Labor Unions

The Workers’ Search for Power

Work in Industrial Period Factory system ended personal relationship

between employer and worker Big. biz. cut corners to maximize profits

Long hours Low Pay Rigid Timetables Strict discipline Frequent layoffs Reduced wages for women and children Machines replacing workers Unsafe, unsanitary, and poorly lighted factories

Urban Working-Class

Average workday 11-12 hours In some cities averaged about 10 hours

Wages: Employers believed that workers should not earn

more than a subsistence income. Why? High wages hurt profits Moral reasons

Prevented wasting money on alcohol, gambling, prostitutes, etc.

1890: Subsistence income: $530 Average annual wages for family of four: $380

Labor Organization before Civil War

1820s-1830s First attempts to organize in major cities Attempted to influence politics with third

parties (“Workingmen’s Parties”) City based Farm migrants to cities; Skilled Laborers Little experience with labor in cities Followed middle- and upper-class leaders

Goal: Organize labor as a tool to reform society NOT for benefit of laborers

No feelings of oppression No class consciousness

Labor After Civil War

Unskilled laborStatus of labor changed

“De-skilling” of the labor force emerged Urbanization and the lure of the city

brought many rural citizens into urban areas

Sources of labor: Women, children as young as five By 1910: 25% of U.S. children employed

full-time

The Two Main Labor Groups Knights of Labor (1866, Terrence Powderly)

First significant, national organization Membership? Wide ranging, included black

laborers, women, skilled/unskilled (except. Chinese and non-producers)

Goal? Economic and social reform get rid of capitalism w/ worker owned businesses 8 hour work day

Tactic used? Strikes, boycotts, mass meetings Aroused public anger. Why? Use of violence and

anti-capitalist agenda 1,000,000+ members in the 1880’s

American Federation of Labor (AFL) Founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers

“Mainstream” voice of labor Membership? only skilled workers, a federation of various

existing trade unions under the umbrella of the AFL. Not open to individual to join.

Goals? Higher wages, shorter hours, improved working conditions. Closed shop? Meaning all union labor

Tactic? Strikes, but refrained from alignment w/political parties

Public disapproved of AFL collective actions but saw them as less of a threat than Knight of Labor Why?

Discussion:What are the biases of the following

groups/individuals: Capitalists Nativists Horatio Alger (‘luck and pluck’) Anarchists Socialists American Public

More Discussion In what ways do the biases actually strengthen

American capitalism. In what way did the biases weaken the American

labor movement? According to Judge Jenkin, does the right of the

property owner of laborer take precedence. In what way does the “violence” cartoon reflect his

decision? How did government actions in the Homestead

and Pullman strike also reflect Judge Jenkin’s decision.