Transcript Lecture Notes--Unions,Strikes

INDUSTRIAL AGE
How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in
the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the
level of success achieved.
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
A.
Knights of Labor
1. Leader
Uriah Stephens & Terence Powderly
2. Members/Eligibility
Open Membership = Male, Female,
African American, etc.
3. Goals
Reform Economic system = worker
cooperatives, abolition of trusts, abolition
of child labor, 8hr. Day, govt. regulation
4. Methods of Achieving Goals
Arbitration (preferred, but couldn’t stop
local assemblies from striking
5. Results/Public Perceptions
a. 1886 = May Day & Great Upheaval =
strike failures and fear of economic chaos
b. Haymarket = become associated with
anarchists
c. Large and loosely organized
d. By 1890s = down to 100,000 and
disappear by mid 1890s
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
B.
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
1. Leader
Samuel Gompers
2. Members/Eligibility
Skilled Workers = Association of Craft Unions
3. Goals
“bread & butter” issues (accept capitalism/wage
system)
Better Wages, Hours, Working Conditions = not
economic or governmental reform; concentrate on
relationship between management and labor
4. Methods of Achieving Goals
bargain collectively & closed shop
walk out, boycott, strikes against employers who
refuse to bargain
5. Public Perceptions
Not as bad as K of L, but still associated with
anarchists after Haymarket
INDUSTRIAL AGE
a.
Causes
i. Wages Cut 10% for 2nd time since 1873
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 1. Railroad Strike 1877
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 1. Railroad Strike 1877
b.
Labor Actions
i. Strike = First National Strike, 11 states, 2/3
of country’s rails
ii. Railroad strikers joined by 500,000 workers
from other industries
iii. Disrupt service from Baltimore to St. Louis,
destroy equipment, riots in Pittsburgh & other
cities
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 1. Railroad Strike 1877
c.
Response & Results
i. President Hayes uses Federal Troops in W.V.,
militiamen used in other cities, 100 killed by end
ii. Shows resentment on both sides, and lengths both
sides would go to; Government use Federal Troops
iii. Fear of union by propertied classes
INDUSTRIAL AGE
a.
Causes
i. May Day labor movement in Chicago
ii. Strike and violence at McCormick Harvester plant
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886
b.
Labor Actions
i. Labor leaders call for public meeting at Haymarket Square
ii. Radical and anarchists present
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886
c.
Response & Results
i. Police attempt to break up, bomb thrown
ii. Kills 7 policemen, 60+ injured; police fire into crowd
and kill 4 civilians
iii. 8 anarchists accused & found guilty; 7 sentenced to
death, 4 executed, 1 suicide, 3 pardoned (Gov. John
Altgeld)
iv. Most middle class associate unions w/ anarchists
INDUSTRIAL AGE
a.
Causes
i. Frick & Carnegie cut wages 20% in 1892
ii.
Had been cutting wages for two years = not
want to pay workers by ton produced but by
sliding scale (market price) = want streamline
efforts & cut labor costs
iii.
want to get rid of union at Homestead plant
•
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
INDUSTRIAL AGE
b. Labor Actions
i.
Strike
•
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
INDUSTRIAL AGE
•
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
i. Frick closes Plant & calls in Pinkertons
(strikebreakers) = violence erupts, 13 killed & 100+
wounded
INDUSTRIAL AGE
•
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
Firing continued for hours, “One observer estimated more than
one thousand shots were fired in the first ten minutes”
“The noise that they made on shore was awful, and it made us
shake in our boots. We were penned in like rats….All of
our men were under the beds and bunks, crying and
trembling.” (Gillon, Ten Days…)
INDUSTRIAL AGE
•
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
c. Response & Results
“According to one account, the joyous crowd formed itself ‘into
two lines, 600 yards long, between which the men from
the barges had to pass.’ The crowd assaulted the
detectives as they walked the gauntlet. A woman used
her umbrella to punch out the eye of one man. ‘The men
screamed for mercy. We were clubbed at every
step.”(Gillon, Ten Days…)
INDUSTRIAL AGE
•
c. Response & Results
ii. Governor sends in state militia
iii. Scabs used to resume production
iv. public opinion turns when radical attempts
assassinate Frick
v. Union surrenders after 4 months & is broken
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892
INDUSTRIAL AGE
• VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 4. Pullman Strike, 1894
a.
Causes
i. Pullman cut wages 25%
ii. Refused to reduce rents in
Pullman town (already higher than
surrounding rents)
INDUSTRIAL AGE
b.
Labor Actions
•
i.
Workers Strike & helped by American Railway Union led
by Eugene Debs
ii.
Effects rail transportation across the country
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 4. Pullman Strike, 1894
INDUSTRIAL AGE
c. Response & Results
•
i.
Gov. Altgeld refuses to call out militia; Pres. Cleveland &
Att. Gen. Olney get court injunction = interfering w/ mail
ii.
Debs & union leaders refuse, arrested and jailed; strike
broken
iii.
Use of court injunction gives employers powerful weapon
against unions
VI. Union Movement
– C. Strikes
• 4. Pullman Strike, 1894