THE EMERGENCE OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA & LABOR’S RESPONSE

(CONTINUED)

I. Labor Unions Emerge—Why?A. Unsafe working conditions and exploitation

caused workers to join together to bring about change in industry

B. Example: Factories 1. Seven day workweek

2. 12+ hours a day 3. Not entitled to vacation, sick leave, unemployment compensation or reimburse- ment for injuries 4. dangerous equipment caused many injuries and deaths 5. Low wages meant the whole family had to work (some children as young as 5)

a. Men could earn $498 a year b. Carnegie made $23 million (1899)

II. The Knights of LaborA. Organized by Uriah

Stevens in 1869 B. “An injury to one, is a concern of all.” C. Open to all workers D. Supported an eight hour workday and “equal pay for equal work” E. Used strikes as a last resort

Uriah Stevens

III. American Federation of Labor A. Craft Union— membership was limited to workers trained in specific skill B. First president was Samuel Gompers C. Focused on Collective Bargaining (negotiation between labor and management) D. Strikes were a major tactic to win higher wages and shorter work weeks

IV. Industrial Unionism A. Concept of accepting ALL workers (skilled and unskilled) into the union B. Eugene V. Debs 1. Formed American Railway Union (ARU) 2. Advocated Socialism 3. Organized the Pullman Strike a. Pullman train car company laid off 3,000 employees and cut the wages of the rest without lowing cost of housing b. Refused to negotiate with workers c. ARU began boycotting Pullman trains d. Strike turned violent when the company brought in strikebreakers

Debs

V. Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)A. Socialist Union formed in Chicago

B. Known as the “Wobblies” C. Headed by Big Bill Haywood D. Welcomed African-Americans E. Included unskilled laborers

VI. Strikes A. The Haymarket Riot (1877) 1. 3,000 people gathered in Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest police brutality (a striker had been killed in the McCormick plant the day before) 2. Someone tossed a bomb in the police line and the police fired into the crowd of workers 3. Chaos irrupted leaving several police and workers dead 4. No one knows who was a fault 5. As a result, the public began to turn against the labor movement

B. The Homestead Strike (June 1892) 1. Carnegie Steel Company’s plant in Pennsylvania 2. Company was to cut wages and hired Pinkerton Detectives to protect the plant so that strikebreakers could be hired 3. The steel workers had a stand off with the detectives and controlled the plant until the Pennsylvania National Guard arrived 4. Eventually the Union gave up the strike in Nov.

VI. Women and Labor A. Mary Harris Jones (“Mother Jones”) 1. Organized for the United Mine Workers 2. Exposed the harshness of child labor and helped to get laws passed B. Pauline Newman 1. First organizer of the Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union 2. Led seamstresses in a strike that produced improved conditions for some workers

Mother Jones