1. Unions
3-4

2. Working in the US Factories Dangerous Work was dull Repetitive tasks
Lint, dust, toxic fumes
No safety devices
Rise in Standard of living
Average worker's wage rose 50%
1900 – 22c per hour/ worked 59 hrs per week
Deflation
Prices fall – increased the buying power of workers wages
Working in the US

4. Craft workers – had special skills and training -> more money & worked their own hours
Machinists
Iron molders –Iron Molders’ International Union
Stonecutters
Shoemakers – Knights of St. Crispin
Printers - International Typographical Union
Common laborers – few skills and no training -> lower wages & long hours
Employers had to negotiate with unions because they needed the skilled workers
Early Unions

5. Management vs. Labor “scabs” P. R. campaign Pinkertons lockout
“Tools” of Labor
“scabs”
P. R. campaign
Pinkertons
lockout
blacklisting
yellow-dog contracts
court injunctions
open shop
boycotts
sympathy demonstrations
informational picketing
closed shops
organized strikes
“wildcat” strikes
Management vs. Labor

6. Did this work?
YES – no laws gave workers the right to form unions and go on strike
Courts frequently ruled that strikes were "conspiracies in restraint of trade"

7. Railroad Strike of 1877

8. Railroad Strike of 1877 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
July 1877 – Cut wages for the third time
Martinsburg, WV – workers walked off & blocked tracks
80,000 railroad workers
Smashed equipment, tore up tracks, blocked rails in NYC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis & Chicago
Militias called out – gun battles
President called out federal troops
12 Days for police, state and federal troops to restore order
$10 Million in RR property destroyed
Railroad Strike of 1877

9. Knights of Labor - 1869 Eight-hour workday. Workers’ cooperatives.
Boycotts & Arbitration
Welcomed Women and African Americans
Goals:
Eight-hour workday.
Workers’ cooperatives.
Worker-owned factories.
Abolition of child and prison labor.
Increased circulation of greenbacks.
Equal pay for men and women.
Safety codes in the workplace.
Prohibition of contract foreign labor.
Abolition of the National Bank
Terence V. Powderly
Knights of Labor

10. Haymarket Riot - 1886 Nation Wide strike May 1
Fight broke out in Chicago – police opened fire
Next day 3,000 gathered in Haymarket square
Someone threw a bomb
Police and workers shot at each other
170 people hurt & 10 police were killed
8 arrested for the bombing, 4 executed
Haymarket Riot

11. Homestead Steel Strike
Homestead – Summer 1892
Henry Clay Frick – Manager of Pen. Steal mill
Frick wanted to cut wages 20%
Locked out Union employees
Pinkerton bring in replacements
Fights between strikers and Pinkerton
Many killed & injured over 14 hours
Homestead Steel Strike

12. Pullman Strikes Pullman, IL “A Company Town”
Founded and ran by George Pullman
Model city
Library, groceries stores, schools but no taverns
20,000 workers
Pullman Strikes

13. Pullman Strikes 1894 – Depression caused business to plummet
Pullman cut wages, but KEPT rent and prices high
Workers allied with American Railway Union (ARU)
Refused to handle Pullman cars
Made sleeper and luxury railcars
Workers in 23 states joined the ARU strikes
Mail Cars – Injunction -> Cleveland sent in Federal Troops
Pullman Strikes

14. AFL (American Federation of Labor)
Catered to the skilled worker.
Represented workers in matters of national legislation.
Maintained a national strike fund.
Evangelized the cause of unionism.
Prevented disputes among the many craft unions.
Mediated disputes between management and labor.
Pushed for closed shops.
8 Hour workday
AFL (American Federation of Labor)

15. IWW & Women Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) “One Big Union”
Skilled & Unskilled workers
Used strikes
Most failed
1912 – Successful strike
25,000 textile workers
Company gave in after 10 weeks
IWW & Women

16. IWW & Women Women by 1900 were 18% of work force
1/3 were domestic servants, 1/3 teachers, nurses, sales clerks, 1/3 garment industry and food- processing plants
Paid Less & not accepted into unions
Mary Harris Jones “Mother Jones”
Knight of Labor
Mary Kenney O’Sullivan & Leonora O’Reilly
Woman's Trade Union League (WTUL)
8 hour day, minimum wage, end of evening work for women and end to child labor
IWW & Women