1. Unit 2: The Gilded Age I Now Pronounce You, Unionized Objective: I can explain what led to the development of labor unions in the United States. Preview: Set up your unit page. Process: Guided Notes. On Your Own: Unionizing our school discussion.

2. Characteristics of the Gilded Age  Child labor  Nativism  Filth/crime in cities  Tenements  Farmers debt—buying new technology to help them.  Treatment of Native Americans  Monopolies  Working conditions, low pay, long hours  Little was being done to address these problems because of the laissez-faire attitude of the government

3. Workers Get Common Sense  Northern wages were generally higher than Southern wages BUT exploitation and unsafe working conditions drew people together across the country in a massive labor movement.  Laborers wanted improvements on their work life.  Due to the lack of government response, three different groups challenged the issues of the gilded age.  Each group responded to different issues so their solutions will be different.  Not all groups will be successful in addressing the problems…  Labor Unions – workers  Populists – farmers in the Midwest  Progressives – Middle class people living in the cities.

4. Labor Unions - Organizations of workers - Craft unions = skilled laborers - Industrial Unions = unskilled laborers - Fought for higher pay and better working conditions - Opposed by businesses and the government

5. Workers Unite  The solutions for some workers is to unite together as one.  This is known as a labor union  What are some things labor unions call for?  Better pay  Better hours  Better conditions  Limits on immigration  School attendance laws – limits child labor who could be paid far less  Some workers have more radical ideas  Overthrow owners and place workers in charge – socialism

6. How will laborer’s achieve their goals?  Collective bargaining – when workers unite as one and negotiate with management for hours, conditions and pay. Instead of… vs. Vs.

7.  Knights of Labor  Led by Uriah Stevens & Terrence Powderly  Was open to all workers regardless of skill level, gender, color, or trade  Fought for an eight hour workday  Wanted equal pay for men and women  Wanted child labor abolished  Improved safety in the workplace  Compensation for on-site injuries  Success - the KOL peaked with 700,000 members – they did achieve some of their smaller goals for some workers, but many of their greater demands were ignored.

8. Failure of the KOL: Haymarket Riot  On May 1, 1886, local chapters of the Knights went on strike demanding an eight-hour day for all laborers. At a rally in HAYMARKET SQUARE in Chicago on May 4, someone threw a bomb into the crowd. One police officer died and several crowd members sustained injuries.  Who was responsible? No one is really sure, but the American press, government, and general public blamed the Knights of Labor.  Americans associated labor activity with anarchists and mob violence. Membership began to fall. Soon the Knights were merely a shadow of their former size

9. The AFL  American Federation of Labor  Leader – Samuel Gompers  Members – skilled workers only – craft union (organized into chapters based on particular skill)  Platform- Bread and Butter Unionism – better pay, hours and conditions.  Success Due to the fact that the AFL represented skilled labor they did see more successes because it was tougher for management to replace skilled labor.  As a result of these successes the AFL will live on and is still the major union today – (known today as the AFL-CIO)  Think why professional athletes are able to get many of their demands when they negotiate with owners  They are skilled – not easy to replace.

10. The Radical Option  After the death of the Knights of Labor another union formed in attempt to unite all workers (AFL only skilled)  The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)  Known as the Wobblies  Leader was Eugene v. Debs  Far more radical then the KOL – socialist  Wanted to overthrow management & capitalism  Workers should run all business  Violence was an appropriate tactic  Membership peaked at 100,000 but struggled to gain mass acceptance (ideas counter to the “American Dream” ideology that was so dominant at the time)

11. Management’s Response to Unions  Management in most cases refused to recognize Unions right to exist and especially their right to collective bargain.  What are some tactics management used to undermine labor?  Lockouts, scabs, injunction, yellow-dog contract, blacklist  Scabs: Hiring a substitute worker  yellow-dog contracts: Workers pledge not to unionize as a condition of their employment  Blacklists: Employers circulate lists of undesirable workers who led strikes, or who were known for union organization  Injunction: using the court system to break strikes

12. Laborer’s Last Option…  With management working so hard to undermine Labor unions, many Unions felt their only tactic was to strike  Strike - Stopping of work by employees to gain demands made on their employer

13. Noteworthy Strikes  Great Railway Strike – 1877  The B & O RR cut wages 20% over 8 months  Riot turned violent – Federal troops called into put down workers  Homestead Act of 1892 – details in movie – ended when Pennsylvania State militia put down strike  http://www.history.com/topics/andrew- carnegie/videos/homestead-strike http://www.history.com/topics/andrew- carnegie/videos/homestead-strike  Pullman Strike - 1895  Pullman, a railway car maker laid of workers, cut wages by 25% and refused to collective bargain. 120,000 railway workers went on strike.  With the halting of the railroads – mail was not being delivered. So President Cleveland used this as justification to send in federal troops to break up the strike  Pattern: Government always takes the side of business – laissez- faire in this time period actually means help business (free land, open immigration, strike breaking)

14. Why did most unions fail at the time?  Unions for the most part failed to achieve demands for workers.  Why?  National and State Government support big businesses (break strike, little legislation passed to address problems)  Public fear of unions – Haymarket strike turns many against unions  Business undermined Unions whenever they could  Leaders jailed, scabs, blacklisted, yellow dog contracts, did not recognize the right to collective bargain  large supply of labor therefore the employer could replace unskilled labor easily

15. History of Labor Day  http://youtu.be/FJamea576YY http://youtu.be/FJamea576YY