Labor Movement Robert Poston David Ahmadi

Unionism  The Gilded age was the start labor unions in America that helped reform the labor.  As we all know unions were coalitions of workers who wanted better working conditions and more benefits.

Some Key Unions  The Knights of Labor were founded 1869 in secrecy are were trying to organize one major union  The American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed in 1886 after a dispute within the Knights of Labor.

Some More Key Unions ● The International Ladies' Garment Workers Union was founded in 1900, and mainly focused on women membership that worked to reform the textile industry ● The American Railway Union was founded in 1893 by railway workers that wanted to unionize all railroad workers.

Key People ● Samuel Gompers: He was the leader and founder of the American Federation of Labor who used collective bargaining to help people get higher wages and better working hours.

Key People ● Eugene V. Debs: He founded the American Railway Union and was instrumental in the Pullman strike. Debs was also a well known socialist who ran for president 5 times, and he even won a position in the Indianan Senate.

Child Labor ?! Throughout American history, child slavery has existed throughout societies within the U.S. As industrialization moved workers from farms and home workshops into urban areas and factory work, children were often preferred, because factory owners viewed them as more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike. By 1900, states varied considerably in whether they had child labor standards and in their content and degree of enforcement. By then, American children worked in large numbers in mines, glass factories, textiles,

Continued Child Labor agriculture, canneries, home industries, and as newsboys, messengers, bootblacks, and peddlers. Child labor began to decline as the labor and reform movements grew and labor standards in general began improving, increasing the political power of working people and other social reformers to demand legislation regulating child labor. Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined, and common initiatives were conducted by organizations led by working women and middle class consumers, such as state Consumers’ Leagues and Working Women’s Societies.

These organizations generated the National Consumers’ League in 1899 and the National Child Labor Committee in 1904, which shared goals of challenging child labor, including through anti-sweatshop campaigns and labeling programs. The National Child Labor Committee’s work to end child labor was combined with efforts to provide free, compulsory education for all children, and culminated in the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, which set federal standards for child labor.

How did it stop? Nineteenth century reformers and labor organizers sought to restrict child labor and improve working conditions, but it took a market crash to finally sway public opinion. During the Great Depression, Americans wanted all available jobs to go to adults rather than children. In 1938, minimum age laws were enacted along with minimum hours laws for eligible children.

Key Events Haymarket Square Riot – Also known as the Haymarket Massacre or the Haymarket Affair, is the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians.

The Haymarket affair was a setback for the American labor movement and its fight for the eight-hour day. Yet it also can be seen as strengthening its resistance, especially in Chicago, where, as historian Nathan Fine points out, trade union activities continued to show signs of growth and vitality, culminating later in 1886 with the establishment of the Labor Party of Chicago.

Homestead Strike – Also know as the Homestead Steel Strike, was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, The battle was the second largest and one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history second only to the Battle of Blair Mountain. The dispute occurred at the Homestead Steel Works in the Pittsburgh area town of Homestead, Pennsylvania, between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA) and the Carnegie Steel Company. The final result was a major defeat for the union and a setback for efforts to unionize steelworkers.

Pullman Strike – The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States in the summer of It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages Last of the Strikes

“…the union movement has traditionally espoused a set of values, solidarity being the most important, the sense that each should look out for the interests of all. From this followed commitments to mutual assistance, to a rough- and-ready sense of equality, to a disdain for elitism, and to a belief that democracy and individual rights did not stop at the plant gate or the office reception room, and that these values are increasingly foreign to American culture. ” _ E.J Dionne

The successes of Unionism ● With the labor movement, it brought an end to child labor in America ● Unions helped lower the amount of time workers worked and helped increase their pay. ● Working conditions were improved by the demands of the people ● Benefits like health insurance were given to workers