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