1. The Expansion of American Industry The Great Strikes Chapter 5

2. Objectives
Summarize the growing gap between rich business owners & poor workers.
List some early labor unions & their activities.
Describe the causes & outcomes of the major strikes of the late 1800s.

3. Rich & Poor 9% of Americans held 75% of wealth.
Socialism – Econ & political philosophy that favors public control of property & income, NOT private control.
Wealth distributed evenly.
Karl Marx
Wealthy, politicians, American workers saw it as a threat to the way of life.
Karl Marx – Communist Manifesto

4. The Rise of Labor Unions
Trade Unions
The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers
legal Strikes
Shorter workdays
Higher wages
Better conditions
American Federation of Labor – AFL
Collective Bargaining
Closed Shop
Skilled labor
Employer Reaction
Forbade union meetings
Fired union organizers
“Yellow Dog” contracts
Refuse to recognize unions as reps of workers
Cordwainers were shoemakers. Closed Shop only union members would be hired. Yellow Dog Contracts – never join a union or strike.

5. Worker Strikes Haymarket Riot, 1886 Homestead, 1892
Railroad Strike – 1877
10% wage cuts
“Double Headers”
Violence
Federal Troops
1881 – 1900
24,000 strikes
Scabs – workers called in by employer to replace striking workers. This keeps employers operating w/o bargaining w/ workers.
Haymarket Riot, 1886
Chicago – McCormick Reaper Factory
8 hour workday
7 officers killed
Anarchists – oppose gov
Homestead, 1892
Carnegie Steel – Cut $$
Pinkertons – private police
Shootout
Attempt on Frick
Union loss
Baltimore & Ohio RR announce 10% wage cuts in midst of depression. This was the second wage cut in 8 months. Double Headers – run 2 engines with more cars causing risks of accidents & worker layoffs. President Hayes sent in Federal troops – 1st time in history. Carnegie Steel – Carnegie in Europe Henry Frick cut wages Carnegie approved of stikes with no violence.

6. Pullman Strike - 1894 George Pullman 1894 – Workers protest, 3 fired.
Sleeping car
Chicago
Built town
Schools, banks, water, gas systems, & houses
Panic 1893
Cut wages 25%
Kept costs the same
1894 – Workers protest, 3 fired.
Strike
Plant Shutdown
Railway Union Strikes
Boycott Pullman cars
Interrupted mail & traffic
Court forbid unions activities – 30 years.
Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act – outlawed any combination of companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce.