Industrialization of America

“Rags to Riches”

L A B O R

Transformationof America

INDUSTRIALIZATION AND LABOR

Workers and the Rise of Unions

POWERHOUSEThe Working Man

Men, Women & Children

I N D U S T R I A L I Z A T I O N

Immigration provided industry with an abundant supply of labor. Over 14 million immigrants came to the United States between 1860 & 1900.Contract Labor Act of 1864.

U R B A N I Z A T I O NGrowth of big cities.Immigrants settling in citiesPeople moving from rural areas to cities for jobs in factories.

Shifts in Population and Employment, 1860-1900

F A C T O R Y W O R K

Piecework & SweatshopsPIECEWORK -Workers paid a fixed amount for each item that they produced.

Garment workersCigar workers

SWEATSHOP- shop where employees worked for long hours and under poor working conditions.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENTFrederick Winslow TaylorThe Principles of Scientific ManagementHow to improve worker efficiency.

Break down different tasks and proper amount of time to completeProductivity IncreasesPROFIT$ increase

Division of LaborSeparation of the tasks of production. Workers completed one task to produce an item.

Concept of the assembly line.

The end of the artisan.

Working Conditions

GUN FOUNDRY by John Ferguson Wier

The Working Man burning On the stake of Monopoly

LABORERS Ruled by the CLOCK

Start, breaks, stop. Long working hours

No minimum work day.

Six-day work weekOnly day off Sunday.

Dangerous and Unsafe.

No workers compensation for injuries.

Low wages.No minimum wageCompetition for jobs

Child Labor

Jacob Riis, Children of the Poor (1892)

Child Labor

Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine used photography to document the exploitation of child labor.

Child LaborNo laws prohibited use of child labor1880s approximately 5% of workforce was made up of children. Families relied on income for children to survive.

W O R K E R S O R G A N I Z E

Uneven distribution of Income

The Gilded Age

Wide gap between the wealthiest Americans and the working class

and poor

S O C I A L I S M Philosophy that promotes government/public control of business and the economy.

Government run industriesGovernment set production goalsGovernment set wages

Society, not individuals, control the wealth.Advocate equal distribution of wealth to all.

Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

NOBLE and HOLY ORDER of the

KNIGHTS of LABOR

Knights of Labor

Formed Philadelphia, 1869Admitted men and womenSkilled and unskilled workers. Farmers and factory workers. Recruited African Americans

Knights of Labor

Lead by Terrence PowderlyPromoted social reforms

Equal pay for equal workEight-hour work dayEnd child labor

AMERICAN FEDERATION of LABOR

AF of LFormed under leadership of Samuel Gompers in 1886Skilled workers onlyAfrican Americans allowed but discouragedWomen not allowed

Lower wages.

American Federation of Labor

“Bread & Butter” unionism.Focus on wages, work hours, and working conditionsPolitical activity, education, strikes, boycotts and collective bargaining

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS of THE WORLD

WOBBLIESFormed in Chicago in 1905. Lead by socialists and radicalsFocused on unskilled workers

GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1877

Began over wage cuts and increased work.Railroad workers went on strike and rioted. President Rutherford B. Hayes sent in troops to protect railroad property.Eugene V. Debs established American Railway Union. Lesson – Federal government would act on the behalf of business over labor and use the military against labor.

HAYMARKET MASSACRE1886“Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.” Labor demonstration at Haymarket Square in Chicago. Anarchists involvedBomb thrown into crowd killing a police officer and igniting a riot. Gunfire. Dozen killed.

HAYMARKET MASSACRE 1886

Knights of Labor blamed. Effectively ends that union.Lesson- Public believes unions are dangerous and

violent.

HOMESTEAD STRIKE 1892

Steel workers went on strike when Henry Frick decided to cut workers wages at Carnegie Steel. Called in Pinkerton detectives against strikers.Battle of Homestead fought between Pinkertons and the strikers. Attempted murder of Frick by an anarchist was blamed on the strikers. Public opinion turned against unionLessons – public belief that unions were dangerous, violent and unAmerican.

PULLMAN STRIKE 1894

George PullmanPullman CompanyRailroad carsPullman, IllinoisPullman workers paid in company moneyCut wages to his workersRaised rent

PULLMAN STRIKEWorkers protested, Pullman refused to negotiate. Debs and A.R.U. supported. Refused to work on trains that had Pullman carsMore than 260,000 railroad workers joined strikeRailroad owners asked for federal court to intervene.Court ordered strike illegal because it interfered with free tradePresident Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops to enforce court orderLesson – Federal government side with business over labor.

AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY

The SOCIAL DEMOCRAC

Y OF AMERICA

Eugene V. Debs

Labor – “Hopelessly Bound To The Stake”