LEARN – DAY 36Construction Foundation Course

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Content for the day

• Blueprints• History of Construction

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Materials for the day

• Videos from Internet (see below). Please Note: Permission to use these videos must be obtained from the source.

• Labor Timeline from http://www.animatedatlas.com/timelineexp.html

• Resource 8.1 - Handout: The Week• Handout: Time, September 1944: U.S. at War: The No Strike

Pledge at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,796674,00.html

• Resource 8.2 - 1943 Coal Miners Strike• Resource 8.3 - Handout: John L. Lewis• Resource 8.4 - Handout: Samuel Gompers

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 1

• Check-in: Shake hands. Remind students: binders, seating. Start class.

• Review the day: Review the day’s activities from the list on the board or chart paper.

•  Binder check: This can be done at any time during the day.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 2

10 min: Ask Teams to post their rail design and costing. Give Work Teams 4 minutes to do a Gallery Walk, particularly looking for any steps a Team might have missed in the process.Call on one Work Team for constructive feedback. Call on others until all Work Teams have had a chance to comment. Ask Teams what was most difficult about this assignment and take notes so you can help students more effectively next time.

Blueprints

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) -3

Preparation: On your computer, go to http://www.animatedatlas.com/timelineexp.html. In the left hand column, hit “Expand” under “Society.” This takes a while to load; be patient! Fill the screen with the dateline at the top and “Labor” at the bottom. Now you have a timeline that parallels what was happening in general history (society) with what was happening with women and labor aligned to presidential service. Note that wars are in red directly under the dateline.

History of Construction

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 4

In the next 4 hours, you’ll be guiding students through a study of labor history, using this timeline. Minutes allocated are guidelines. Note that items on the timeline that don’t have follow-up activities are just listed; no action is needed.  20 min: Explain to students that they’re looking at a timeline of American History. Point out the dateline, wars, states/territories, presidents, society in general, women, and labor. Because many construction jobs are affiliated with labor unions, it’s important to understand the origin and growth of unions and how they have historically improved working conditions.

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They’ll be concentrating on the 19th through 21st centuries, but there is one item in 1790 that’s important to start with to understand how far we’ve come. It’s essential that they take notes. 

1790 -First textile mill staffed by children under 12. Explain that we’ve all heard about sweatshops in foreign countries using child labor to make cheap goods that we buy. But America has her own history of child labor—some of which continues to today. 1790 marks a major milestone because it was the first textile mill primarily staffed with very young children. Think of yourself at age 10 or 11. What were you doing? The pictures they’re about to see actually come from the period of 1908 to 1920; all are from the U.S.

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Show the documentary, U.S. Child Labor 1908-1920 found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tY1gk6J6zc. Please Note: Permission to use these videos must be obtained from the source.

Ask students to identify when child labor was outlawed, as you move through the timeline. (Not until 1949, though children were granted a 10-hour day in some states, starting in 1842.)

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5 min: 1835 -General strike for 10-hour day in Philadelphia. Think about the cause—a 10 hour day! When was it actually granted? [Scroll across timeline to

1847]—12 years later. 1842 -10-hour day for children under 12 in

Massachusetts1842 -Massachusetts decision: labor unions not necessarily illegal conspiracies1847 -New Hampshire enacts first state 10-hour

day law 1860 -Great shoemakers strike in New England. Note the date. Ask Work

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 8

Teams to take 2 minutes to consider: What else was going on in the U.S. at this time (Beginning of Civil War) and why this strike might have been particularly important at the time (Need for soldiers’ boots).5 min:

1860-1865- Top of the timeline: The Civil War. In some ways, the Civil War was the greatest

Labor Movement of all time. Ask Work Teams to take 2 minutes to discuss this statement and explain the meaning. Then call on a Work Team to initiate the discussion.

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5 min:   1866 -National Labor Union formed: first national association of unions. Notice the date. Have students look at the rest of the timeline. What just ended? Tell students that there is a direct relationship historically between war and major changes in the status of labor. Ask them to watch for this again. 

1869- Knights of Labor—a second national labor union that had a short but important effect on the Labor Movement.

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10 min:  1877 -National uprising of Railroad Workers cripples

nation; the state militia refuses to use force. This was a major milestone for several reasons:

1. the country was almost totally dependent on railroads for movement of

goods and people;2. Railroad owners were among the richest people

in the U.S.; they were generally called “robber barons.”

3. The government—from the President to the Governors—sent in troops to

quell the strike and uprising, but many of the troops refused to

take action against the workers. 4. Ten people were killed.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 11

Show the video, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds4cHgzN-S8. Please Note: Permission to use these videos must be obtained from the source.• Ask students what the pictures of the conflict look like—if they

didn’t know any different. (Looks like war.) 1877 -Ten "Molly Maguires" (Irish coal miners) hung;

arrested, prosecuted by minions of coal companies Stretch Break: Everyone stands and the group does a full chorus rendition of the metric rap.

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40 min: 1886 - Haymarket Square labor riot in Chicago

kills eleven people. Ask students to take notes while you show Haymarket Martyrs, Pt. 1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OQxncb2ihQ. Ask Work Teams to take 1 minute to consider what happened that caused the actual riot, that is, who started it? Why do you think the officer gave that order? Call on one Team. Get other opinions. Please Note: Permission to use these videos must be obtained from the source.

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Show Part 2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wz8ud_9QU&feature=related. Ask Work Teams to take 2 minutes to consider what happened to freedom of speech and why? (When people get scared, they tend to ignore civil rights.) Notice that Sandburg (one of America’s most famous poets) says that everyone likened the anarchists to animals. This is the same thing that happens in war: the enemy becomes non-human.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 14

Show Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkEl9XzjFc&feature=related. Ask Work Teams to take 3 minutes to consider these questions: What does the historian say about the legitimacy of the trial? Why was Marshall Field so opposed to clemency? What was the world opinion? Who was right in the end—the 50 businessmen and world leaders or the government and the court? Take 4 minutes to discuss differing opinions.Notice that this is the beginning of May Day, the day celebrated in many societies as the revolution of the workers. It was a major holiday under the communist regimes in the USSR and still is under the communists in China.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 15

15 min: 1886 - AFL founded by S. Gompers.

Have Work Teams read Resource 8.4 - Samuel Gompers and take notes particularly on the 3 beliefs about labor organizing and how to achieve important results.Ask students to keep this information in mind, as you show the next 2 videos: “What Does the Working Man Want?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1yRJ8qxrg, followed by “Organizing Textile Workers,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-PSRAA5oD4. Ask Work Teams to take 2 minutes to relate what they heard in Gompers’ speeches to one or more of his 3 beliefs about labor. Call on one Work Team to open the discussion, followed by others.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 16

5 min: Ask the Teams to take 3 minutes for a second look at the first paragraph on p. 3: Gompers about the actions of the AFL during WWI and consider the relationship of labor to war. Were Gompers and Wilson’s actions a win-win for labor and for the country? Call on one Work Team to initiate a short discussion.

1888 - First federal labor relations law applies to Railroad workers1892 - Strike at Carnegie Steel results in ten deaths1898 - Erdman Act makes it illegal to fire workers for union membership1903 - Department of Labor & Commerce created1909 - Strike of 20,000 female shirt makers in New York against sweatshop

conditions. Remember Gompers’ speech organizing the textile workers?1913 - Woodrow Wilson appoints first Secretary of Labor1914 - Clayton Anti-trust Act declares picketing not illegal conspiracy1919 - One of every five workers walk out in great strike wave1926- Railroad Labor Act forbids discrimination of union members1932- Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibits federal injunctions in labor disputes1932- Madison, Wisconsin birthplace of AFSCME (public-sector workers)

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 17

10 min:  1935- CIO formed within AFL. Note that 2 years later, the

CIO broke with AFL, and their relationship was rocky for decades. Discuss the fact that labor unions have had understandable but significant disagreements among themselves since the beginning of the movement. Ask students to take notes while you read aloud William Hutcheson. Be sure students understand the difference between the AFL’s support for all labor—skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled—and the CIO’s championship of skilled labor only, such as construction craftsmen.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 18

But the AFL and CIO had external competition also from “company unions.” Sometimes known as a yellow union, a company union is a group of employees associated with one company that have organized into a union. This localized business union has no affiliation with any type of national trade union, but operates strictly within one company. It is not unusual for a union of this type to be proposed and initially organized by the owner of the company. Depending on the model for the union, management may or may not participate in the function of the group of employees.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 19

While a company union is related to a single company, that union may in fact have several branches. This would be the case if the business operates multiple facilities in different geographical areas. As with any type of union organization, the idea is to provide employees with a unified voice and vote when it comes to matters that have a direct impact on their livelihood and general economic well-being. For example, the members of a single business union may petition for an across the board hourly wage increase, or present a unified demand for improved working conditions within the facilities operated by the company. (Excerpt from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-company-union.htm)

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)First and Second Hours (7:30 – 9:30) - 20

Briefly discuss why a “company union” may not provide the best representation for labor.

1938- Fair Labor Standards Act establishes first minimum wage & 40-hour week

 Snack Break (5 minutes later than usual)

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 1

5 min: Ask Work Groups to jot down these questions and think about them as you read the following from http://www.bookrags.com/research/no-strike-pledge-world-war-ii-sjel-02/The entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941 brought near-total unanimity among the varying factions of the American labor movement in their support of the war effort. The AFL and CIO, two of the country's largest and most influential unions, were bitter enemies before the war, with antagonism over such ideals as craft (skilled) versus industrial (semiskilled and unskilled) unionism. Although not without conflicts during the war, leaders from both unions joined together and promised "no-strike pledges" for the duration of hostilities.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 2

Stop here to tell students that labor tended to be very patriotic during WWII. Play “UAW-CIO” from http://www.laborarts.org/exhibits/laborsings/song.cfm?id=20

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 3

Even though the country stood united against the Nazi regime in Germany and the Imperial Japanese government, the no-strike pledge complicated the lives of union workers. The initial shock of being attacked on U.S. territory by Japanese forces, along with early Allied military setbacks, helped to control any pre-existing tensions in the workplace. Beginning in 1943, however, as Allied forces gradually gained superiority in the war, disputes within labor, from the rank and file as well as from the leaders, became more apparent. Union leaders, especially within the AFL and CIO, were stuck in the middle, on the one hand as allies of the government and corporations, and on the other as representatives of their members.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 4

5 min: Read Resource 8.3 - John L. Lewis aloud while students take notes. Stop periodically to check for understanding by asking students what was going on and what they think about Lewis’ motivations. Compare notes for consistency.20 min: Pass out copies of Time, September 1944: U.S. at War: The No Strike Pledge http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,796674,00.html and Resource 8.2 - 1943 Coal Miners Strike. Explain that nothing is really black and white in history. There are almost always differing views.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 5

There are almost always differing views. Ask Work Teams to take 15 minutes to read the articles, consider the information provided earlier, and discuss the following questions:1. Should there be a “No Strike Pledge” by labor during

times of total war?2. Could “national security” be used as an anti-labor

tool?3. Did the “No Strike Pledge” work? If not, why not? Then take 5 minutes to discuss the questions, calling on individual Work Teams.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 6

1946- Largest strike wave in U.S history. Note the year. What had just ended? What is the relationship between the end of a war and the demands of labor? 

1947- Taft-Hartley Act restricts union members' activities— And what are the predictable reactions of the public when they are frightened? 

1949- Child labor prohibited in Fair Labor Standards Act1955- AFL and CIO merge1959- Wisconsin gives public workers collective bargaining rights

1962 - President Kennedy's order gives federal workers right to bargain

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 7

15 min: 1962- Cesar Chavez forms United Farm Workers.

In one of the most poignant moves in recent labor history, Cesar Chavez organized farm workers,

one of the last groups unorganized by the mid 1960s. Show Cesar Chavez: the Legacy at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7GCCBIgFaQ Remind students that Chavez had only an 8th grade education. He knew that he had to learn how to speak persuasively if he were to become an effective labor organizer, so he taught himself by listening to speakers like Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Explain that you’re going to show a brief clip from Chavez’ Commonwealth Speech and you want student specifically to hear 3 things: 1) the main point that Chavez is making; 2) the rhetorical techniques Chavez uses, particularly the ways in which he sounds a little like Martin Luther King; and 3) his argument about why the politicians will support Hispanics in the future. Play the segment of the Commonwealth speech from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbxyvY8O_9c  

Give Work Teams 2 minutes to discuss the question. Then open the discussion by calling on one Work Team.

Stretch Break: Everyone stands and the group does a full chorus rendition of the math rap.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 9

5 min: Ask pair shares to discuss for 1 minute this question: from a historical perspective, which organization, the AFL or CIO would have embraced Chavez if he had been organizing in the 1930s? Call on one pair-share for their answer and rationale. Get a second opinion. 5 min: In the last excerpt from the speech, Chavez says that you can’t 

• Humiliate people who feel pride in themselves• Oppress people who are not afraid anymore 

As Work Teams, take 2 minutes to discuss one of these two points and come up with examples to show that the statement is true OR false. Call on one Work Team to open the discussion. 

1971- Occupational Safety and Health Act1970s- Industry begins shifting production to low-

wage countries

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 10

5 min:  1981- President Reagan fires striking air traffic controllers.

Note that the Taft-Hartley act made strikes of public workers illegal when public safety was at stake. The union contended that the government had put public safety at stake by making air traffic controllers work hours that were too long under intense conditions. Ask Work Teams to consider this question while they

watch the video clip: What recourse do workers who handle public safety have when they believe their working

conditions actually put public safety at risk? Show President Reagan Fires Air Traffic Controllers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5JSToyiyr8&feature=related. Ask Work Teams to discuss the question for 1 minute. Then call on a Work Team and use the response to open a short discussion.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 11

5 min.  1940s-2000s - Union density for private workers falls from

apex at 40% to 7.2% today. Ask Work Teams to take 3 minutes to discuss why they think this has happened. Remind them of

the item under “1970s.” Have them look ahead to the item under “1980-2000.” Ask them to think about what kinds of jobs were “shipped overseas.” Conduct discussion, calling on Work Teams.  20 min.

1993: Family and Medical Leave Act. Ask students why the FMLA is listed as part of labor’s history. Wait time. Call on students to speculate. Discuss the fact that labor has long worked toward health reform.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 12

Present a mini-lecture focusing on one of the most interesting stories about unions and health care came between 1943 and 1949, as unions rallied behind creating a National Health Insurance program, but at the same time negotiated better health care plans from employers. Discuss this “catch 22” for labor. For background, read articles at http://www.pnhp.org/facts/a_brief_history_universal_health_care_efforts_in_the_us.php?page=3 starting with “Wagner, Murray, Dingell; and http://www.kff.org/health reform/upload/7871.pdf , p. 3. Ask Work Teams to come up with 2 big-picture questions while you’re telling the story and to think about why major portions of the U.S. fight against national health insurance.

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Give the Work Teams 1 minute to agree on their two questions. Call on the Work Teams for their questions and use those as a base for discussion; include the national health insurance question.

1980-2000: AFSCME (government workers) and SEIU (sanitation workers) grow 

2005: Seven major unions representing six million workers disaffiliate from AFL-CIO to form "Change to Win.” Is

dissension within the labor organizations something new?10 min.  

2011: Republican governors threaten public sector unions. Read aloud the article from Resource 8.1 - The Week. Ask Work Teams to take 3 minutes to discuss and come to consensus on which side they feel is correct. Also, do they know what happened as a result of the confrontation? Call on a Work Team to open the

discussion.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)Third and Fourth Hours (9:40 – 11:30) - 14

Announce topics for Pre-test tomorrow: • Overview• Tools and Equipment• Safety/PPE  

5 min. Give Work Teams 5 minutes to review Tools and Equipment5 min. Play Name That… or Blank Tool Wall Reflection Out the door: Model Notes, Reflection, binders on the shelf, shake hands.

Week Eight: Day 36 (Monday)AFTER HOURS

• Work Teams review Blueprints and any other sections they have time for.

 

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Content prepared for the National Office of Job Corps through Contract No. DOLJ111A21695 Job Corps Professional Development Support - KUCRL