Download - The Labor Movement
The Labor Movement
Chapter 5
Section 4
Seamstresses
• 12 Hour Days, 6 days a week
Steel Mills
• 7 Day work week, no sick leave, no vacation
Railroads
• 1890: 1 in 300 workers would die
Women and Children• 1890: 4 million
women working• 1920: 8 million• Children earned $.27
per day ($6.47)• Men made $498 per
year ($7,100 today)• Women made $269
per year ($6,400 today)
Deflation
• The value of the dollar increases
• One dollar buys more products
• Deflation in late 19th century resulted in employers cutting wages.
• Workers began to unionize
National Labor Union
• First large scale national labor union
• Founded by iron worker William Sylvis
• 300 Locals in 13 states• Sylvis wanted to admit
women and African-Americans, but Locals refused
Knights of Labor
Uriah Stevens: 1868Focused on Industrial
LaborMembership open to
everyoneAdvocated arbitration as
opposed to strikes-3rd party helps workers come to agreement with management
Craft Unionism and Samuel Gompers
• Craft Unions included only skilled workers but often from many industries
• American Federation of Labor– Founded in 1886 by
Samuel Gompers– Pushed for closed shops
-all workers were in the union
Industrial Unionism and Eugene Debs
• Industrial Unionism: all workers in one industry, skilled and unskilled, form a union
• Eugene Debs formed the American Railway Union, the first true industrial union
• They saw minor successes
Socialism and the IWW
• Socialism: economic and political system based on government control of business and property and equal distribution of wealth
• Industrial Workers of the World: Wobblies
The Great Strike of 1877The Great Strike of 1877
• Baltimore and Ohio RR workers strike in Baltimore and Ohio RR workers strike in protest of wage cutsprotest of wage cuts
• The strike eventually spread to a national The strike eventually spread to a national levellevel
• 50,000 miles of railroads stopped for a week50,000 miles of railroads stopped for a week• Resulted in nation wide riotsResulted in nation wide riots• President Hayes sent troops in to stop the President Hayes sent troops in to stop the
strikestrike• RR strike that was very violent and spread RR strike that was very violent and spread
nationwidenationwide
The Haymarket Affair
• May 3, 1886: Police kill a striker at the McCormick Harvester factory
• May 4, 1886: 1,200 people gather in Haymarket Square to protest
• At 10 o’clock, the crowd was leaving due to rain
The Haymarket Affair Cont’d.
170 Policemen assemble at a nearby train station and marched into the square
A bomb was thrown at the police and they opened fire
The Haymarket Aftermath
• 7 Policemen killed
• Several strikers killed (exact number unknown)
• 3 speakers and 8 radicals arrested
• 4 hanged, 1 killed himself in jail
The Homestead Strike
• Carnegie Steel Plant in Homestead, PA
• Henry Clay Frick: company president
• Announced a wage cut on July 6, 1892
• A strike ensued
The Homestead Strike Cont’d.
• 3 detectives and 6 strikers killed
• Strikers closed the plant until July 12
• The National Guard was called in and the violence stopped
• The strike continued until November when the union caved in.
The Pullman Strike
• Built train cars in Pullman, Illinois
• Workers went on strike when he lowered wages but not rent
The Pullman Strike Cont’d.
• Strike spread nationwide
• ARU got involved, shut down train service
• Military called in to break strike
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
• March 25, 1911-huge fire in factory in NYC
• 145 workers died
• New York set up a task force to inspect factories
• established fire codes, 54 hour workweek for women and minors
• no Sunday work and no one under 14 could work
Anti-union Actions
• Owners refused to negotiate with strikers
• forbade union meetings, fired members
• Yellow dog contracts-said worker would not join a union or strike
• Turned Sherman Anti-trust Act against unions
• Lockout-refused to allow union members on their property