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The OrganizedLabor MovementChapter 13.3

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Impact of Industrialization Better standard of living for Americans

Huge sums of wealth for entrepreneurs

Wider availability of cheap goods

Wider access to institutions (Museums,libraries, etc.)

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Working Conditions HORRIBLE!

Long Hours and low wages (12 hours per

day, 6 days per week) Unsafe working conditions

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Working Conditions Sweatshops

Factories where thousands of people,

usually women, worked long hours onmachines making mass produced items.

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Working Conditions Factory work

Poorly lit, overheated, and badly ventilated.

Loss of hearing

Child Labor

Work alongside parents and bring in an

additional wage.

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Company Towns Owned by the Company

Company Store

Deceptive practices

wage slavery

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Labor Unions Form 1820 workers begin attempting to

collectively bargain.

1834 National Trades Union est.

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Labor Movements Socialism Spreads through Europe in the

1830s.

Communist Manifestoby Karl Marx andFrederick Engels - 1848

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Knights of Labor Union was open to all, regardless of

trade (skilled or unskilled).

The Knights actively recruited AfricanAmericans.

The Knights reached their peak with700,000 members

The union largely disappeared by the1890s.

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The Formation of the AFL American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Founded by Samuel Gompers

Craft union made up skilled workers from100 local unions.

AFL had union dues that were set aside tohelp striking workers.

AFL focused on wages, hours, and safety inthe workplace.

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America on Strike Haymarket Square Riot

Strikers were protesting for an 8 hour work

day. Radicals were in the group of protesters.

Bomb thrown at Police Officers

Dozens, including police were killed.

Knights of Labor were blamed by the Publicfor the incident and their membershipdeclined.

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America on Strike Strike at Homestead

Workers were protesting a wage cut at a

Carnegie steel plant. A private police force, the Pinkertons, were

called in to break the strike.

The Pinkertons killed several strikers andwounded many others.

The militia was called in to restore order.

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America on Strike The Pullman Strike

Pullman Train Car Company reduced

workers wages by 25 percent. Workers protested the move by striking.

The owner responded to workers demandsby closing the plant and firing three workers.

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America on Strike The Pullman Strike cont

The strike escalated and railroad workers across thenation joined the strike.

The result was a disruption in rail traffic and maildelivery.

The Sherman AntiTrust Act was cited as a reasonfor the Federal Government to step in.

President Cleveland sent in Federal troops, endingthe strike.

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Effects on the LaborMovement Sherman Antitrust Act regularly cited by

industrialists to stifle unionization.

The union movement splintered intovarious factions, some influenced bysocialism.

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Importance The booming economy relied heavily on

workers to fuel its success.

The struggle between business ownerand employee intensified.

Workers were upset over horrible

working conditions and low wages.