1. Labor’s Response to Industrialization
Workers Unite!
Labor’s Response to Industrialization

2. Main Idea & Learning Target
By the late 1800s working conditions were so bad that more workers began to organize. Organized labor (unions) helped pressure industrialists into giving better pay & safer conditions.
Essential Question: Was the rise of industry good for American workers?

3. Working Conditions 1 in 6 children 10-15 held a job
12-16 hours shifts for all workers
Six days a week, no vacation, no sick days
No compensation for workplace injuries
Unhealthy conditions, unsafe conditions
Lived in tenements

5. Organized Labor
Labor Unions – group of workers organized to protect the interests of its members
Strike – a labor action in which workers refuse to go to work
Scab – a worker who goes into work or replaces a striking worker

6. Knights of Labor Formed 1869 Terence Powderly Goals 8 hour day
Abolition of child labor
Equal pay
Regulation of trusts
Education for workers

7. Knights of Labor Members Peak membership Strategies
Skilled & unskilled workers
Women & African-Americans
Peak membership
700,000 in 1886
Strategies
Arbitration
Boycotts
Strikes

8. Knights of Labor
Success: 20% of laborers in America were affiliated with Knights of Labor
Problem:
Various incidents of violence (ex: Haymarket Riots)

9. American Federation of Labor
Formed in 1886
Samuel Gompers
Goals
Increased wages
Improved conditions
Limits on work hours
Recognition of AFL

10. American Federation of Labor
Members
Only skilled tradesmen
Peak Membership
1 million in 1900
Strategies
Negotiation
Boycotts
Strikes

11. American Federation of Labor
Success: Helped professional laborers find a voice amongst giant industries
Problem:
Only allowed for white males
Lost interest because of racist/sexist ideals

12. Industrial Workers of the World
Formed in 1905
William Haywood, Daniel De Leon, & Eugene V. Debs
Goals
Organization of all workers into single union
Overthrow of capitalism

13. Industrial Workers of the World
Members
Lumbermen
Miners
Textile workers
Dock workers
Peak membership
100,000 ( )
Strategies
Boycotts
Strikes
Sabotage

14. Industrial Workers of the World
Success:
Gave new immigrant workers representation amongst various industries
Problem:
Viewed as communist labor union, and received no support from the federal government

15. Strikes & Violence Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Workers go on strike
Stop rail traffic for weeks
Clashes between workers & militias
Pittsburgh depot burned
President Hayes calls in US Army to end it

17. The Haymarket Riot of 1886
In 1886 there were 1,500 strikes nation-wide
In Chicago, strikers gathered in Haymarket Square to protest police actions
Someone threw a bomb
11 dead, 100 injured
Blamed foreign anarchists & hung 4 radicals (even though bomber was never identified!)

18. Haymarket Riots

19. Homestead Strike of 1892 Steelworkers at Carnegie Steel
Henry Frick (manager) hires 300 Pinkerton agents (private guards) to break the strike
Daylong gun battle leads to state militia being called out
Brings in nonunion workers

21. Pullman Strike of 1894
Pullman, IL – company town: a town built for workers, who live in company houses, shop at company stores and usually owe large debts (sound familiar– think sharecropping!)
Shuts down rail traffic including federal mail trains
President Grover Cleveland sends in troops who kill workers
President rushes through legislation making Labor Day national holiday to appease workers (It was a reelection year!)