1. The Labor Movement
The Rise of Unions
CHAPTER SECTION 4

2. By the late 1800s, harsh conditions led workers to organize:
Long hours
Low wages
Unsafe working conditions

3. Workers fight back:
Took days off
Slowed their work pace
Strikes

4. Knights of Labor 1869
Did not believe in strikes
Unskilled labor could not join
GOALS – shorter workday, end to child labor, equal pay for men/women

5. (organized nationally)
AFL (American Federation of Labor) 1886
(organized nationally)
Organized by Samuel Gompers
Open to skilled labor only

6. AFL: limited goals Higher wages 8 hour workdays
Improved work conditions
Fought for collective bargaining

7. AFL… Supported use of strikes
Collected dues to help pay workers during strikes
By 1910, 1.5 million members

8. Haymarket Riot 1886 Strike at McCormick factory in Chicago
Anarchists accused of starting riot
Anti-labor feeling in US leads to drop in membership

9. Homestead Strike, 1892 Homestead, PA, Carnegie’s Steel Mill.
Thousands of strikers clash with Private Security (Pinkertons)
Governor calls in National Guard to restore order, allow non-union workers into mill.
Weakens public support for unions even more, shows govt. will side with owners/management.

10. Pullman Strike 1894
Violent strike in Chicago, with railroad workers siding with Pullman employees
Railroad traffic stops in Chicago
Pullman strike, in U.S. history, an important labor dispute. On May 11,
1894, workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago struck to
protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. They sought
support from their union, the American Railway Union (ARU), led by
Eugene V. Debs, and on June 26 the ARU called a boycott of all Pullman
railway cars. Within days, 50,000 rail workers complied and railroad
traffic out of Chicago came to a halt. When the railroad owners asked
the federal government to intervene, Attorney General Richard Olney, a
director of the Burlington and Santa Fe railroads, obtained (July 2) a
court injunction. On July 4, President Cleveland dispatched troops to
Chicago. Much rioting and bloodshed ensued, but the government's
actions broke the strike and the boycott soon collapsed. Debs and
three other union officials were jailed for disobeying the injunction.

11. Pullman Strike 1894…
Federal Judge orders injunction against the strikers
Strike leaders (Eugene V. Debs) jailed.

12. Weapons of Labor Unions:
Strikes
Boycotts
Picketing

13. Weapons of Employers:
Hiring of Scabs (replacement workers, strike-breakers)
Injunctions – court orders that forbid workers to strike, picket.
Lockout – workers cannot work until they agree to employers terms
Blacklists – troublemakers are targeted for non-employment by companies.

14. Women in the Labor Movement:
Women formed their own unions, but had no success
Mother Jones (Mary Jones) campaigned for reforms for workers, union membership
Triangle Fire in 1911 exposed working conditions for women

15. Triangle Fire: March 1911
Triangle Fire: March 1911

16. Firemen’s ladders could not reach the top floors.
Triangle Fire: March 1911
Firemen’s ladders could not reach the top floors.

17. Triangle Fire: March 1911

18. Triangle Fire: March 1911

19. Triangle Fire: March 1911

20. Triangle Fire: March 1911

21. Triangle Fire: March 1911

22. Triangle Fire: March 1911

23. Triangle Fire: March 1911

24. Triangle Fire: March 1911

28. Owners: Blank & Harris