Labor UnionsLukas Krugle, Justin Martins, Jon Ryan Clark

Period 1

What?-Labor Unions formed to combat harsh working

conditions and to protect workers-Factories were not kept in good conditions and

were unsafe-People had enough with the bad conditions

and wanted safe working conditions, higher wages, and less hours

- So they created Labor Unions

Political Cartoons

Labor Unions -First union formed in 1866 called the National

Labor Union- Some other powerful labor unions were the

Knights of Labor (KOL) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

....A visitor of the relief society found Rosina aged thirteen years, helping her mother and father in the work of finishing trousers. Since the arrival of the family in the United States seven years before, neither Rosina nor Vincenza had attended school, and neither could read or write. With the father ill of tuberculosis, Vincenza no longer able to work, and four younger children, aged eleven, seven, five and two years, to be cared for. Rosina, who had helped to support the family since she was six years old, was now the chief wage earner. Her brother, Giuseppe, aged eleven years helped in the sewing after school hours. But at the price of four cents a pair, for "felling" seams, finishing linings, and sewing buttons trousers, all the workers in the family,-father, mother and two children, by united effort, could not earn more than four or five dollars a week.When the relief society aided the family, Vincenza was sent to a hospital, and Rosina for the first time in her life began to go to school. But she continued to sew at home after school hours. A later entry in the society's records reports that "Rosina and Giuseppe were busy at work finishing. Rosina said that she went to school regularly all day sessions, and that she and her brother helped at finishing after school."All that the law could do for Rosina was to add school work to the ceaseless toil in which she had spent her days since early childhood. In her work at home from the time she was six years old for a manufacturer of clothing no provision of the labor law was violated. After her eighth birthday, her work at home, in that it prevented her attending school, caused a violation of the compulsory education law. But the work in itself, so long as the family lived in a licensed tenement, was never at any time illegal until Vincenza developed tuberculosis. Nor was this and the danger to the public health from the presence of a communicable disease in the home workroom prevented by the Department of Labor or the Board of Health.....

Eugene Debs-Eugene Debs was an American Labor Union

leader-Eugene was one of the founding members of

the Industrial Workers of the World-He was a well known socialist and he founded

one of the first Industrial Labor Unions- Eugene Debs gained popularity and support

and he even ran for President

Court Decisions\Muller vs Oregon (1908)

Created a law to women’s work in factories to a ten hour work day.

It also improved conditions in female workplaces and regulated child labor

Why you should be thankful for Labor Unions-Weekends without work-Sick leave-Minimum wage-Overtime pay-8 hour work days-Pensions-Military leave-The right to strike

How It Connects to Today● Labor Day! A day built around the American

workforce to remember all those who labored for this country since it’s founding.

● AFL-CIO is the largest federation of labor unions. 56 Unions and over 11 million workers are represented by it.

Works Cited "The Labor Movement: 1866-1894." SparkNotes. SparkNotes,

n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2013."Progressive Movement." Research. Eagleton Institute of

Politics, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2013."36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union." 36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union. Union Privilege, n.d. Web. 09 Oct.2013.