Transcript Aim: What factors led to the growth of American labor?

Aim: What factors led to the
growth of American labor?
Do Now
Read pages 447-450.
Answer the questions on the note sheet.
Turn in your HW.
Look at the HW board for your assignment.
Objective
By the end of the lesson, you, redblooded, American student, will be able to:
Describe the actions taken by
industrial workers to bring
about reform in the late 1800s.
Let’s Discuss
In today’s lesson, we will talking about the
growth of labor unions in the United States. So, I
ask you, the following questions:
1-What is a union?
2-What are the characteristics of a union?
3-How many of your parents are in a union? Are
self-employed?
4-What are some of the benefits of being in a
union?
5-What are the negatives of being in a union?
Labor Force Distribution
1870-1900
The Changing American
Labor Force
Child Labor
Big Corporate Profits!
5. The Rise of American Labor
The late 1800s saw the rise of American
labor.
Workers of all types were affected by the
growth of Big Business.
Big business changed not only the way
they worked but also the way they lived.
As time passed, workers turned more and
more to organizations for help.
5.1 Early Labor Groups
Skilled workers formed the earliest labor
unions in the late 1700s.
With industrialization, however, mills and
factories employed greater numbers of
people who needed little skill or no skill to
do the work.
People were replaceable, they had no
contact with their employers.
As Big Business grew, so did disputes
between the workers and the employers.
When companies became larger, it was no
longer possible to settle personal or a local
level.
This led to the start of national labor unions.
1)
2)
What is a labor union?
Who belonged to the early labor organizations
in the United States?
In 1866, a number of trade unions, made up of
skilled workers to form the National Labor Union.
Its leaders wanted to make changes through
political means.
Most of the members, however, were interested
in immediate gains.
The National Labor Union broke up.
3) What was the most important national labor
union?
5.2 The Knights of Labor
In December 1869, the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of
Labor was founded by Uriah Stephens.
The Knights of Labor was an organization of individuals rather
than trade unions. The union was open to all workers, skilled
and unskilled.
In 1879, Terence Powderly was chosen as the leader of the
Knights of Labor. Powderly was a reformer who believed that
workers should establish their own mines, factories and
railroads.
Powderly was against the use of a strike to accomplish the
goals of labor. He was in favor of negotiations between labor
and management.
Strikes become more commonplace because many unions
began to use them.
During the time of Terence Powderly, the Knights of Labor grew
rapidly. By 1886, they had over 700,000 members.
4) Who formed the Knights of Labor?
5) Which groups of people could join the
Knights of Labor?
6) What is a strike?
7) What did the Knights of Labor favor
instead of the strike?
Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly
An injury to one is the concern of all!
Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor trade card
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
Goals of the Knights of
Labor
ù
Eight-hour workday.
ù
Workers’ cooperatives.
ù
Worker-owned factories.
ù
Abolition of child and prison labor.
ù
Increased circulation of greenbacks.
ù
Equal pay for men and women.
ù
Safety codes in the workplace.
ù
Prohibition of contract foreign labor.
ù
Abolition of the National Bank.
Labor Unrest: 1870-1900
The Great Railroad Strike
of 1877
5.3 Haymarket Square
The violence that occurred at Haymarket Square was a setback for labor.
The riot at Haymarket Square begins in 1886 when workers from the
McCormick Harvesting Machine Company went on strike for an eight hour day.
Strikers and police clashed on May 3rd. A striker was killed and several others
were wounded.
Union leaders called a meeting the next day to protest the striker’s death.
Some anarchists who attended the meeting were accused of detonating a
bomb. The bomb killed seven policemen and injured countless others. The
police fired into the crowd and killed four more people.
Americans were upset by the news at Haymarket Square. The anarchists
present at that meeting were accused of detonating the bomb and were found
guilty. They were executed even though nothing linked the anarchists with the
bombing.
Other people blamed the unions, many blaming the Knights of Labor for their
actions.
Soon after, the Knights of Labor lost a lot of members and their power was
diminished.
7) What occurred at Haymarket Square?
8) What does the word anarchist mean?
9) Who was blamed for the Haymarket
violence?
The Great Railroad Strike
of 1877
Haymarket Riot (1886)
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
Haymarket Martyrs
A
“Company
Town”:
Pullman,
IL
Pullman Cars
A Pullman porter
The Pullman Strike of 1894
President Grover Cleveland
If it takes the entire army and navy to
deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card
will be delivered!
The Pullman Strike of 1894
Government by injunction!
5.4 The American Federation of
Labor
Was created when the Knights of Labor slowly went out of
existence.
The American Federation of Labor was formed by Samuel
Gompers.
The AFL was made up of skilled workers who already belonged
to trade unions.
These trade unions would be more or less independent within
the AFL-they were allowed to do their own thing.
The AFL did not want to change society, their goals were to
establish better conditions for their workers such as shorter
hours and better pay.
The AFL, unlike the Knights of Labor, favored the use of
strikes.
By 1900, the AFL were the biggest union in the United States.
10) When was the American Federation of
Labor formed?
11) Who founded the American Federation
of Labor?
12) What were the goals of the AFL?
The American Federation
of Labor: 1886
Samuel Gompers
Labor Union Membership
“Solidarity Forever!”
by Ralph Chapin (1915)
When the union's inspiration
through the workers‘ blood shall run,
There can be no power greater
anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker
than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong!
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union
makes us strong!
“Solidarity Forever!”
Is there aught we hold in common
with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom
and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us
but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong!
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union
makes us strong!
Workers Benefits Today
What Do You Know?
a)
b)
c)
d)
The National Labor Union, the Knights of Labor, the
American Federation of Labor and the International
Workers of the World (IWW) were:
All in agreement about membership in the union.
All worked together in various ways to achieve better
conditions for their members.
Not in agreement about the use of strikes to achieve
their goals.
Never successful in addressing the concerns of their
workers.
The Haymarket Square Riot was the scene of violence
when all of the following events occurred EXCEPT:
a) The Knights of Labor were able to achieve their goals in
negotiations with the McCormick Plant.
b) The strike grew violent when a bomb was hurled
(thrown) into a crowd of 3,000 people.
Anarchists were accused of throwing the bomb and
were arrested.
d) Seven policemen were killed.
c)
The major purpose for the formation of labor
unions during the Gilded Age was to:
a) Fight against the harsh working conditions of
the era.
b) Use the strike as a mean of achieving the
union’s goals.
c) Unite people with the same job into a common
organization.
d) A, B and C
Strikes and violent events that occurred in
the workplace:
a) Brought about needed changes in the
workplace.
b) Brought limited changes to workplace
conditions.
c) Weakened the unions and their
negotiations with management.
d) Succeeded nearly 100% of the time.
In response to the strikes occurring in the
United States:
a) Presidents sent in federal troops to end
the strikes.
b) Strikers were often arrested and fired.
c) Big business leaders hired private forces
to be stationed in the workplace.
d) A,B and C