Industry relied on its laborers, who worked in low-paying, unskilled jobs & often unsafe factories.

What is illustrated in the cartoon below?

Exploitation of the workforce Who is the workforce?

Immigrants! 14 million of them!

Contract Labor Act in 1864- employers pay immigrants passage to U.S. in return for labor up to a year

Farms struggling poor people migrate to cities. Urban growth!

Women & children– low wages, whole families had to work Children as young as 5! 20% boys under 15 & 10% are girls boys given preference to stay in

school See page 244 for shifts in population &

employment data.

Working Conditions

12 hr days 6 or 7 days a week States had 10 hr workdays, but did NOT enforce Low pay Danger! (1882– 675 workers killed per week!) No sick time, vacation, workman’s comp.,

unemployment compensation 1868 federal law grants govt. employees 8 hr

day, but private industry does NOT have to comply

Could workers get govt. assistance?

• NO!!!• The popular theory of

Social Darwinism held that poverty resulted from personal weakness. Many thought offering relief to the unemployed would cause idleness.

Faces of LaborFaces of Labor

Children of the PoorChildren of the Poor, Jacob Riis, 1892-

Reformer- wrote exposing the impact of factory work on children. Stated the development of mind & body was stunted.

WAGESWAGES

• Most employers paid a fixed amount for each finished piece produced– piecework

• Employees worked long hours at low wages to earn more– sweatshops

• Children –

30 cents/day(14 hr/day)• Women --$270/year• Men -- $500/year

(for comparison)

***In 1899, Carnegie made $23 million dollars without income tax!

Increasing Efficiency

• The Principles of Scientific Management, Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1911

-time & motion studies; increase productivity thereby increasing profits; broke tasks down

• Division of Labor- tasks broken down into parts, workers perform same task repeatedly, efficient BUT not joyous

• “hands” or “operatives” were interchangeable parts in a vast impersonal machine

DANGER on the JobDANGER on the Job

• Noisy, loud, deafening• Lighting & ventilation poor• Faulty equipment• Careless training• Frequent fires, accidents• Grime from mines lead to disease, cancer• Fined for tardiness, talking or refusing to

do a task

Labor Unrest Labor Unrest 1870-19001870-1900

Widening the Gap

• 1890, richest 9% own nearly 75% of national wealth• The rich get richer, the poor get poorer

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

SOCIALISMSOCIALISM

• Economic & political philosophy that favors public instead of private control.

• Society at large should take charge of national wealth

• Equal distribution• Began 1830s, idealistic, utopian• Most Americans opposed– threatening to

private property, free enterprise, individual liberty, wealth & public order

Cartoon: Socialism

COMMUNISMCOMMUNISM

• Karl Marx & Frederick Engels wrote

Communist Manifesto, 1848• Radical, takes utopian

socialism farther• denounces capitalism,

create a classless society without private ownership

• Predicts workers (proletariat) would rise up & overthrow the govt.

The Rise of Labor UnionsThe Rise of Labor UnionsBusinesses Merge, Why Not Labor?

“Solidarity Forever!”by Ralph Chapin (1915)

“Solidarity Forever!”by Ralph Chapin (1915)

When the union's inspiration When the union's inspiration through the workers‘ blood shall run, through the workers‘ blood shall run,There can be no power greater There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun; anywhere beneath the sun;Yet what force on earth is weaker Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one, than the feeble strength of one,But the union makes us strong! But the union makes us strong!

CHORUS:CHORUS:Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,Solidarity forever,For the union For the union makes us strong! makes us strong!

National Labor UnionNational Labor Union

• 1866, Baltimore, William Sylvis

• 60,000 members

• Made 8hr day legal for govt. work

• Most excluded African Americans

• Union failed following 1873 depression

Knights of LaborKnights of Labor

• 1869, Philadelphia, Uriah Stephens• Organized working women & men, skilled & unskilled,

into one union • Farmers, factory workers, office workers• African Americans were members too• “An injury to one is the concern of all.”• 1881- Terence Powderly pursues 8hr day, equal pay for

equal work, end child labor• Preferred arbitration over strikes• Forced Jay Gould RR to give up a wage cut• Series of failed strikes and some violence follows• By 1890, K of L disappears from national scene

Knights of LaborKnights of Labor

Knights of Labor trade cardKnights of Labor trade card

Notice the invitationto prospective Members!

American Federation of Labor American Federation of Labor (AFL)(AFL)

• 1886, Samuel Gompers• Craft union; organizes only

skilled workers• Women were NOT welcome;

believed their presence brought wages down

• 1890-1915 increased wages from $17.50/wk to $24/wk; 54 ½ hrs/wk to 49 hrs/wk

• Collective bargaining, strikes• Rally for “closed shops”—only

union workers

International Workers of the WorldInternational Workers of the WorldThe Wobblies (IWW)The Wobblies (IWW)

• 1905, William “Big Bill” Haywood

• Chicago, 43 groups opposed to AFL founded this group

• focused on unskilled workers

• Socialists- more govt. control of business, equal distribution of wealth

• Violence was justified to overthrow capitalism

American Railway Union American Railway Union (ARU)(ARU)

IWW, DebsIWW, Debs

• 1894, Eugene Debs• Unskilled & skilled

workers• Debs is ANTI strikes &

ANTI violence• Protect wages & rights of

employees• Debs arrested following

Pullman strike, 1894• Becomes leader of

Socialist Party, runs for president

Management vs. Labor

Management vs. Labor

““Tools” of Tools” of ManagementManagement

““Tools” of Tools” of LaborLabor

““scabs”scabs”

P. R. campaignP. R. campaign

PinkertonsPinkertons

lockoutlockout

blacklistingblacklisting

yellow-dog yellow-dog contracts: won’t join contracts: won’t join unionunion

court injunctionscourt injunctions

open shopopen shop

boycottsboycotts

sympathy sympathy demonstrationsdemonstrations

informational informational picketingpicketing

closed shopsclosed shops

organized organized strikesstrikes

““wildcat” strikeswildcat” strikes

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877•B&O RR announce a

10% wage; increase carspulled by engines•RR workers in WV strike•Violence spreads to Pittsburgh, Chicago,St. Louis & others•Pres. Hayes sends infederal troops•In Pittsburgh, soldiers kill/wound rioters; 20,000cause $5 million in damages

THE VIOLENT ERA of LABOR had begun!

Haymarket, ChicagoHaymarket, Chicago18861886

• May 1, demonstration begins “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight

hours for what we will”• May 3, police break up fight between strikers & scabs;

casualties result• May 4, Haymarket Square- anarchists join demonstration

w/ strikers• Bomb is thrown, kills police officer. Riot breaks out!• Bomb thrower never found. 8 anarchists tried for

conspiracy to commit murder. 4 were hanged. One commits suicide in jail.

• Gov. later pardons remaining 3– not enough evidence.• K of L blamed for the Haymarket Riot (although

involvement never proven)

Haymarket Riot (1886)

Haymarket Riot (1886)

McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

Governor John Peter Altgeld

Governor John Peter Altgeld

Homestead, Pennsylvania 1892Homestead, Pennsylvania 1892

• Henry Frick cuts wages at Carnegie Steel

• Union calls strike• Frick calls in Pinkertons,

private police force, to break strikes

• Result: violence, death• Anarchist tries to assassinate

Frick• Union calls off strike- bad PR

for unions• Homestead reopens under

National Guard protection

A “Compa

nyTown”:

Pullman, IL

A “Compa

nyTown”:

Pullman, IL

Built in 1880

Pullman CarsPullman Cars

A Pullman A Pullman porterporter

The Pullman Strike of 1894

The Pullman Strike of 1894

Pullman Strike, 1894Pullman Strike, 1894

• ARU, Debs• ½ employees laid off; other ½ wage cuts• Panic of 1893• Pullman bans alcohol• Employees can’t pay rent• Pullman refused arbitration—strike & boycotts followed• Peaceful until strikebreakers called in; Debs warns not to

interrupt delivery of mail• Pres. Cleveland sends in federal troops (violation of

Sherman Anti-Trust Act)• Strikers fired & blacklisted. Debs jailed.

President Grover Cleveland

President Grover Cleveland

If it takes the entire army and navy to If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card

will be delivered!will be delivered!

Government ActionGovernment Action

• Sherman Antitrust Act– used against labor (said strikes interfere with interstate trade)

--Support for owners help keep union membership low

--Nativism & prejudice towards immigrants keeps membership low

The Rise & Decline of Organized Labor

The Rise & Decline of Organized Labor

Right-to-Work States Today

Right-to-Work States Today

Mother Jones: “The Miner’s Angel”

Mother Jones: “The Miner’s Angel”

Mary Harris.Mary Harris.

Organizer for theOrganizer for theUnited MineUnited MineWorkers.Workers.

Founded the Founded the SocialSocialDemocratic Party Democratic Party in 1898.in 1898.

One of the One of the founding founding members of the I. members of the I. W. W. in 1905.W. W. in 1905.

Women & LaborWomen & Labor

• Mother Jones supported strikers, daughter of Irish unionist

• Led women to the scene to prevent violence

• Children’s March (1903)– led 80 child laborers to President Roosevelt’s home

• Pauline Newman• organized garment workers at

16• Strike in 1909—moderate

success• Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)-Working conditions, locked doors

led to 145 deadOwners acquitted; public

outragedNew Laws!! – 54 hr/wk for women

& children; only 14 & older can work