Assess the impact of labor unions on industry and the lives

of workers

Essential Question – How can people without power protect

themselves?

The Labor Movement1. What is a labor union?

• An organization of wage earners formed to represent the interests of its members against the interests of business owners.

2. Why did workers begin to unionize in the 1800s?• Skilled workers and craftsmen were replaced by

machines and unskilled workers (mechanization and specialization)

• Most common demands: higher wages, shorter work hours, better working conditions

• National Trades Union (1834 -1837)

3. What strategies were incorporated by labor unions to get their demands met? What was the most effective tactic?

– Collective bargaining – legal negotiation between labor and management• Mediation – Mediator recommends solution• Arbitration – arbitrator mandates settlement (usually

favored management)• Usually ended badly for workers because mediators and

arbitrators were “influenced” by business owners

– Strike – work stoppage intended to force employers to meet demands (most effective tactic)

4. What would business owners do to prevent or stop strikes?

– employers often preempted strikes with Lockouts – wouldn’t let workers return until they gave in

– Blacklists – employers shared names of pro-union workers and refused to hire anyone on the list

– Yellow-dog contracts – workers had to agree NOT to join a union before they got hired

– Private guards / Pinkertons were used to spy on workers and break up union activities/meetings

– Courts almost always sided with big businesses – issued court injunctions to end strikes order workers back to work

5. Name the 5 most significant labor unions of the labor movement.

– Knights of Labor – 1869 – open to all; “equal pay for equal work”– American Federation of Labor (AFL) – 1886 joined many craft unions

together; only for skilled workers; successful strikes for higher wages and shorter workweek

– Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) “Wobblies” – 1905 – unskilled workers advocated socialism and radical tactics

– American Railway Union (ARU) – 1894 – skilled AND unskilled workers; successful strike for higher wages

– International Ladies Garment Workers – 1909 – Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; improved workers conditions

6. Who were the three leading figures in the American labor movement of the late 19th century, and with what organization was each associated?

– Terence Powderly & Uriah Stephens – Knights of Labor– Samuel Gompers – AFL – led several successful strikes– Eugene V. Debs – ARU – strong supporter of Socialism; most famous

labor leader; ran for president multiple times

7. Why did most Americans fear the Socialist views of Eugene V. Debs and the Wobblies?

• Most workers and labor unions preferred MODERATE methods and changes to improve conditions

• Some Socialists promoted RADICAL changes to capitalist economic system – government control of businesses and equal distribution of wealth

• Socialists and Wobblies (IWW) often advocated violent takeovers of businesses – intentionally turned strikes into riots

8. What event most caused the general public to turn against the labor movement? Why?

– Haymarket Square Riot – Chicago May 4, 1886• Protest of police brutality at McCormick Harvester plant• Bomb killed 7 police; shots fired; chaos ensued• 8 convicted of “inciting riot”; 4 hung to death

As more strikes ended in violence labor movement lost public sympathy and were perceived as lawless barbarians

Bad Working Conditions

Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire