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Labor Unions & Strikes t.s. – Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions

Labor Unions & Strikes t.s. – Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions. OBJECTIVES: Be able to differentiate amongst the significant unions of the time period Be able to cite chronology and significance of the most important labor conflicts of the era

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Labor Unions & Strikes t.s. – Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions

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  1. Labor Unions & Strikes t.s. – Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions OBJECTIVES: • Be able to differentiate amongst the significant unions of the time period • Be able to cite chronology and significance of the most important labor conflicts of the era • Understanding of the factors that led to labor organization and strikes, and the implications for US history even to this day

  2. Labor vs. Management

  3. Labor and Industry • 14th amendment due process is interpreted as protecting corporations as a person • Implications?

  4. National Labor Union (NLU) • William Sylvis • Goals: 8 hr day, banking reform, end of convict labor, restrict immigration • pro women • pro African American (in separate groups) • fades quickly by 1870 >1st large scale union movement in US<

  5. Great RR Strike of 1877 • B & O Railroad; spreads throughout East and Midwest • 2/3 of nations RRs idle • President Hayes uses Federal Troops tobreak the strike >>>Middle class concern of corporate abuse turns towards fear of mob violence<<<

  6. Great Railroad Strike 1877

  7. Knights of Labor • Founded 1869; led by Terrence Powderly • a union for nearly ALL workers • goals: end child labor, graduated income tax, cooperative ownership of production, immigration restrictions (ban Chinese) • equal pay for women (10 % K of L) • >new sense of labor’s possibilities<

  8. Haymarket Riot, 1886 • Police kill strikers at McCormick Harvester plant • A bomb kills seven policemen at a labor rally the next day • Police shoot and kill four demonstrators • Four labor leaders executed as a result • leads to split between K of L and AFL >Increasing middle class fear of mob; Unions perceived as “radical anarchists”<

  9. American Federation of Labor (AFL) • Formed in 1886 after Haymarket Riot; • Did not want to be associated with “radicals” • Samuel Gompers • skilled workers ONLY • “bread and butter” unionism focused on practical (not idealized) goals • 8 hr day, safety laws, higher wages • 1.6 million by 1904; most successful

  10. American Railway Union • Eugene V. Debs • ran for President 5 times • jailed several times for encouraging anti-government actions • All for one, one for all ideology • radical socialism as goal • workers control the means of production PULLMAN STRIKE (1894)

  11. Pullman Strike, 1894 • Factory (company) town of Pullman, Ill. • Worker wages cut; rent not reduced • workers join ARU; strike • rail traffic halted as workers refuse to move Pullman Palace cars down the line • Pres. Cleveland calls Federal troops to ensure “mail delivery” >labor increasingly associated with violence, radicalism, anarchy<

  12. Homestead Steel Strike, 1892 • Carnegie & Frick seek to crush the union • Frick locks workers out, calls in Pinkertonguards • Both Pinkertons and strikers killed • Carnegie, remorseful, builds a library (Thanks!) >>>The plant reopens with cheaper labor, yellow dog contracts, blacklists<<<

  13. Women in the Union Movement • 1910: Women = 21% of labor force • Mary “Mother” Jones organized miner’s wives when strikes occurred • Pauline Newman and Ladies Garment Workers Union • 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

  14. Shortcomings of Labor Movement • Splits between Labor factions: • Skilled vs. Unskilled labor • racial animosity • Gender and ethnic tensions (huge # of immigrants) • tactical differences – to strike or not to strike? >>Never more than 5 % of entire workforce<< -Perceptions of organized labor as radical taint union efforts and effectiveness

  15. Philosophies of the Workers Edward Bellamy - Looking Backward visions of a future utopian Karl Marx - Das Kapital, Communist Manifesto proletariat (workers) vs. bourgeoisie (capitalists) classless utopian socialism “to each according to his needs” Govt. reg. /control of economy

  16. Concluding Discussion 1. Why did workers feel compelled to form unions during the nineteenth century? Why not earlier? 2. How “American” are unions? • What American values do they challenge? • Do they violate the American belief in individuality? • What American values do they represent? • Are unions just trying to bring Americans democratic philosophies into the workplace? • Or are they based on a collectivist idea that is foreign to American ways of thinking? 3.To what extent are labor and working conditions still major issues in America today?

  17. THE END

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