Transcript Document

Workers
Organize
Objectives
• To describe working conditions in the late
1800's
• To trace the beginnings of the labor
movement
• To evaluate union setbacks and significant
strikes
• To describe the founding of the American
Federation of Labor
1.
Why were workers discontented with working
conditions in the late 1800’s?
Business owners tried to run businesses as cheaply as
possible and sacrificed workers’ safety or didn’t provide
workers with the necessary equipment they needed.
Workers were often paid very low wages. Many workers
toiled in Sweatshops, which were places where workers
labored long hours under poor conditions.
WORKERS HAD POOR
CONDITIONS
• Workers routinely worked
6 or 7 days a week, had
no vacations, no sick
leave, and no
compensation for injuries
• Injuries were common –
In 1882, an average of
675 workers were killed
PER WEEK on the job
Workers try to improve working conditions
Discontented workers joined together to improve
their lives by forming labor unions-groups of
workers that negotiated with business owners to
obtain better wages and working conditions.
LABOR UNIONS EMERGE
• As conditions for
laborers worsened,
workers realized they
needed to organize
• The first large-scale
national organization of
workers was the
National Labor Union in
1866
• The Colored National
Labor Union followed
CRAFT UNIONS
• Craft Unions were unions of
workers in a skilled trade
• Samuel Gompers led the Cigar
Makers’ International Union to
join with other craft unions in
1886
• Gompers became president of
the American Federation of Labor
(AFL)
• He focused on collective
bargaining to improve conditions,
wages and hours
2.
What was the Knights of labor?
The Knights of Labor was a Loose federation of workers
from many different trades. Even women were allowed
to join. They inspired many people to join their cause.
The Knights of Labor
allowed women and
African Americans to join
their union.
What were the affects of the depression of
1873 for workers?
Millions of workers took pay cuts, and about 1/5
lost their jobs.
During the Panic of
1873 hundreds of banks
closed.
3.
What caused the Railroad Strike of 1877?
Two railroad strikes, one in 1877 and one in
1884-5, showed how angry workers could
become. In 1877, The B & O Railroad declared
a 10% wage cut for workers. Workers refused
to run the trains. This was the first labor union
strike in the U.S.
4.
How did the Railroad Strike of 1877 end?
As the news spread of the strike, workers in
many cities and in other industries joined in.
This threw the country into turmoil. In
several cities, state militia battled angry
mobs. President Rutherford B. Hayes called
out federal troops to end the strike. Dozens
of people were killed.
STRIKES TURN
VIOLENT
• Several strikes turned
deadly in the late 19th
century as workers and
owners clashed
• The Great Strike of 1877:
Workers for the
Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad struck to protest
wage cuts
• Other rail workers across
the country struck in
sympathy
• Federal troops were
called in to end the strike
Why did business and government leaders fear
labor unions?
Business leaders feared that labor unions would
spread about socialism and anarchism.
5.
What were the causes and affects of the
Haymarket Affair?
In Chicago in 1886, the McCormick Harvester
Company locked out striking union members
and hired strikebreakers (scabs). On May 3,
union members, strikebreakers, and police
clashed. One union member was killed. Violence
erupted as police moved in to end a protest held
the next day. Police arrested hundreds of union
leaders, socialists, and anarchists. Opposition to
unions increased and the Knights of Labor lost
power.
THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR
• Labor leaders continued to
push for change – and on May
4, 1886, 3,000 people
gathered at Chicago’s
Haymarket Square to protest
police treatment of striking
workers
• A bomb exploded near the
police line – killing 7 cops and
several workers
• Radicals were rounded up
and executed for the crime
The Haymarket Affair in Chicago
6.
7.
What caused the Homestead Strike of 1892?
What was the outcome?
Andrew Carnegie reduced wages at his steel mills
in Homestead, PA, but the union refused to
accept the cut. (6) The company locked out
union workers and hired replacement workers or
scabs. The company also hired 300 armed
guards. The locked out workers gathered
weapons, and a battle broke out and left 12
people dead. The Pennsylvania state militia
began to escort the nonunion workers to the
mills. After 4 months, the strike collapsed,
breaking the union. (7)
THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE
• Even Andrew Carnegie could
not escape a workers strike
• Conditions and wages were not
satisfactory in his Steel plant in
Pennsylvania and workers
struck in 1892
• Carnegie hired Pinkerton
Detectives to guard the plant
and allowed scabs to work
• Detectives and strikers clashed
– 3 detectives and 9 strikers
died
• The National guard restored
order – workers returned to
work
PULLMAN: A FACTORY &
TOWN
THE
TOWN
GEORGE
PULLMAN
• In 1880, George Pullman
built a factory for
manufacturing sleepers
and other railroad cars in
Illinois
• The nearby town Pullman
built for his employees
was modeled after early
industrial European towns
• Pullman workers felt his
puritanical town was too
strict
• When he lowered wages
but not rent – it led to a
violent strike in 1894
8.
9.
What caused The Pullman Strike?
What was the outcome?
• After the Pullman Company laid
off thousands of workers and
cut wages by 25%, the workers
went on strike in the spring of
1894. Pullman also did not
lower rent on company
housing. (8)
• Eugene Debs (American Railroad
Union) tried to settle dispute which
turned violent
• Pullman hired scabs and fired
the strikers – Federal troops
were brought in by President
Grover Cleveland to end the
strike (9)
• Debs was jailed
The Pullman Company built luxury rail cars like the
one that carried President Lincoln’s body back
to Illinois.
10. What methods did the American Federation
of Labor use to win benefits?
It was a national organization of labor unions from
many different trades. They focused on
improving working conditions for workers by
using strikes, boycotts, and negotiation.
EMPLOYERS FIGHT UNIONS
• The more powerful the unions
became, the more employers
came to fear them
• Employers often forbade union
meetings and refused to
recognize unions
• Employers forced new workers
to sign “Yellow Dog Contracts,”
swearing that they would never
join a union
• Despite those efforts, the AFL
had over 2 million members by
1914
WOMEN ORGANIZE
• Although women were
barred from most unions,
they did organize behind
powerful leaders such as
Mary Harris Jones
• She organized the United
Mine Workers of America
• Mine workers gave her the
nickname, “Mother Jones”
• Pauline Newman organized
the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union at
the age of 16