Transcript Chapter 19, Section 3 Industrial Workers Decline of Working

Chapter 19, Section 3
Industrial Workers
Decline of Working
Conditions
• Machines run by
unskilled workers were
eliminating the jobs of
many skilled
craftspeople
• Low paid workers
could be easily
replaced
• Specialization made
workers tired, bored
and more likely to be
injured
Knights of Labor
SCAB
POWDERLY
EMPLOYER
GOSPEL OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR:
“We work not selfishly alone, but
extend the hand of fellowship to all
mankind” -- Terence Powderly
• Who? – members included
all factory workers (skilled
and unskilled); founded by
Terence Powderly
• What? – first national labor
union which pushed for
equal work, end to child
labor, and govt. regulation
of trusts
• When? – 1870s
• Where? – US (cities)
• Why important? – first
national attempt to improve
working conditions for
industrial workers
American
Federation of Labor
• Who? – members included skilled
workers only; founded by Samuel
Gompers
• What? – early national labor union
that linked smaller crafts unions for
different trades together into one
national organization
• When? – late 1800s
• Where? – US (cities)
• Why Important? – tried to get
skilled workers better working
conditions, hours, and working
conditions
Collective
Bargaining
Private sector workers have this right.
Should public workers, too?
• Who? – workers and
management
• What? – workers get to
negotiate with management
as a group instead of
individually to hopefully
improve their working
conditions
• When? – began in late 1800s
• Where? – US
• Why Important? –
Mary Harris Jones
• She was an Irish immigrant who
became a well-known speaker
for workers rights
• She was a dressmaker and after
her husband and three children
died of yellow fever and her
workshop burned down she
became an organizer for the
Knights of Labor
• Later she helped organize
miners strikes and educate
workers
• She gained the nickname
“Mother Jones” when she was
still organizing workers well into
her 60s
Haymarket Riot
• Workers at the McCormack
Harvester Company in
Chicago went on strike for
an 8 hour day
• 2 strikers were killed by
police at the strike
• The next day a workers rally
was held to support the
strike at Haymarket Square
• A bomb exploded killing
some police officers
• The police opened fire on
the people at the rally
• People connected this kind
of labor to the Knights of
Labor, and membership in
that union sharply declined
Homestead Strike
• Workers at Andrew
Carnegie’s steel mill at
Homestead, PA protested a
company plan to buy new
machinery to cut jobs
• The company hired
strikebreakers to take the
place of striking workers
• The workers seized the plant
and shot at the Pinkerton
agents hired to take back
the plant
• The Governor of PA called in
the state militia to restore
order
• Fighting took place for
months, but the union was
defeated
Pullman Strike
• Workers in the company
town for George Pullman’s
railroad car factory went
on strike
• They were protesting the
lay off of half of the
workers and the lowering
of pay for the remaining
workers
• Workers stopped traffic on
railroad lines
• Federal courts ordered
workers to return to their
jobs, but they refused
• President Grover Cleveland
sent federal troops to
Chicago to stop the strike