Upload
kathleen-richardson
View
224
Download
4
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
THE C
ONDITIO
NS OF
LABOR
AN
D T
HE
RI S
E O
F LA
BO
R U
NI O
NS
The most important factor behind America’s astonishing economic growth in the late
19th century was the increasing exploitation of its
industrial workers.
LONG HOURS & LOW WAGES
• 10 – 14 hour days• 6 day weeks• $3 - $12 weekly• Immigrants often worked for far less•Women and children were paid less than men
POOR CONDITIONS & BORING, REPETITIVE TASKS
• Jobs were offered on a “take it” or “leave it” basis
• Work became less skilled, more repetitive, monotonous, and boring
• Machinery safeguards were inadequate•Thousands injured or killed each year
CHILD LABOR
• Children were often exposed to the moving parts of machines while they worked
• Would be used to move, clean, or fix large machines since they were small enough to fit between parts
• 1/5 of all children under age 15 worked outside the home in 1910•Missed the opportunity to go to school in order to improve their lives
LACK OF JOB SECURITY
• Could be fired at any time for any reason•No unemployment insurance•No workman’s compensation for injuries on the job•No paid sick days
HOMESTEAD STRIKE
• 1892
• Andrew Carnegie’s steel mill in Homestead
• Managed by Henry Clay Frick• Cut wages by 20%•Workers decided to strike• Frick locked them out of the factory• Had the Pinkerton Detective Agency bring in replacements called “strikebreakers”
• A fight broke out lasting 14 hours• Several deaths• Dozens of injuries
• Governor sent militia in to protect strikebreakers
• The strike collapsed 4 months later.
WORKERS SEEK A VOICE – RISE OF UNIONS• Knights of Labor – 1869• Demanded an 8 hour work day, higher wages, safety codes in factories• Opposed child labor• Supported equal pay for women and restrictions on immigration• Led by Terrance Powderly• Grew in the 1880’s • Too loosely organized• Lost a series of major strikes• Fell apart
• American Federation of Labor – 1881• Samuel Gompers• Consisted of separate unions of skilled workers which joined together
into a federation.• Goals: economic improvements, higher pay, 8 hour day, better working
conditions• Weakened by its exclusion of unskilled workers
• By 1910, less than 5% of workers were unionized
HAYMARKET AFFAIR OF 1886
• The general public saw unions as violent and dangerous because of events like the Haymarket Affair of 1886
• Labor leaders were blamed when a bomb exploded during a demonstration of striking workers at Haymarket Square in Chicago•7 officers were killed•67 others were injured