Transcript Labor Strives to Organize

Labor Strives to Organize
Unit 5
Question
• It is 1890. You work in a factory. Last month,
your little brother was hurt in a workplace
accident, but the company refuses to fix the
machine that hurt him. Do you join a union to
protest unsafe working conditions, even
though you could lose your job, be blacklisted,
or injured.
Government and Business
• Sherman Antitrust Act:
– Established in 1890
– Outlawed monopolies and trusts that restrained
trade
– Failed to define what constituted a monopoly or
trust
– The law was difficult to enforce
The Knights of Labor
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One of the earliest national unions
Union open to skilled and unskilled workers
Women were allowed to join the union
Union fought for:
– Eight-hour work day
– Equal pay for equal work
– End to child labor
• In 1886 membership was more than 700,000
workers
Haymarket Riot Causes
CAUSES
= Workers from McCormick Harvesting Machine
Company wanted an 8 hour work day.
= Strike soon fell under the control of anarchists
= People who oppose all forms of government
= Police came - two strikers killed and several
wounded.
= Next day a small rally in Haymarket Square
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When rally was nearly over 200 police officers arrived
Unknown bomb exploded in the midst of the police
70 police officers wounded
7 police and one civilian dead
Haymarket Riot Effects
Effect/Result: Anti-Labor feelings sweep the
nation and membership in the Knights of
Labor Union fell drastically!
Employers created blacklists, yellow dog
contracts, and lockouts
The American Federation of Labor (AFL)
= Founded by Samuel Gompers
= Composed of skilled workers
= The AFL had 3 goals
= 1. Convince Companies to Recognize Unions
= 2. Push for Closed Shops (companies should only
hire members of the union).
= 3. Promote the 8-Hour workday.
= Grew slowly, but by 1900, it was the largest
union in the country.
Homestead Strike Causes
• Steel mill owned my Andrew Carnegie
• Workers were protesting a wage cut
• Management refused and locked the workers out of
the steel mill
• The workers broke into the mill and took it over
• Management hired the Pinkerton Police to take the mill
back
• 300 Pinkertons arrived
• The Pinkertons and the workers battled for 12 hours 16
people died
• The Pinkertons surrendered
Homestead Strike Effects
• Carnegie requested help from the
Pennsylvania National Guard
• Carnegie hired people to harass and injure
strikers
• The strike was a failure
The Pullman Strike Causes
• Pullman created a company town were
everything was owned by the corporation
• “debt slavery” money owed was deducted from
workers paychecks
• Workers would never see their earnings
• Workers children were responsible for the debt if
parents did not pay it off
• Pullman cut wages for workers but refused to
lower rents or prices at the stores in the company
town
The Pullman Strike Effects
• The American Railway Union refused to work or ride on
trains that had Pullman cars
– This stopped all rail traffic in the Midwest
• The Strike was eventually broken up by 12,000 US
Army Troops
• President Grover Cleveland sent the troops to restore
the delivery of the US Mail
• 13 strikers were killed
• 57 wounded
• And $80 million dollars of property damaged
• The American Railway Union was destroyed