1. Workers Rights

2. Pullman Strike  Nationwide conflict between labour unions and railroads that occurred in1894  The conflict started on May 11 when approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt  The strike involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states at its peak

3. Pullman Strike  George Mortimer Pullman was the founder and president of the Pullman Palace Car Company  The strike occurred because of the way he was treating his workers  Pullman created Pullman City to house his employees. It was on a three-thousand-acre tract located south of Chicago in the area of 114th Street and Cottage Grove. His workers were required to live in Pullman City.  Pullman charged money for use of the library. Clergy had to pay rent to use the church.  In 1893, because of a depression, factory wages at the company fell about twenty-five percent, but the rents George Pullman charged did not decrease. If a Pullman worker went into debt, it was taken from his pay check

4. Haymarket Affair  The Haymarket affair (Haymarket massacre or Haymarket riot) was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago.  It began as a rally in support of striking workers.  An unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting.  Eight police officers died as a result and four men were convicted and executed, and one committed suicide in prison, however, the prosecution conceded that none of them had thrown the bomb.  The site of the incident was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 25 1992.

5. Knights of Labour  Founded in 1869 by Uriah Stephens and five other former members of the Garment Cutters' Association of Philadelphia.  The organization was open to all working people except for bankers, lawyers, stockbrokers, doctors and liquor manufacturers.  It was a controversially, a secret organization.  The Knights promoted the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected Socialism and radicalism, demanded the eight-hour day, and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism

6.  In 1881 Terence Powderly became the new leader of the organization and he brought an end to the rule of secrecy.  Soon afterwards it was claimed they had 700,000 members.  However, it went into decline after the formation of American Federation of Labour in 1886.  Leonora Barry, who published a report for the Knights of Labour in 1887: “One year ago the Knights of Labour, in convention assembled at Richmond, Va., elected me to a position of honour and trust - the servant and representative of thousands of toiling women. December 10 went to Newark to investigate the matter concerning the sewing-women of that city. the working-women of Newark were very poorly paid, and the system of fines in many industries were severe and unjust. For instance in a corset factory a fine is imposed for eating, laughing, singing or talking of 10 cents each.”

7. American Federation of Labour  Founded in 1881 - the Federation of Trades and Labour Unions  Five years later they changed their name to the American Federation of Labour  the AFL's first president Samuel Gompers held conservative political views and believed that trade unionists should accept the economic system

8.  The decision of attorney-general, to use the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (declaring illegal any business combination that sought to restrain trade or commerce), against the trade unionists involved in the Pullman Strike in 1894, made some workers question the AFL's moderate approach  In 1905 representatives of 43 groups, who opposed the policies of American Federation of Labour, formed the radical labour organization the Industrial Workers of the World