Industrialization and Workers

Effects of IndustrializationCh. 6.3

The Growing Work Force

Increase in immigrants:14 million new immigrants to the U.S. between 1860 and 1900From 1860-1910 the US population jumped from 31.4 million to 91.9 million. Over this span of forty years the population tripled in size.

Contract Labor Act (1864) Immigration was encouraged by the federal governmentEmployers made contracts with immigrants in exchange for passage to the U.S.

The Growing Work Force

• 8-9 million Americans moved to cities during the late 1800s due to poor conditions and struggles on farms.– 46% of the U.S. population lived in

urban areas. – Cities stretched to accommodate

these millions and deteriorated in the process.

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Factory WorkFactory Work

Most laborers worked 12 hrs. a day six days a week.

1868 Federal employees granted eight-hour work day but this didn’t apply to

private industry

Most laborers worked 12 hrs. a day six days a week.

1868 Federal employees granted eight-hour work day but this didn’t apply to

private industry

Factory WorkFactory Work

Piecework: A system where workers were paid not by the time worked but by what they produced.

Most of this type of work was done in sweatshops. A shop where employees worked long

hours, at low wages, under poor working conditions

Piecework: A system where workers were paid not by the time worked but by what they produced.

Most of this type of work was done in sweatshops. A shop where employees worked long

hours, at low wages, under poor working conditions

Factory WorkIncreasing Efficiency -

Fredrick Winslow Taylor- Goal to increase productivity to increase profits but

sometimes led to layoffs.

Division of Labor - factory workers performed one small task, over and

over, and rarely saw the finished product. Caused workers to be disconnected from the

finished product and Owners saw their employees as “parts” and did not

interact with them as much.

Factory Work

• The Work Environment– Workers were ruled by the

clock– Discipline was strict– Workplaces were not always

safe--noise, poor lighting and ventilation were challenges.

– Still offered better pay and more opportunities than other jobs.

– The practice of child labor came under attack [Jacob Riis]

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Working Families

• In the 1880’s children made up more than 5% of the industrial labor force.

• Children’s wages often supplemented the family income and some left school to work.

• Families in need relied on private charities as the government did not provide public assistance.

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The Great Strikes

Ch. 6.4

Gulf Between Rich and Poor

In 1890 the richest 9% of Americans held about 75% of the wealth.Socialism gained popularity

An economic and political philosophy that favors public instead of private of the means of production. Wealth should be distributed equally to everyone.The wealthy saw this as a threat to their fortunes, politicians saw it as a threat to public order.

The Rise of Labor UnionsThe Knights of Labor Hoped to organize all working men

and women, skilled and unskilled into a single union and recruited African Americans.

They fought for: Equal pay for equal work, and 8-

hour workday and an end to child labor

Sought to help their members through political activity and education

Sponsored first Labor Day on September 5, 1882

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The Rise of Labor Unions American Federation of Labor

– The AFL was a craft union – Hoped to organize only skilled workers in a network of

smaller unions each devoted to a specific craft.– Women and African Americans were generally excluded. – Focused mainly on issues of workers’ wages, hours and

working conditions. Used economic pressure against employers-strikes and

boycotts. Collective bargaining:

– the process in which workers negotiate as a group with employers.

The Rise of Labor UnionsThe Wobblies • Founded by those who

opposed the AFL’s policies• Industrial Workers of the

World (IWW)• A radical union focused on

unskilled workers and included many socialists.

• Many of their strikes were violent

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The Rise of Labor Unions

• Reaction of Employers They generally

disliked and feared unions

Took measures to stop unions Forbid union meetings Firing union organizers Sign “yellow dog”

contract Refuse to bargain

collectively.

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Railroad Workers Organize

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Railway workers protested unfair wage cuts and unsafe working

conditions. The strike was violent and unorganized. President Hayes sent federal troops to put down the strikes. From then on, employers relied on federal and state troops to repress

labor unrest. Debs and the American Railway Union

At the time of the 1877 strike, railroad workers mainly organized into various “brotherhoods,” which were basically craft unions.

Eugene V. Debs proposed a new industrial union for all railway workers called the American Railway Union (A.R.U.).

The A.R.U. would replace all of the brotherhoods and unite all railroad workers, skilled and unskilled.

The Haymarket RiotHaymarket, 1886 On May 1, groups of workers mounted a national demonstration

for an eight-hour workday. On May 3, police broke up a fight between strikers and scabs.

(A scab is a negative term for a worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers.)

Union leaders called a protest rally on the evening of May 4 in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.

A group of anarchists, radicals who oppose all government, joined the strikers.

At the event, someone threw a bomb that killed a police officer. The riot that followed killed dozens on both sides. Investigators never found the bomb thrower, yet eight anarchists

were tried for conspiracy to commit murder. Four were hanged.

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Haymarket Strike

Strikes Rock the Nation• Homestead 1892

– In 1892, Andrew Carnegie’s partner, Henry Frick, tried to cut workers’ wages at Carnegie Steel.

– The union called a strike and Frick called in the Pinkertons.

– The union called off the Homestead Strike after an anarchist tried to assassinate Frick.

– Even though the anarchist was not connected to the strike, the public associated his act with rising labor violence.

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Strikes Rock the Nation

Pullman, 1894– Eugene Debs instructed strikers

not to interfere with the nation’s mail.

– Railway owners turned to the government for help. The judge cited the Sherman Antitrust Act and won a court order forbidding all union activity that halted railroad traffic.

– Court orders against unions continued, limiting union gains for the next 30 years.

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Labor Unions Changed Big Business!

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