Workers’ Discontent and Progressive Era pressure

1. Workers’ Discontent and Progressive Era pressure • The problems of inequalities in the Gilded Age, led to widespread discontent among workers nationwide. Also, a depression in 1893 had made social problems more acute. • Depression- a slowdown in economic activity resulting in high number of unemployment and business failures.

2. What are some things workers do when they are unhappy with their situation on the job? BRAINSTORM.

3. What are some things workers do when they are unhappy with their situation? • Bargain— to negotiate for improvements.

4. What are some things workers do when they are unhappy with their situation? • Unionize— to form an association of laborers in a particular trade, industry, or plant, with the goal of obtaining improvements in pay, benefits, working conditions, and social and political status.

5. What are some things workers do when they are unhappy with their situation? • Strike— collective refusal by employees to work under the conditions required by employers.

6. Strikes in the Gilded Age & Progressive Era • McCormick Harvester Works strike, Chicago, 1886- striker killed by police; led to Haymarket Square Riot, a clash between revolutionary socialists gathered to protest the killing and police. • Railroad and steel strikes in Idaho, New York, and Tennessee, 1892 • Homestead Steelworkers strike, PA, 1892 • Pullman railroad strike, IL, 1894 • Coalminers’ strikes, West Virginia, 1905 • Shirtwaist strike 1909-1910- over 20,000 workers in the garment industry; known as the “Uprising of Twenty Thousand.” • Watch video clip. • Read “The Great Railroad Strike” by Mary Harris Jones (aka Mother Jones) • Railroad strike of 1877

7. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire • In general, the American public had been unsympathetic to the complaints of workers until the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911. • Watch video clip. • Read excerpt in “Horrors in the Workplace.”

8. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire • What is your reaction to the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? • What could have been done to prevent the fire? • Why was there so much public outrage? • If you’d had a relative who was a victim in the fire, what are some things you might have done to rectify the situation? • What kinds of incidents have sparked public outrage in recent years? What kinds of reforms/improvements have been made as a result of that outrage?

9. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire • Outcomes • New York and other states enacted building safety codes. • Legislation to provide compensation for injured workers. • Death pensions to families of workers killed on the job.

10. Modern Day Examples? • What are some more recent events in which the victims and their families may have benefitted from some of these Progressive Era reforms?

11. Modern Day Examples? • BP Oil Spill • April 2010 explosion and sinking of Deep Water Horizon oil rig, killed 11 and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days • Record $4.25 billion paid out to victims’ families and to rectify environmental impact

12. Modern Day Examples? • Upper Big Branch Coal Mine, WV • April 2010 explosion, 29/31 miners killed • Massey Energy and the Mine Safety Health Administration help responsible for knowingly ignoring “flagrant safety violations.” • $209 million paid out to survivors and families of deceased

13. “Analyze the moral responsibilities that accompany economic power, both for individuals and for government." Based on all the documents that we have examined in this unit so far, write a thesis statement for this essay prompt.  (Documents include "Addressing Inequality in Education," "Robber Barons and Rebels,” “History of Standard Oil,” “Great Railroad Strike,” “Horrors in the Workplace,” Fast Food Nation, Nativist station documents)