Transcript Chapter 19, Section 4 - Union Endicott High School

Chapter 20, Section 4:
The Rise of Organized Labor
Main Idea: As workers lost power
over their working conditions, they
began to organize into unions.
The Changing American Labor Force
A. A New Kind of Workplace
Changed Relations w/
Workers – before CW, most
businesses were small, family-run; after, large
factories (less employer-worker contact)
Dangerous Conditions – owners did little to provide
safety for their workers; some were killed or severely
injured, others suffered from poor health (lung
disease)
Children in Industry – in 1900, 2 mill kids under 15
worked; owners hired kids because they worked
cheaply; working kids couldn’t go to school, so they
had little chance for a better life as an adult
Child Labor
“Galley Labor”
B. Workers Organize
Knights of Labor
(1869) – skilled & unskilled workers;
women & minorities could join too; union was secretive
because owners would fire workers who joined unions;
Terence Powderly was pres. – wanted shorter work day,
end to child labor, equal pay for men & women
Trouble for the Knights – Haymarket Riot (Chicago, 1886):
Workers at McCormick Harvester Co. go on strike & clash
w/ strike breakers. Police open fire in crowd. Workers rally
the next day to protest & bomb goes off. Public opinion
begins to turn against labor unions because they are
associated w/ riots & violence
Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly
An injury to one is the concern of all!
Workers Organize
Knights of Labor – formed
in 1869 as the first labor
union in the nation.
Goal #3:
Equal pay for men
and women
Goal #1:
Shorter work day
Goal #2:
End child labor
· On May 3, 1886, striking
factory workers clashed with
strikebreakers in Chicago.
· Four workers were killed
by the police.
· The next day, thousands of
people gathered in
Haymarket Square to protest
the killings.
· A bomb exploded, killing a
police officer.
· The police then opened
fire, killing ten protesters.
This became known as the
Haymarket Riot.
Haymarket Riot (1886)
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
Working
Conditions
· Factory
workers, miners
and steel
workers faced
serious injury or
death on a daily
basis.
· Children
worked in many
industries, doing
dangerous work
for low pay.
C. American Federation of Labor
Samuel
Gompers – pres of AFL; skilled workers
only, people joined trade unions which belonged to
the AFL
Goals (more practical than KoL): higher wages,
shorter hours, better conditions; used strikes to
achieve these goals
AFL collected dues & put some of it in a strike fund
(workers on strike would get $ from AFL while on
strike so they would last longer)
The American Federation
of Labor: 1886
Samuel Gompers
Unions of the AFL - CIO
A
F
• The AFL is an umbrella
organization made up of
many different trade
unions.
L
United Farm
Workers of
America
Screen
Actors
Guild
United Steel
Workers of
America
American Postal
Workers Union
American
Federation of
Teachers
International
Association of
Firefighters
Management vs. Labor
“Tools” of
Management
“Tools” of
Labor
 “scabs”
 boycotts
 P. R. campaign
 sympathy
demonstrations
 Pinkertons
 lockout
 blacklisting
 yellow-dog contracts
 informational
picketing
 closed shops
 court injunctions
 organized
strikes
 open shop
 “wildcat” strikes
D. Strikes
Strikers win
little sympathy – many Americans did not
support strikes if they were inconvenienced by it; unions
had little support from the public or the govt. (were “unAmerican”)
The Pullman Strike – George Pullman cut the pay of his
workers, but did not lower the rents they paid for companyowned houses; a federal judge ordered Pullman workers to
end strike & leaders of strike were jailed for “violating
Sherman Antitrust Act” * major setback for unions
Slow Progress – in 1910, only 5% of workers belonged to
a union (skilled only)
E. Women in the Labor Movement
Many
women were employed in textile mills,
tobacco factories & the garment (clothing)
industry
Mother Jones – organized labor movements,
paved way for reform (end child labor)
ILGWU – International Ladies’ Garment
Workers Union
Mother Jones:
“The Miner’s Angel”
 Mary Harris.
 Organizer for the
United Mine
Workers.
 Founded the Social
Democratic Party
in 1898.
 One of the
founding members
of the I. W. W. in
1905.
F. Tragedy at the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory
 Fire
Breaks Out – exit doors were
locked (to keep workers in), other
doors only opened in (workers blocked
them), elevators broken, fire escapes
inadequate
 Death Leaps – fire truck ladders
couldn’t reach upper floors, people
jumped to escape fire (150 dead,
mostly young women)
 Shock Results in Reform – new safety
laws to protect workers were passed
Triangle Fire – (1911) One hundred and fifty people, mostly
young women, died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
in New York City.
Fire fighters arrived soon after
the alarm was sounded but
ladders only reached the 6th
floor and pumps could not raise
water to the highest floors of the
10-story building. Still the fire
was quickly controlled and was
essentially extinguished in half
an hour. In this fire-proof
building, 146 men, women, and
children lost their lives and
many others were seriously
injured.
The 240 employees sewing shirtwaists on the ninth floor had
their escape blocked by back-to-back chairs and workbaskets
in the aisles. The 75-foot long paired sewing machine tables
obstructed essential access to the windows, stairs, and
elevators.
For endless hours,
police officers held
lanterns to light the
bodies while crowds
filed past victims
laid out in numbered
rough brown
coffins. As the dead
were identified the
coffin was closed
and moved
aside. Forty-three
were identified by
sunrise on Sunday.
Six days later 7 were
still unrecognized.
Few of the terrified workers on the 9th
floor knew that a fire escape was
hidden behind iron window shutters.
The ladder descended next to the
building forcing those fleeing to climb
down through flames as they struggled
past other shutters stuck open across
their path. The design had been
deemed inadequate and the material
from which it was made was
insubstantial. After a few made their
way down, the heat of the fire and
weight of the people caused the ladder
to twist and collapse dropping many
who had chosen it as their lifeline.
- After
the fire,
new laws
were
passed to
protect
factory
workers.