1. The Organized Labor Movement

2. Laissez-Faire Economics
As corporations grew in America, businesses were free to do what they wanted
Laissez-Faire Economics- Little to no government regulation on business and the economy

3. Workers Endure Hardships
Difficult factory conditions
Sweatshops- dark, hot, dirty, and dangerous working conditions
12 hours a day, 6 days a week
Child Labor
Children between 10 and 16 were earning a wage

4. Living in Company Towns
Workers were forced to live in isolated communities near their workplaces
Also had company stores- sell goods to employees at high prices

5. Pullman Towns

6. Socialism
Socialism- economic and political philosophy that favors public, not private, control of property and income

7. Labor Unions Lead to Strikes
Workers start protesting as a group against their companies through collective bargaining
Collective bargaining- workers negotiating as a group to get better conditions

9. Labor Unions
Workers came together and formed labor unions to fight for better working conditions
Knights of Labor
Led by Terence Powderly
Demanded for an 8-hour work day
Largest labor strike of the 19th Century
American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers
Fought for higher wages and better hours
Largest labor union of the 20th Century

10. Haymarket Strike (1886) Workers wanted an 8 hour workday
Led by Knights of Labor
Peaceful protest turned violent when protestor threw a bomb a police
Several people killed including police and protestors
Led to the collapse of the Knights of Labor

11. Homestead Strike (1892)
Steel workers at Carnegie Steel Company protested cut in wages
Pinkerton troops sent in to end strike turned violent
Severally damaged labor union power

12. Pullman Strike (1893)
Workers protested wage cut in company town at Pullman Palace Car Company
led by Eugene Debs and the American Railroad Union
Federal troops sent in and ended strike

13. Effects of the Labor Union Movement
Created a trend for fighting for workers’ rights
Socialism became popular among American working class
Debs would create the American Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

14. Government Regulation
Interstate Commerce Commission- Federal regulations on railroads
First ever federal regulation on business
Sherman Antitrust Act- outlawed trusts
Rarely enforced