Labor Unions & Strikes

First trade unions in the U.S. organized in the late 18th century

Women started organizing in the 1820s. Unions did not become significant until after

the Civil War

Early Unions

In 1834-36 women worked 16-17 hours a day to earn $1.25-$2 a week.

A girl weaver in a non-union mill would get $4.20/wk versus $12/wk in a union mill.

Workers had to buy their own needles and thread and were fined for being a few minutes late to work

Pulmonary ailments were common due to dust accumulation on the floors and tables.

Women

1842 – Commonwealth v. Hunt

Before this labor unions that attempted to “close” or create a unionized workplace could be charged with conspiracy

The Supreme Court ruled that unions were not necessarily criminal or conspiring organizations if they did not advocate violence or illegal activities

Legalized the existence of trade organizations Right to establish “closed shops” = have to belong

the union to work there

An agreement between an employer and an employee in which the employee agrees, as a condition of employment, not be a member of a labor union

Were widely used by employers to prevent the formation of unions by permitting employers to take legal action against union organizers

Outlawed in 1932 by the Norris-LaGuardia Act

Yellow-Dog Contracts

Dissolved in 1873 Paved the way for other labor unions Drew support from construction workers and

skilled employees Campaigned for the exclusion of Chinese

workers from the U.S. and did little to defend the rights of women and blacks

The depression of the 1870s drove down union membership

1866 – National Labor Union

After 1870, union organizations started By 1901, 17 major railway unions

(brotherhoods) were in operation Their main goals was building insurance and

medical packages for their members and negotiating work rules like seniority and grievance procedures

They were successful in securing the passage of the Adamson Act, a federal law that provided 10 hours pay for an 8 hour day.

Railroad Unions

Terrorists or working class heroes? Molly Maguire was, supposedly, the leader of

riots in Ireland against English landowners during the 1840s and 1850s

Irish coal miners brought the organization with them when they came to work in the coal mines of PA

Working conditions were awful, safety regulations were non-existent or neglected

Molly Maguires

20 executed between 1877 and 1879 Evidence provided by James McParland, a Pinkerton

detective who infiltrated them During the Civil War, Irish immigrant miners killed a

number of coal mine supervisors who attempted to draft them into the Union Army

It is not known whether the murderers were members of the Molly Maguires

The Pinkerton Agency used the publicity to attract clients

Civil Rights: A private corporation initiated the investigation using a private detective agency; a private police force arrested the men and coal company attorneys prosecuted them. The state only provided the courtroom and carried out the execution

Molly Maguires

The country’s first major rail strike The strikes and violence briefly paralyzed trade Governors in 10 states mobilized state militia and

National Guard troops to reopen rail traffic Violent confrontations took place including in

Philadelphia where troops fired on a crowd – killing 20 civilians, including women and at least 3 children

The strike was broken within a few weeks Many native-born Americans blame the violence on

foreign agitators

1877 – Great Railroad Strike

1885 – Knights of Labor led railroad workers to victory against Jay Gould and his entire Southwestern Railway system.

1886 – coordinate 1400 strikes involving over 600,000 workers spread over the country (double the numbers from the year before)

Some were peaceful and some were violent Demands were usually focused on the 8 hour day

Knights of Labor

First effective labor organization on a national level

The acceptance of all groups led to an explosion of membership after 1880

They hoped to make gains through political or cooperative ventures rather than through strikes and boycotts

Successful in developing a working class culture, involving sports, leisure activities and educational projects for their members

1869 – Knights of Labor

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Building trades workers and Polish laborers were

striking against their employers demanding an 8 hour day. Workers were camping in a nearby field.

Gov. Jeremiah Rusk ordered the National Guard to “shoot to kill” any strikers who attempted to enter the Milwaukee mill

The next day a crowd of people, including children approached the mill and were fired upon.

7 people died, including a 13 year old boy and several more were injured

1886 – Bay View Tragedy

Strikers rally against the McCormick plant A team of political anarchists, who were not Knights

of Labor, tried to join in support A bomb exploded as police were dispersing the

peaceful rally, killing 7 policemen and wounding others

The anarchists were blamed and their spectacular trial gained national attention

The reputation of the Knights of Labor was tarnished by the false accusation that they promoted anarchism and violence. Many members left and joined other unions that were considered more respectable

1886 – Haymarket Square Riot

A federation of different unions, did not directly enroll workers

Skilled workers – no unskilled, no women, no African-Americans

Thought women threatened the jobs of men since they worked for lower wages

Goals: prohibit child labor, 8 hour day, exclusion of foreign contract workers

Grew steadily as the KOL all but disappeared

1881 - American Federation of Labor

Led by Eugene Debs Unionized all railway workers

regardless of craft or service Organized a number of strikes

but only the first was successful

1893 – American Railway Union

Pullman Railroad Cars – Made luxury sleeping cars

During depression of 1890s the company cut wages

Company town – rent and product prices remained the same

Discontented workers joined the American Railway Union

The entire union went on strike to support the Pullman workers

Within 4 days, 125,000 workers on 29 railroads were refusing to work

1894 – Pullman Strike

A federal court issued an injunction - an order to go back to work

Based on the Sherman Anti-Trust Act – prohibited “every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states”

Debs and the union leaders ignored the injunction Strike was broken when U.S. Marshals and 2,000 Army troops

were sent in by President Cleveland on the premise that the strike interfered with the delivery of the U.S. Mail.

By the end, 13 strikers were killed, 57 wounded. An estimated $340,000 worth of property damage and Debs went to prison for 6 months for violating the federal court order

The ARU disintegrated

Pullman Strike

Left school at age 14 and went to work for railroad Worked his way up to being a railroad fireman Became active in labor movement Read Karl Marx while in jail for Pullman Strike 1897 – co-founded the Social Democratic Party Presidential candidate in 1900 1901 – the SDP merged with the Socialist Party of

America 1904, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920 – presidential

candidate for the SPA

Eugene Debs

“While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free”

“It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and to get it”

“The most heroic word in all languages is revolution”

“…those who work the hardest, and at the most difficult and menial tasks, have the least”

Debs’ Quotes

Between 1901 and 1912 membership grew from 13,000 to 118, 000

Its journal Appeal to Reason was selling 500,00 copies a week

Prominent members: Bill Haywood, Margaret Sanger, Helen Keller, Upton Sinclair, A. Philip Randolph, W.E.B. DuBois, Claude McKay, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Mary “Mother” Jones

Socialist Party

Henry Clay Frick and a group of wealthy businessmen purchase an abandoned reservoir and modify it into a private resort lake

The dam was lowered and widened to allow a road across the top. A fish screen was put across the spillway to retain fish for fishermen. These actions weakened the dam.

Over 50 wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists belonged to the club

The dam showed many signs of weakness prior to its ultimate failure but these were ignored by the industrialists who did not want to pay for costly repairs

Johnstown Flood

May 31, 1889 after a large rainstorm men noticed the dam was failing and worked to stop it and officials didn’t believe the warnings because there had been too many false alarms before

When it was over, several towns had been wiped out 2,209 were dead including 95 entire families, 396 children – 98

children lost both parents and 1 in every 3 bodies found were never identified

1,600 homes were destroyed and $17 million in property damage meant clean-up continued for years

The club was never held legally responsible in the trials that followed. The flood was ruled an “act of God” and survivors got no compensation

Club members contributed little to the relief efforts but Andrew Carnegie did build a library in Johnstown

Johnstown Flood

Henry Clay Frick, Superintendent of Carnegie Steel proposed to cut workers’ wages

Contract talks with the union broke down Frick shut the mill, installed 3 miles of wooden fence

topped with barbed wire around the mill and hired 300 guards from the Pinkerton Detective Agency

Guards were confronted by hundreds of workers and townsfolk. A gun battle broke out and 7

workers and 3 Pinkertons were killed. Within days 8,500 National Guard troops took control of the plant

1892 – Homestead Strike

Public opinion turned against the steel workers’ union when Frick was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt.

By November 1892, the union was broken and the mill re-opened as a non-union plant using African- American and eastern European workers

Union leaders were blacklisted from the steel industry for life

The steel mills went from an 8 hour day to a 12 hour day, 6 days a week with a 24 hours shift followed by a day off, every two weeks.

The steel industry did not unionize again for 44 years

Homestead Strike

Active in the union movement – travelled the country making speeches Upset with the use of Pinkertons and the death of strikers in

Homestead, PA, Berkman decided to kill Henry Frick Berkman shot Frick three times and stabbed him twice but Frick

survived the attack Berkman was sent to prison Goldman was imprisoned a year later for urging the unemployed to

steal food they needed After her release, Goldman campaigned for women’s suffrage and birth

control information Berkman was sent back to jail during WWI for violating the Espionage

Act for publishing material against the war On the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, 10,000 suspected

communists and anarchists were arrested in the U.S. The majority were released but Goldman, Berkman and 245 others were deported to Russia

Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman – American Anarchists

Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman

Founded in 1890 Goals – mine safety,

independence from company towns and collective bargaining

Won 8 hour day in 1898 Associated with a number of

violent clashes with authorities Lattimer Massacre 1897 – 19

miners killed by police in PA during a march to support unions

Sixteen Tons

United Mine Workers

President Theodore Roosevelt favored a compromise solution and the nation was facing a coal shortage heading into the winter

The strike ended after 163 days and a commission set up by TR held hearings for 3 months hearing from all sides

The miners got a 10% raise rather than 20% and a 9 hour day rather than an 8 hour day and a panel was set up to settle future disputes

Lawyer for the mine managers - “These men don’t suffer. Why, hell, half of them don’t even speak English.”

1902 – Anthracite Coal Strike

Born in Ireland, moved to Canada as a teen and then to Michigan, teacher & dressmaker

Lost her husband and all 4 children to yellow fever and her workshop was destroyed in a fire

She began a career as a labor organizer for the Knights of Labor and then the United Mine Workers

Very effective speaker Called “the most dangerous woman in America” for

her success in organizing mine workers against mine owners

Mary “Mother” Jones“Pray for the dead and

fight like hell for the living”

Organized by Mary “Mother” Jones Protesting lax enforcement of child labor laws Marched from Philadelphia to the home of

President Theodore Roosevelt in New York Carried banners that said “We want to go to

school and not the mines!” Showed children missing fingers and other

disabilities caused by work to newspapers to draw attention to her cause

1903 - Children’s Strike

43 groups opposed to the AFL formed a radical labor organization

Goal – promote worker solidarity in the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the employing class

Led by William “Big Bill” Haywood – charged with murdering the governor of Idaho & defended by Clarence Darrow. Despite a Pinkerton detective getting a coerced statement blaming Haywood, there was no evidence he or the union was involved.

Popular with immigrants

1905 – Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

One Big Union – Workers of the

World Unite

Split in two in 1908 One group headed by Eugene Debs advocated

political action The other headed by William Haywood advocated

strikes, boycotts and even sabotage Leaders of the IWW were attacked, lynched,

framed for crimes for their union activities and imprisoned for opposing World War I

Bill Haywood fled to the Soviet Union Because of the attacks and the loss of their

strongest leader, the union membership declined dramatically during the 1920s.

IWW (The “Wobblies”)

About 1/5th the workers – mostly women – working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory walked off their jobs

The owners locked them out and hired prostitutes to replace the strikers

The strike spread to other garment industry shops in Manhattan and came to be called the “Uprising of Twenty Thousand” – estimated that 40,000 participated by the end

The strike lasted 14 weeks and workers from other shops won concessions on wages and working conditions but the managers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory refused to sign the agreement

1909 – NY Shirtwaist Strike

Saturday, March 25, a fire broke out in the Triangle Factory located on the top 3 floors of a 10 story building

Fueled by combustible garments, cloth & dust it spread quickly

500 workers were there that day – mostly immigrant women, some as young as 12 and mostly from Russia, Italy, Germany or Hungary

Although a few escaped, most were trapped by the flames and the locked doors

More than 60 chose to jump rather than die in the flames and 24 died when a fire escape collapsed under the weight of the women on it

146 people died and thousands watched as women flung themselves from the windows of the burning building

1911 – Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Video

Textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts – 25,000 workers

Slogan appeals to both fair wages and dignified conditions

Workers won pay increases and time and a quarter pay for overtime and the promise of no discrimination against the strikers

1912 – Bread & Roses Strike

An attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 12,000 striking coal miners and their families

19-25 people died including at least 2 women and 11 children who were asphyxiated and burned to death in a single tent.

The leader of the strike and two other miners were found - shot in the back

Congress responded to the public outcry by launching an investigation

Big Bad John

1914 – Ludlow Massacre

Union organizer and IWW activist Convicted of murder in a Utah court International campaign to have his conviction

reversed – the daughter of a former Mormon church president, Samuel Gompers, President Woodrow Wilson

Executed by firing squad – according to a member of the firing squad, Hill gave the command “Fire” himself

“Goodbye Bill, I die a true rebel. Don’t waste time mourning, organize!”

Became bigger in death than in life

1915 – Joe Hill – IWW martyr

1919 – Boston Police Strike

1919 – Steel Strike

1919 - Deportations