Workers Organize The Labor Movement Effects of Industrialization More workers in the work force Loss of personal freedoms Gap grew between workers and employers Child Labor Sweatshops spread – homes used as factories

Unions & Their Activities National Labor Union Made up of local unions Admitted women and blacks 1868 – Eight Hour day law passed for government workers Disbanded after the Depression of 1873 First Nationwide Strike B & O RR (Baltimore and Ohio) management cut wages and increased workday – workers organize the strike Federal Troops ordered in to break up strike Companies begin to organize against unions Yellow-Dog Contracts implemented – new workers forced to sign a pledge NOT TO JOIN UNIONS Hire strikebreakers and new workers called Scabs

1882 New York freight handlers strike.

Early Conflict Knights of Labor Organized in 1869 as an organization of individual workers, not unions – a secret organization Open to all producers – regardless of gender, race or skill Lawyers, Bankers, gamblers, and liquor dealers were excluded Arbitration – negotiation was preferred over striking 1879 Terence Powderly named its leader – ended its secrecy Cooperative labor where workers would own the means of production Haymarket Riot Albert Parson, August Spies, and Samuel Fielden argue in Chicago for an Eight-hour Day. Workers meet in the haymarket – an area where hay is bought and sold west of downtown – A bomb explodes and police open fire killing some policemen Parsons and Spies were arrested, convicted of the bombing and hanged. A total of four will be hanged, one will commit suicide and three will be pardoned. Public opinion turns against the Knights of Labor 1893 Governor of Illinois – John Peter Altgeld – investigates and then gives full pardons to remaining defendants

Terence Powderly (center), Irish-born head of the Knights of Labor, which emerged as America's first large national union in the 1880s. Source: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Haymarket Riot

Workers Unite American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers organizes the AFL – a federation of Unions Only skilled workers were admitted Women and Blacks EXCLUDED Craft Unions developed for workers skilled in a particular craft – artisans AFL avoided political activity and used collective bargaining – representing all workers and negotiating a contract with management Interested in “Bread and Butter “ Issues like shorter hours and better pay Industrial Unions Organized all workers in the same industry Eugene V. Debs organized the American Railway Union ARU collapses when federal troops along with injunctions – court orders to stop their activity – are used to halt strikes Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) “Big Bill” Haywood

Samuel Gompers Eugene V. Debs (above, speaking) served as the vocal leader of the Socialist Party of America

Women in the Union Movement 1910 – Women made up 21% of the labor force Mary Harris Jones – Mother Jones – organized miner’s wives when there were strikes – Became active in the union movement when her Chicago dress shop burned - !873 – Known also for her “children’s march” on President T. Roosevelt’s Oyster Bay N.Y. home Pauline Newman – organized the Ladies’ Garment Workers Union

Why Labor Unions Failed Language barriers between workers Temporary nature of work No “safety net” Management reluctance to recognize led to their desire to kill union organizing –” Yellow Dog Contracts”– strike breakers – “scabs” Blacklisting union “agitators” Military and Police action against unions Government often sided with Management in labor disputes