Working Conditions and
Sweatshops• During the Industrial Revolution, families migrated from the rural farm areas to the newly industrialized cities to find work.
• To survive in even the lowest level of poverty, families had to have every able member of the family go to work.
• This led to the high rise in child labor in factories.
• Children worked up to 19 hours a day with only one, one hour break.
• Many children were killed or injured in accidents involving industrial machinery
Labor Conditions for Women
• During the Industrial Revolution, the economy needed women to work in the factories.
• Women mostly found in textile factories, and coalmines.
• The women that worked in these factories faced unsanitary working conditions and dangerous work.
• The average wage in New York state in 1926 for women employees was $17.41, and for men $31.47.
• The majority of women working in the industrial revolution faced a life of hardship.
Labor Unions Knights of Labor
• Labor unions were formed to demand
better pay and working conditions for workers.
• In 1869, garment cutters formed, the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor.
• Included African Americans, women, and unskilled laborers.
• The Knights of Labor had more than 700,000 members.
• In 1886, the American Federation of Labor was officially formed.
• This union represented many skilled workers in various crafts.
• The President of the American Federation of Labor was Samuel Gompers.
• The American Federation of Labor worked for higher wages, shorter hours, better working conditions, and the right to bargain collectively with employers.
The American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers..
• Samuel Gompers was the first and longest serving president of the American Federation of Labor.
• Under his leadership, the American Federation of Labor became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world.
• It grew from a small association of 50,000 in 1886 to an established organization of nearly 3 million in 1924 that had won a permanent place in American society.
Collective Bargaining• ... Are negotiation between organized workers
and their bosses to determine wages, hours, rules, and working conditions.
• The American Federation of Labor and The Knight of Labor pressed for this right.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Fire • The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, New York City on March 25, 1911.
• This event was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York.
• 146 garment workers died in the fire or jumped to their deaths.
• The event led to legislation requiring the improvement of factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Union Take Action: Strikes and
Strikebreakers
• Several strikes took place when Unions responded to low wages and fired employees. Many of these strikes ended in violence.
• Many of the companies hired Strikebreakers to replace the striking workers.
• During a strike, if violence occurred, the federal troops would restore order.
The Haymarket Riot• On May 1, 1886, a mass meeting was held
in the Chicago Haymarket to protest a police action of the previous day in which workers were killed.
• When police ordered the protest meeting to disperse (peaceful though it was), a bomb was thrown by an unknown person, killing several officers.
• This became known as the "Haymarket Riot." The 8-Hour Day Movement was destroyed in the nation-wide hysteria, which followed.