947

• Primary purpose was to curb the power of labor unions

• Supporters of Taft-Hartley believed the following:

– Unions were abusing their powers

– Widespread strikes would endanger the nation’s vital defense industries

– Some labor leaders had been infiltrated by communists

– Employers were being coerced into hiring union workers

• Organized labor opposed the Taft-Hartley Act

• Passed over President Truman’s veto

United Farm Workers

• Organized and led by Cesar Chavez (Chavez is best-known Latino civil rights activist)

• Union of farm workers

• Tactics used by Chavez included hunger strikes

• Most farmworkers were Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans