 How could the emergence of corporations & the idea of fewer controlling more stifle free competition?  What would you do if you were the government?

 Read Section from packet  1890 Sherman Antitrust Act made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries.  Why would it be difficult to enforce this?  No clear definition of TRUST  Companies could simply reorganize into a single corporation

 Not really, why?  Devastated economy from Civil War  North owned railroad companies  High transportation costs  High tariffs on raw materials & imported goods

 Why do you think laborers began to form unions?  Worked 12 or more hours a day, 6 days a week  No vacation, sick days reimbursement for injuries on job.  Injuries happened in dangerous factories  1882 an average of 675 labors were killed each week  Low Wages  Women in workplace doubled from  Children, some as young as 5, worked full-time jobs  What did these children sacrifice to help provide their family?

 Union: Worker organization aimed to improve working conditions & wages  Strike: Laborers refuse to work until their demands are met.  Arbitration: Workers & owners agree that another person/persons hear both sides of the dispute and make impartial decision.  Lockout: Workers are ordered out of a business factory and the business is shut down. Collective Bargaining: Negotiation between reps from labor & management to reach written agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions.

 NLU & CNLU  National Labor Union & Colored National Labor Union  Formed in 1866 by William H. Sylvis  Persuaded government to legalize 8 hour workday  Focused on linking unions In 1869, Uriah Stephens Organized the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor  “An injury to one is the concern of all”  Accepted workers of all race, gender & degree of skill  “Equal pay for men & women”  Viewed strikes as a last resort, advocated arbitration

 Craft Unionism:  Skilled workers from one or more trades  AFL (American Federation of Labor)  1886 formed by Samuel Gompers  AFL focused on collective bargaining  AFL utilized strikes to earn higher wages & shorter work weeks  Industrial Unionism:  Unions include all laborers, skilled & unskilled in specific industry.  American Railway Union (ARU)  led by Eugene V. Debs won a strike in 1894 for higher wages

 Socialism- Government control of business and property & equal distribution of wealth.  Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)  Wobblies  Headed by William “Big Bill” Haywood  Miners, lumberers, cannery & dock workers

 Great Strike of 1877:  Workers for Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O)  Protest second wage cut in 2 months  Spread to other railroad lines covering 50,000 miles  After a week of stoppage, federal troops ended the strike

 Haymarket Affair: May 4, 1886  3,000 people gathered at Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest police brutality  As crowd dispersed, a bomb was thrown at the police.  Police fired on the protestors  7 police officers & several laborers were killed  Public began to turn against labor movements, why?

 Homestead Strike: June 29, 1892 workers call for strike  Frick hires Pinkertons to protect plant to hire scabs  Scabs: Strikebreakers to keep plant operating.  Workers forced Pinkertons out and kept mill closed until…  July 12, Pennsylvania National Guard arrived

 The Pullman Company Strike: 1894  Why?  3,000 workers laid off  Wages cut by 25-50%  Pullman refused arbitration  Result?  ARU began boycotting Pullman trains  Pullman hired Scabs, resulting in violence  President Grover Cleveland sends in Federal Troops  Pullman fires most of strikers and blacklists them from getting railroad jobs

 Although barred from many unions, supported better working conditions, equal pay, an end to child labor  Mary Harris Jones: “Mother Jones”  Organized United Mine Workers of America (UWM)  Led 80 mill children on a march to President Theodore Roosevelt’s home in 1903  Pauline Newman: Garment worker since 8 years old  At 16 organized International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU)  Remember the fire at Triangle Shirtwaist factory in NYC on March 25, 1911?  One door was left unlocked, no sprinkler system, single fire escape collapsed  146 women died  Factory owners acquitted of any wrongdoing

 Management refuses to recognize unions:  Forbade union meetings  Fired union members  Forced employees to sing “yellow-dog contracts”  Yellow-dog contracts- Swearing they wouldn’t join union  Government Pressure:  Turn the Sherman Antitrust Act on unions  Strikes & boycotts interfere with interstate trade  State or Federal government issued injunctions against the labor action  Despite these actions, workers continued to see unions as a powerful tool.

 Were unions an effective tool during the end of the 19 th century into early 20 th century? Explain!  Are unions necessary today? Explain!