1. IV. Unions Workers tried to form unions in the late 1800s
Hoping to improve wages, hours, and working conditions
Business leaders worked with some unions
Generally opposed others
Strikes during this era sometimes led to violence
Hurt union’s image and slowed their growth

2. Working in the United States
Why did workers try to form unions in the late 1800s?

3. Working in the United States
Life for workers was difficult
Dull repetitive tasks
Breathed in lint, dust and toxic fumes
Machines lacked safety devices
Industrialism led to a dramatic rise in the standard of living

4. Working in the United States
Average workers’ wages rose 50% between
Uneven division of wealth caused resentment
1900 average wage: 22 cents per hour and worked 59 hours a week

5. Working in the United States
Deflation – a decline in the volume available money or credit that results in lower prices, and therefore increases the buying power of money
deflation caused prices to fall

6. Working in the United States
Increased buying power
Companies cut wages
Late 1800s prices fell even faster
Workers resented getting less money
Needed unions to bargain for higher wages and better conditions

7. Early Unions Two types of industrial workers- craft and common
Craft workers were
Machinists
Iron molders
stone cutters
Shoemakers
printers
Had special skills and received higher wages

8. Early Unions Common workers 1830s craft workers form trade unions
Had few skills
Received lower wages
1830s craft workers form trade unions
1873 – 30 national unions
3 largest
Iron Molders International
International typographical Union
Knights of St. Crispin; shoemakers union

9. Opposition to Unions Employers had to negotiate with unions
Viewed unions as conspiracies that interfered with property rights
Business leaders opposed industrial unions
Industrial Union – an organization of common laborers and craft workers in a particular union

10. Opposition to Unions
Companies used technique to prevent union membership
Sign oath or contract
Hired detectives to identify union organizers
Workers who tried to organize were fired
Placed on a blacklist

11. Opposition to Unions
Companies used “lockouts” to break existing unions
Lockout – a company tool to fight union demands by refusing to allow employees to enter its facilities to work
If union called a strike employers hired replacements or strikebreakers

12. Opposition to Unions
There were no laws giving workers rights to form unions
Or for owners to negotiate with them
Courts ruled strike “conspiracies in restraint of trade”
Leaders could be fined or jailed
Restraint – the act of limiting, restricting, or keeping under control

13. Opposition to Unions 1800s unions thought to be un-American
Karl Marx argued that capitalist society was a struggle between workers and owners
Marx believed the workers would
Eventually revolt
Seize factories
Overthrow the government

14. Opposition to Unions Laborers supported Marx Few supported anarchism
Anarchists believe society does not need any government
1800 anarchists assassinated government officials and set off bombs across Europe
Hope was to begin a revolution

15. Opposition to Unions Tens of thousands of Europeans headed to America
Anti immigrant feelings were strong in America
Became suspicious of unions
Used the courts, the police and army to crush and break strikes

16. Opposition to Unions
How did the working conditions encourage workers to form unions in the late 1800s?

17. Opposition to Unions
Working conditions were often dangerous and unhealthy, and workers wanted unions to help them gain a better work environment.

18. Struggle to Organize
What made it difficult for union workers to create large industrial unions?

19. Struggle to Organize
Workers tried many times to create large industrial unions
Confrontations with owners led to violence and bloodshed

20. The Great Railroad Strike
Panic of 1873 was a severe recession
1877 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced it was cutting wages (third time)
Strike involved 80,000 workers
First nationwide strike

21. The Great Railroad Strike
President Rutherford B. Hayes called it an insurrection
Took 12 bloody days for police, state militias and federal troops to restore order
100 people were killed
100 million in railroad property was destroyed
Americans wanted more peaceful means to settle labor disputes

22. The Great Railroad Strike
Strikers
smashed equipment
Tore up tracks
Blocked rail service in several cities
Governors of several states called out the militia
Gun battles between the strikers and the militia

23. The Knights of Labor Founded 1869
Leader Terrence Powderly opposed strikes in favor of boycotts and arbitration
Arbitration – settling a dispute by agreeing to accept the decision of an impartial outsider

24. The Knights of Labor
Powderly thought best interests of both groups must be considered
Unlike other unions the Knights welcomed
Women
African Americans
Called for an
Eight hour day
Equal pay for women
No child labor
Worker owned factories

25. The Haymarket Riot
1886 supporters of eight hour day called for a strike
May 3, Chicago police open fire on picket line
3,000 people gather to protest the shooting
Someone threw a bomb
Police opened fire
170 injured 10 policemen killed

26. The Haymarket Riot Eight men arrested for bombing
Public anger resulted in 8 convictions
4 were executed
Critics claimed dangerous radical dominated unions
Lost strikes led to decline in membership and influence in the Knights of Labor

27. The Homestead and Pullman Strikes
Summer of 1892 led to bloodshed
Steel mill owned by Andrew Carnegie in Homestead Pennsylvania
Managed by Henry Clay Frick
Anti union business partner

28. The Homestead and Pullman Strikes
Frick proposes to cut wages 20%
He then locked out employees
Pinkerton Detectives brought in replacements
When Pinkertons and strikebreakers approached the plant strikers resisted

29. The Homestead and Pullman Strikes
1894 Pullman Palace Car Company slashed wages without lowering rents in the company town
American Railway workers refused to handle Pullman Cars
Railroad managers arranged to have mail cars attached

30. The Homestead and Pullman Strikes
Over the next 14 hours they clashed
Governor of Pennsylvania sent in the militia
4 months later the strike collapsed

31. The Homestead and Pullman Strikes
President Cleveland sent federal troops to keep the mail coming
Federal court issued an injunction to halt the boycott
Injunction – a court order whereby one is required to do or to refrain from doing a specified act.

32. Struggling to Organize
How did major strikes prevent large industrial unions from maintaining power and influence?

33. Struggling to Organize
Such strikes often turned violent, and the reputation of the unions suffered

34. New Unions Emerge
How were the new industrial unions different from the older trade union?

35. New Unions Emerge Workers share same complaints about wages and hours
Unskilled workers were not represented by unions
New types of unions emerged to support these workers

36. The Rise of the AFL American Federation of Labor (AFL)
1866 leaders of several trade unions created it
Samuel Gompers the first president
Held power until 1924
Tried to focus on pure and simple
Wages
Working hours
Working conditions

37. The Rise of the AFL Had three main goals
Tried to convince companies to recognize unions and agree to collective bargaining
Pushed for closed shops
Closed shop – an agreement in which a company agree to only hire union members
Promoted 8 hour work day

38. The Rise of the AFL 1900 largest union with 500,000 members
Represented less that 15% of non-farm workers
Most members were white men
Discriminated against African Americans
Only a few women were admitted

39. The IWW 1905 International Workers of the World Nicknamed Wobblies
Wanted to organize by industry
Making distinction between skilled and unskilled laborers
“The working class and the employing class have nothing in common”

40. The IWW Should be one big union
1912 IWW led a successful strike of 25,00 textile workers
Lawrence, Massachusetts cut wages
Companies reversed itself after 10 week strike
Many IWW strikes failed
Radical philosophy

41. Women and Organized Labor
After Civil War female wages rose
1900 women make up 18% of workforce
Society’s ideas of what constituted women’s work
Constituted – to compose, make up, or form

42. Women and Organized Labor
One third were domestic servants
One third teachers, nurses, sales clerks, clerical workers
One third in garment industry and food processing
Women paid less than men for the same job

43. Women and Organized Labor
Assumed women were helping the men
Men needed higher wages to support a family
Most unions excluded women
Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones)

44. Women and Organized Labor
1900 Jewish and Italian Immigrants worked in clothing business in New York
Founded the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU)
1909 strike of 30,000 workers
Won recognition of their union
Better wages
Benefits for employees

45. Women an Organized Labor
1903 Mary Kenney O’Sullivan and Leonora O’Reilly, Jane Addams and Lillian Wald
Establish first national association dedicated to women’s labor issues
The Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)
Pushed for 8 hour day
Minimum wage
No evening work for women
Abolition of child labor

46. Women and Organized Labor
Why did women need to from their own trade unions?

47. Women and Organized Labor
Most of the existing trade unions excluded women