1. 09/04 Bellringer 5+ sentences Conditions in the factories during the Gilded Age were horrible. Workers could expect to work between 16-18 hours. There were no safety regulations or minimum wage expectations. If you worked at a job with harsh conditions or low pay, how would you address those issues?

2. The majority of immigrants worked in industrial jobs Most were unskilled and willing to accept almost any kind of job

3. Response: Labor unions that collectively bargain for improvements Common conditions: -Low wages -Long hours (12-18 hours) -No safety precautions Most labor unions did not advocate violent protesting

4. Among the first labor unions in America was the Knights of Labor The Knights of Labor was open to all workers regardless of race, gender, or skill

5. Most successful union: American Federation of Labor (AFL) led by Samuel Gompers The AFL only included skilled workers

6. By the end of the Gilded Age, only 4% of all American workers were unionized

7. Factory owners hired replacement workers (scabs) or private police (Pinkertons) to break up strikes One tactics = Strikes  stop production in order to force management to accept union demands

8. Chicago Haymarket Strike (1886) -Strikers protesting bad conditions -Pipe bomb kills 7 police - public begins to think of unions as violent and “un- American”

9. Violence erupted in the Homestead Strike (1892) at Carnegie’s steel plant; Federal troops were called to re-open the factory with replacement workersHomestead Strike

10. Railroad workers led a national strike when the Pullman Palace Company cut wages by 50%... …President Cleveland sent the army to end the strike; Strikers in 27 states resisted & dozens died