1. Rise of the Labor Movement
Standard 4
Original Source: Susan Pojer

2. Life in the Factories Seven day workweek 12 hours + a day
No vacation, sick days, unemployment, or workers compensation for injuries
Dirty, poor ventilated factories
Repetitive, mindless tasks
Dangerous, faulty equipment = MANY injuries
Low wages
By 1910 there were 8 million women laborers
20% of male and female workers were under the age of 15 some as young as 5

3. Child Labor

4. Child Labor

5. Labor Unions Emerge
The development of unions was the result of the workers’ attempt to join to protect themselves against abuses of the market place.
Working conditions and the changing composition of the workforce established a need for unions.
Now there was mass production which required little skill
Applied the law of supply and demand to the work place

6. Early Labor Unions 1st large scale labor union = National Labor Union
Founded in 1860s
Advocated 8 hour workday and reform
Did not allow African Americans resulting in the formation of Colored national labor Union
Labor union success was dependent upon the UNITY of the organization, ECONOMIC conditions of the time, and the public’s PERCEPTION of the union.

7. New types of unions form
Craft Unionism
Organization of skilled workers (example: Woodworkers, plumbers, etc)
Skilled workers were more difficult to replace so the threat of strike was effective
Most famous is the AFL (American Federation of Labor)
AFL advocated collective bargaining to reach agreements on wages, hours and conditions
Collective bargaining- negotiation between representatives of labor and management to reach agreements

8. Types of unions continued
Industrial Unionism
Some labor leaders felt that a union should include BOTH skilled and unskilled workers in a specific industry
Eugene Debs formed the American railway Union
Radical Unions
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were known as the “Wobblies”
They advocated the overthrow of capitalism

9. The American Federation of Labor: 1886
American railway Union: Eugene Debs
The American Federation of Labor: 1886
International Workers of the World (“Wobblies”)
Samuel Gompers

10. Strikes Turn Violent Great rail road strike of 1877
Railroad workers went on strike to protest wage cuts
Freight and some passenger traffic that covered 50,000mi was stopped for over a week
The strike was successful! (thus encouraging more strikes)

11. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

12. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

13. Strikes Turn Violent Haymarket affair
3,000 people gathered to protest police brutality
A bomb was thrown which resulted in police fire
8 were convicted with inciting a riot
After this incident, people began to turn against the labor movement
Associated with anarchism which led to the demise of the Knights of Labor

14. McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
Haymarket Riot (1886)
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

15. Haymarket Martyrs

16. Strikes turn Violent Continued
Pullman Company Strike
Pullman company laid off thousands of workers and cut wages during the 1893 economic depression
When the economy improved they still did not raise wages
Went on strike
Pullman refused to negotiate and workers boycotted
Hired strikebreakers and the strike turned violent
Pullman fired most strikers and blacklisted many workers

17. A “Company Town”:
Pullman, IL

18. Pullman Cars
A Pullman porter

19. The Pullman Strike of 1894

20. Mother Jones: “The Miner’s Angel”
Mary Harris.
Led the Children’s march- to show the horrors of child labor marched 80 children with injuries to President Roosevelt's house

21. Triangle Shirtwaist factory
A fire broke out in the garment factory and the workers could not escape because the only unlocked door was blocked by fire.
146 women were killed.
This increased public concern for the plight of workers