LABOR UNIONS

IN THE GILDED AGE

What’s a union?

Why unions?

The rise of unions

Major unions

Major events

Women in the labor movement

OVERVIEW

WHAT’S A UNION?

Groups of workers in the same

industry

Elect leaders to negotiate with

employers

Engage in collective bargaining

over wages, benefits, and working

conditions

Sometimes launch strikes to

enhance bargaining power

WHAT’S A UNION?

Strike: when a group of

workers refuses to work in

the hopes of getting better

pay, benefits, or working

conditions

STRIKES

WHY UNIONS?:

WORKING CONDITIONS

IN THE INDUSTRIAL ERA

More people start working

for wages

Work becomes much more

unpleasant for many

Low-wage, low-skill jobs

makes workers easier to

replace less bargaining

power

INDUSTRIALIZATION

Long hours

Low pay

Most family members had to work

Extremely difficult manual labor, often with no rest

Dangerous work

1880-1900: 35,000 deaths/year in factory/mine

accidents

500,000 - 1 million more injuries

Panic of 1873 leads employers to lay off workers and

cut wages

WORKING CONDITIONS

Strikebreakers (“scabs”): workers hired by companies to

replace striking workers

Immigrants

African Americans

Intimidation/firing

Sabotage/infiltration

Pinkerton guards

Pinkerton National Detective Agency: founded 1850 in Chicago

Private security and law enforcement firm

Frequently hired by factory owners to intimidate union activists and

protect strikebreakers

Reputation for violence

RETALIATION

Many small, local, trade-specific unions and guilds

July 1877: railroad unions organize strikes to protest wage

cuts

Violent confrontations between strikers and police huge

impact on rail travel and shipping

Worst violence in Pittsburgh

July 21: State troops fire on demonstrators, killing 10

Mob sets railway property on fire, burning 2,000 train cars

Troops shoot their way out, killing 20 more

Rutherford Hayes sends federal soldiers

Strikes collapse thanks to imbalance of force, weak economy

(more strikebreakers), and lack of central leadership

Spurs workers to organize across trades

THE RAILROAD STRIKES OF 1877

UNION

MEMBERSHIP,

1900-2000

THE RISE OF UNIONS

Founded 1869

Terence V. Powderly

Included skilled +

unskilled, women,

immigrants, black workers

Ultimate goal: workers’

cooperatives

Generally opposed to

strikes, but engaged in

some militant action

THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR

May 1, 1886: general strike for an 8-hour day led by

all unions in Chicago

3 days of peaceful demonstrations; police shoot and

kill two union members while breaking up a fight on

May 3

May 4: rally to protest police violence in Haymarket

Square

Police approach to break up the orderly rally

Someone in the crowd throws a bomb

7 killed, 67 injured

Mass arrests of anarchists and union activists

Result: public becomes suspicious of labor unions;

destroys the Knights of Labor

THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR

Founded 1886

Samuel Gompers

Generally moderate

Concrete goals: wages, hours, collective bargaining

Generally excluded unskilled workers, immigrants, women, and African Americans

THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR

June 1892: Amalgamated Association of Iron and

Steelworkers (AA) negotiating with Carnegie steel

plant in Homestead, PA

Henry Frick closes plant and hires Pinkertons to

protect strikebreakers

July 5: Firefight between workers and Pinkertons

State militia called in to break the strike and protect

new, non-union employees

July 23: Anarchist attempts to assassinate Frick

Impact: setback for AFL; loss for strikers

THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE

Pullman, Chicago: a “company

town” for workers building

Pullman railway cars

1894: Pullman lays off workers

and cuts pay, but does not lower

rents

Eugene V. Debs travels to

Pullman and recruits factory

workers to the American

Railway Union (ARU)

The ARU calls for a boycott of

all trains carrying Pullman cars

THE PULLMAN STRIKE: CAUSES

June 26, 1894: ARU members begin refusing to work on trains carrying Pullman cars

125,000 workers walked off the job within the next four days

Huge disruption to transportation, shipping, and the economy in much of the country

Rail traffic shut down in 27 states

Railroads hire strikebreakers (“scabs”), including black workers

Violence by some union supporters angers the public and increases calls for federal intervention

THE PULLMAN STRIKE: BOYCOTT

President Cleveland directs the

government to shut down the

strike

Federal troops protect

strikebreakers and force an end

to the boycott

30 strikers killed, 57 wounded

$800 million in property

damage

By August 2, ARU ends the

boycott; most strikers abandon

the union and return to work

THE PULLMAN STRIKE: INTERVENTION

Founded 1905 by radical Colorado miners

Known as IWW or “the Wobblies”

“One big union”: all laborers, regardless of race or trade

Ultimate goal: socialism

Often supported violence and sabotage

Collapsed during WWI and Red Scare

INTERNATIONAL WORKERS OF THE

WORLD

Most unions excluded women

from membership; nearly all

excluded them from leadership

A few exceptions: International

Ladies Garment Workers Union;

Lawrence textile mills

1919: IBEW Telephone Operator’s

Department strikes, shutting

down phone service in five states

Women’s Trade Union League

(WTUL) – founded 1903; link

between women’s and labor

movements

WOMEN IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Lived approx. 1837-1930

Traveled the country organizing coal miners and other laborers

Unconventional tactics

Included black and white workers

Used women and children in her protests

Didn’t wear a bow tie, but…

MARY HARRIS “MOTHER” JONES