Reforming the Industrial Order

Chap 9 Sec 2 Notes

Reforming the workplace

• 1900 the Avg. laborer worked 10hrs/day 6 days/week for $1.50/day women and children were paid less

Female and Child Labor

• 1900--½ of women in jobs as factory workers, store clerks etc. earned $6 or less per week– Barely enough to survive

• Significant barriers when try to increase wages – Piece workers penalized for working too fast

• “Outrage for a girl too earn $25 a week”• would be fired if you protest

• John Spargo “The Bitter Cry of Children “ in 1906 charged textile industry with enslavement of children

• Few children had attended school or could read

• Child worked or family starved

Labor Laws

• Prohibit or limit child labor and improve conditions for female workers

• Florence Kelley persuade Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and limit number of hours women could work – More than 2 million children worked in

factories in 1910 – Girls working 16 hours in canning

factories

• Prohibit or limit child labor and improve conditions for female workers

• Florence Kelley persuade Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and limit number of hours women could work – More than 2 million children worked in factories in

1910 – Girls working 16 hours in canning factories

• George Creel Children in Bondage 1913 describes problem of child labor – Also campaigned for laws to force

factories to limit hours employers demanded

• 1903 Florence Kelley helped pass a law in Oregon limiting laundry workers to 10 hour days – Utah already had laws limiting workdays to

8 hours in certain jobs

• Fought for higher wage – 30 million men 7.5 million women employed in

1910 1/3 lived in poverty – Catholic monsignor John Ryan called for

establishment of minimum wage in 1910 level to approximate normal standard of living

– Massachusetts passes first minimum wage law in 1912-set wages for women and children

– 1938 Federal government passes minimum wage law

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

• March 25,1911 Saturday – 500 employees mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant

women – Finishing shift- fire starts in rag bin – 8th floor of 10 story building a blaze – Escape impossible

• 2 stairways- fire doors locked owners afraid girls would steal fabric

• Elevator shaft jams – 60 workers jump to deaths to escape fire

• 143 die in fire

• Popular outrage forces lawmakers to pass laws to help workers – NY City enacted strictest fire safety code in U.S.

Progressivism and Supreme Court

• Business fought back through courts • 14th amendment prohibits states from

depriving “any person of life, liberty or property w/o due process of law” – Owners claimed regulatory laws deprived them of

property – Supreme Court sided w/business owners and

declared early laws unconstitutional – Court also ruled some legislation violated freedom

of contract

• 1905 Lochner vs. New York—overturned law limiting bakers to 10 hour work days – Workers should be free to negotiate and accept

any conditions of employment • Muller vs. Oregon (1908)

– Supreme Court upheld law limiting hours in laundries

• Louis Brandeis argued for keeping law- “Brandeis Brief”-format for defense of social legislation

Labor Unions

• Fought for closed shops- must belong to a union– Most favored “working within system” – Wanted changes but w/o replacing

capitalism • Some favored socialism- government

ownership of factories, utilities, transportation and communication

AFL• American Federation of Labor

– Samuel Gompers leader • AFL grew 4 fold from 1900 to 1914

– Excluded unskilled workers – Mostly eastern European and African American

workers excluded • Belief that skilled workers had greatest

potential to cause change • By 1902 only 3% of African Americans were

union members

ILGWU• International Ladies Garment Workers Union • Established in 1900 in N.Y. City

– Unionize workers in sewing shops

• 1909 workers in 3 shops walked off job wanted ILGWU to call General strike

• Nov 1909 “Uprising of 20,000”– Workers walked off job and demanded recognition of ILGWU

as union – Strike lasted throughout winter – Got assistance from Women’s Trade Union League – Owners brought in African Americans to replace workers-

some joined strike

• Results mixed – Got wage increase – Got reduced working hours – However owners refused to

recognize union • Membership grew from 400 to

65,000

IWW

• Industrial Workers of the World – “Wobblies” opposed capitalism – Led by “Big Bill” Haywood

• Denounced AFL cooperation w/business owners and failure to include unskilled workers – Enlisted African -Americans,

Asians and Hispanics

• Successes – Philadelphia raised wages from

$1.25/day to $4/day – Pursued goals through boycotts,

general strikes and sabotage – 1912 led strike of 10,000 textile

workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts • Failures – several strikes failed

– Many Americans grew weary of IWW tactics

– Government cracked down on union