IV. Unions• Workers tried to form unions in the late 1800s• Hoping to improve wages, hours, and working

conditions• Business leaders worked with some unions• Generally opposed others• Strikes during this era sometimes led to violence• Hurt union’s image and slowed their growth

Working in the United States

• Why did workers try to form unions in the late 1800s?

Working in the United States

• Life for workers was difficulto Dull repetitive taskso Breathed in lint, dust and toxic

fumeso Machines lacked safety devices

• Industrialism led to a dramatic rise in the standard of living

Working in the United States

• Average workers’ wages rose 50% between 1860 -1890

• Uneven division of wealth caused resentment

• 1900 average wage: 22 cents per hour and worked 59 hours a week

Working in the United States

• Deflation – a decline in the volume available money or credit that results in lower prices, and therefore increases the buying power of money

• 1865 -1897 deflation caused prices to fall

Working in the United States

• Increased buying power

• Companies cut wages• Late 1800s prices fell

even faster• Workers resented

getting less money• Needed unions to

bargain for higher wages and better conditions

Early Unions

• Two types of industrial workers- craft and common

• Craft workers were o Machinistso Iron molders o stone cutters o Shoemakerso printers

• Had special skills and received higher wages

Early Unions

• Common workerso Had few skillso Received lower wages

• 1830s craft workers form trade unions

• 1873 – 30 national unions

• 3 largesto Iron Molders Internationalo International typographical

Uniono Knights of St. Crispin;

shoemakers union

Opposition to Unions• Employers had to

negotiate with unions• Viewed unions as

conspiracies that interfered with property rights

• Business leaders opposed industrial unions

• Industrial Union – an organization of common laborers and craft workers in a particular union

Opposition to Unions• Companies used

technique to prevent union membershipo Sign oath or contracto Hired detectives to identify

union organizerso Workers who tried to organize

were firedo Placed on a blacklist

Opposition to Unions• Companies used

“lockouts” to break existing unions

• Lockout – a company tool to fight union demands by refusing to allow employees to enter its facilities to work

• If union called a strike employers hired replacements or strikebreakers

Opposition to Unions• There were no laws

giving workers rights to form unions

• Or for owners to negotiate with them

• Courts ruled strike “conspiracies in restraint of trade”

• Leaders could be fined or jailed

• Restraint – the act of limiting, restricting, or keeping under control

Opposition to Unions• 1800s unions thought

to be un-American• Karl Marx argued that

capitalist society was a struggle between workers and owners

• Marx believed the workers would o Eventually revolto Seize factories o Overthrow the government

Opposition to Unions• Laborers supported Marx• Few supported

anarchism• Anarchists believe

society does not need any government

• 1800 anarchists assassinated government officials and set off bombs across Europe

• Hope was to begin a revolution

Opposition to Unions• Tens of thousands of

Europeans headed to America

• Anti immigrant feelings were strong in America

• Became suspicious of unions

• Used the courts, the police and army to crush and break strikes

Opposition to Unions• How did the working

conditions encourage workers to form unions in the late 1800s?

Opposition to Unions•Working conditions were often dangerous and unhealthy, and workers wanted unions to help them gain a better work environment.

Struggle to Organize• What made it difficult for

union workers to create large industrial unions?

Struggle to Organize• Workers tried many

times to create large industrial unions

• Confrontations with owners led to violence and bloodshed

The Great Railroad Strike

• Panic of 1873 was a severe recession

• 1877 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced it was cutting wages (third time)

• Strike involved 80,000 workers

• First nationwide strike

The Great Railroad Strike

• President Rutherford B. Hayes called it an insurrection

• Took 12 bloody days for police, state militias and federal troops to restore order

• 100 people were killed• 100 million in railroad

property was destroyed• Americans wanted more

peaceful means to settle labor disputes

The Great Railroad Strike

• Strikers o smashed equipmento Tore up trackso Blocked rail service in several

cities

• Governors of several states called out the militia

• Gun battles between the strikers and the militia

The Knights of Labor• Founded 1869• Leader Terrence

Powderly opposed strikes in favor of boycotts and arbitration

• Arbitration – settling a dispute by agreeing to accept the decision of an impartial outsider

The Knights of Labor• Powderly thought best

interests of both groups must be considered

• Unlike other unions the Knights welcomedo Womeno African Americans

• Called for ano Eight hour dayo Equal pay for womeno No child laboro Worker owned factories

The Haymarket Riot• 1886 supporters of

eight hour day called for a strike

• May 3, Chicago police open fire on picket line

• 3,000 people gather to protest the shooting

• Someone threw a bomb

• Police opened fire• 170 injured 10

policemen killed

The Haymarket Riot• Eight men arrested for

bombing• Public anger resulted

in 8 convictions• 4 were executed• Critics claimed

dangerous radical dominated unions

• Lost strikes led to decline in membership and influence in the Knights of Labor

The Homestead and Pullman Strikes

• Summer of 1892 led to bloodshed

• Steel mill owned by Andrew Carnegie in Homestead Pennsylvania

• Managed by Henry Clay Fricko Anti union business partner

The Homestead and Pullman Strikes

• Frick proposes to cut wages 20%

• He then locked out employees

• Pinkerton Detectives brought in replacements

• When Pinkertons and strikebreakers approached the plant strikers resisted

The Homestead and Pullman Strikes

• 1894 Pullman Palace Car Company slashed wages without lowering rents in the company town

• American Railway workers refused to handle Pullman Cars

• Railroad managers arranged to have mail cars attached

The Homestead and Pullman Strikes

• Over the next 14 hours they clashed

• Governor of Pennsylvania sent in the militia

• 4 months later the strike collapsed

The Homestead and Pullman Strikes

• President Cleveland sent federal troops to keep the mail coming

• Federal court issued an injunction to halt the boycott

• Injunction – a court order whereby one is required to do or to refrain from doing a specified act.

Struggling to Organize• How did major strikes prevent

large industrial unions from maintaining power and influence?

Struggling to Organize• Such strikes often turned violent, and the reputation of the unions suffered

New Unions Emerge• How were the new industrial

unions different from the older trade union?

New Unions Emerge• Workers share same

complaints about wages and hours

• Unskilled workers were not represented by unions

• New types of unions emerged to support these workers

The Rise of the AFL• American Federation of

Labor (AFL)• 1866 leaders of several

trade unions created it• Samuel Gompers the

first president• Held power until 1924• Tried to focus on pure

and simpleo Wageso Working hourso Working conditions

The Rise of the AFL• Had three main goals

o Tried to convince companies to recognize unions and agree to collective bargaining

o Pushed for closed shopso Closed shop – an agreement

in which a company agree to only hire union members

o Promoted 8 hour work day

The Rise of the AFL• 1900 largest union

with 500,000 members

• Represented less that 15% of non-farm workers

• Most members were white meno Discriminated against African

Americanso Only a few women were

admitted

The IWW• 1905 International

Workers of the World• Nicknamed Wobblies• Wanted to organize by

industry• Making distinction

between skilled and unskilled laborers

• “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common”

The IWW• Should be one big union• 1912 IWW led a

successful strike of 25,00 textile workers

• Lawrence, Massachusetts cut wages

• Companies reversed itself after 10 week strike

• Many IWW strikes failed• Radical philosophy

Women and Organized Labor

• After Civil War female wages rose

• 1900 women make up 18% of workforce

• Society’s ideas of what constituted women’s work

• Constituted – to compose, make up, or form

Women and Organized Labor

• One third were domestic servants

• One third teachers, nurses, sales clerks, clerical workers

• One third in garment industry and food processing

• Women paid less than men for the same job

Women and Organized Labor

• Assumed women were helping the men

• Men needed higher wages to support a family

• Most unions excluded women

• Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones)

Women and Organized Labor

• 1900 Jewish and Italian Immigrants worked in clothing business in New York

• Founded the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU)

• 1909 strike of 30,000 workers o Won recognition of their uniono Better wageso Benefits for employees

Women an Organized Labor

• 1903 Mary Kenney O’Sullivan and Leonora O’Reilly, Jane Addams and Lillian Wald

• Establish first national association dedicated to women’s labor issues

• The Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)o Pushed for 8 hour dayo Minimum wageo No evening work for womeno Abolition of child labor

Women and Organized Labor

• Why did women need to from their own trade unions?

Women and Organized Labor

• Most of the existing trade unions excluded women