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Reforming the Industrial Order. Chap 9 Sec 2 Notes. Reforming the workplace. 1900 the Avg. laborer worked 10hrs/day 6 days/week for $1.50/day women and children were paid less. Female and Child Labor. 1900--½ of women in jobs as factory workers, store clerks etc. earned $6 or less per week - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Reforming the Industrial Order
Chap 9 Sec 2 Notes
Reforming the workplace
• 1900 the Avg. laborer worked 10hrs/day 6 days/week for $1.50/day women and children were paid less
Female and Child Labor
• 1900--½ of women in jobs as factory workers, store clerks etc. earned $6 or less per week– Barely enough to survive
• Significant barriers when try to increase wages – Piece workers penalized for working too fast
• “Outrage for a girl too earn $25 a week”• would be fired if you protest
• John Spargo “The Bitter Cry of Children “ in 1906 charged textile industry with enslavement of children
• Few children had attended school or could read
• Child worked or family starved
Labor Laws
• Prohibit or limit child labor and improve conditions for female workers
• Florence Kelley persuade Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and limit number of hours women could work – More than 2 million children worked in
factories in 1910 – Girls working 16 hours in canning
factories
• Prohibit or limit child labor and improve conditions for female workers
• Florence Kelley persuade Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and limit number of hours women could work – More than 2 million children worked in factories in
1910 – Girls working 16 hours in canning factories
• George Creel Children in Bondage 1913 describes problem of child labor – Also campaigned for laws to force
factories to limit hours employers demanded
• 1903 Florence Kelley helped pass a law in Oregon limiting laundry workers to 10 hour days – Utah already had laws limiting workdays to
8 hours in certain jobs
• Fought for higher wage – 30 million men 7.5 million women employed in
1910 1/3 lived in poverty – Catholic monsignor John Ryan called for
establishment of minimum wage in 1910 level to approximate normal standard of living
– Massachusetts passes first minimum wage law in 1912-set wages for women and children
– 1938 Federal government passes minimum wage law
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
• March 25,1911 Saturday – 500 employees mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant
women – Finishing shift- fire starts in rag bin – 8th floor of 10 story building a blaze – Escape impossible
• 2 stairways- fire doors locked owners afraid girls would steal fabric
• Elevator shaft jams – 60 workers jump to deaths to escape fire
• 143 die in fire • Popular outrage forces lawmakers to pass
laws to help workers – NY City enacted strictest fire safety code in U.S.
Progressivism and Supreme Court
• Business fought back through courts • 14th amendment prohibits states from
depriving “any person of life, liberty or property w/o due process of law” – Owners claimed regulatory laws deprived them of
property – Supreme Court sided w/business owners and
declared early laws unconstitutional – Court also ruled some legislation violated freedom
of contract
• 1905 Lochner vs. New York—overturned law limiting bakers to 10 hour work days – Workers should be free to negotiate and accept
any conditions of employment • Muller vs. Oregon (1908)
– Supreme Court upheld law limiting hours in laundries
• Louis Brandeis argued for keeping law- “Brandeis Brief”-format for defense of social legislation
Labor Unions
• Fought for closed shops- must belong to a union– Most favored “working within system” – Wanted changes but w/o replacing
capitalism • Some favored socialism- government
ownership of factories, utilities, transportation and communication
AFL• American Federation of Labor
– Samuel Gompers leader • AFL grew 4 fold from 1900 to 1914
– Excluded unskilled workers – Mostly eastern European and African American
workers excluded • Belief that skilled workers had greatest
potential to cause change • By 1902 only 3% of African Americans were
union members
ILGWU• International Ladies Garment Workers Union • Established in 1900 in N.Y. City
– Unionize workers in sewing shops • 1909 workers in 3 shops walked off job wanted
ILGWU to call General strike • Nov 1909 “Uprising of 20,000”
– Workers walked off job and demanded recognition of ILGWU as union
– Strike lasted throughout winter – Got assistance from Women’s Trade Union League – Owners brought in African Americans to replace workers-
some joined strike
• Results mixed – Got wage increase – Got reduced working hours – However owners refused to
recognize union • Membership grew from 400 to
65,000
IWW
• Industrial Workers of the World – “Wobblies” opposed capitalism – Led by “Big Bill” Haywood
• Denounced AFL cooperation w/business owners and failure to include unskilled workers – Enlisted African -Americans,
Asians and Hispanics
• Successes
– Philadelphia raised wages from $1.25/day to $4/day
– Pursued goals through boycotts, general strikes and sabotage
– 1912 led strike of 10,000 textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts
• Failures – several strikes failed – Many Americans grew weary of IWW
tactics – Government cracked down on union