1. Organizing Workers
Copy the words in RED

2. A Hard Life for Workers
Sweatshops = places where workers worked long hours under poor conditions for low wages.
Pre-Industrialization, skilled workers made products from start to finish
Post-Industrialization, workers usually did one small part of the work, over and over again.
Workers often treated like machinery.

8. Child Labor
Factories, sweatshops, & mines used both adults and child workers.
Children were useful for their small size.
Started as young as 6 yr. Old
1870 = 750,000 workers under 15 yr. Old – increased over next 30 yrs.

12. A Call to Action
Corporations goal was to make money – paid little attention to worker conditions
No government help
Labor Unions = groups of workers that negotiate with company owners about wages & working conditions
The need to organize was seen in 1877…

13. Railroad Strike of 1877
Railroads began to lose money – companies began cutting workers’ wages
Workers in West Virginia started going on strike (refusing to work until their demands were met) – spread to every major industrial city
Pres. Hayes ended the strike with state and federal troops.

14. Knights of Labor
Terence Powderly was head of the Knights of Labor – A loose federation of workers from different trades
Demanded a shorter work day (8 hours) & restrictions on child labor
Allowed women & African Americans to join

15. Knights of Labor
Immigrants started taking jobs for less money than native-born workers.
Native-born workers began losing their jobs and wanted to limit immigration.
Knights of Labor (West Coast) excluded Chinese workers & worked to stop Chinese immigration
Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 – stopped Chinese Immigration to the U.S. for 10 years.

16. Opposition to Labor Unions
Business leaders blamed unions on Socialists & Anarchists
Socialists = believed in a social system where the means of production and distribution of goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government.
Anarchists = believed in the abolition of all governments
After some violent fights with labor unions, public opposition to unions increased and union membership dropped.
Until…

17. American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers founded a national organization of unions
AFL used negotiations, strikes, and boycotts to get better working conditions
1904 – about 1.7 million members

18. Union Setbacks
Some strikes ended in violence, while other companies brought in strikebreakers (people who work in the place of workers on strike)
Company owners (Like Andrew Carnegie) refused to deal with Unions, only having discussions with one worker at a time.
Some factories would kick union workers out, and reopen with non-union workers.

19. Homestead Strike
1892 – Andrew Carnegie reduced wages at his steel mills in Homestead, Pennsylvania
AFL led Homestead Strike – nonunion workers hired with armed guards
July 6 – 10 people killed in fight between guards and locked out workers
After 4 months, the strike collapsed

20. Pullman Strike 1894 – worst depression to date
Pullman Palace Car Company cut wages 25-40%
Laid off many workers
Pullman workers went on strike, refusing to handle Pullman cars
President sent in troops to break up the strike, union leaders went to jail

21. Federal Troops brought in to break up the Pullman Strike

22. Cause & Effect: Industrial Growth
CAUSES
Growth of Railroads
New inventions
Large supply of natural resources
More workers & capital (money)
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
( )
EFFECTS
More goods available to consumers
More economic opportunities
Rise of corporations
Growth of labor unions