Chapter 18 Unionism, Political Reforms, and Populism

1. Chapter 18Unionism, Political Reforms, and Populism

2. The Changing American Labor Force

3. WHY DID UNIONS BEGIN? • Unfair wages • Long hours • Dangerous working conditions • Discrimination • Women • Children • Immigrants • African Americans

4. Labor Unions • Organized because of long hours and dangerous working conditions. • Over 12 hour days, 6 days a week. • Women and child labor were common • Women & kids were cheap labor. • Skilled workers formed unions. • Wanted 8 hour work days and fair wages.

5. “Idleness Theory” Children must work because otherwise they will get into trouble. Many Americans Agreed with this.

6. Factory Work • The Workday: • Most sates required a maximum 10 hour workday, but this was not enforced (most worked 12 hours per day, 6 days per week) • Some had a system of “piecework” in which those who worked the fastest and produced the most, made more money • This work was done in “sweatshops” (long hours, low pay)

7. Pullman Company Rail Road Company Town- they pay for you to come live there and have a job. You are paid only in their money and you can only shop in the Company Shop. NO WAY OUT!

8. LABOR UNIONS EMERGE • As conditions for laborers worsened, workers realized they needed to organize • The first large-scale national organization of workers was the National Labor Union in 1866

9. The Great Strike of 1877 • B & O R.R. workers protested wage cuts. • Stopped over 50,000 miles of traveling in one week. • President Rutherford B. Hayes sent federal troops to break up the strike.

10. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

11. EMPLOYERS FIGHT UNIONS • The more powerful the unions became, the more employers came to fear them • Employers often forbade union meetings and refused to recognize unions • Employers forced new workers to sign “Yellow Dog Contracts,” swearing that they would never join a union (illegal today) • Despite those efforts, the AFL had over 2 million members by 1914

12. A Striker Confronts a SCAB!

13. The Corporate “Bully-Boys”: PinkertonAgents

14. Organized in 1869 by Uriah Stephens Originally a “Secret Society” Organization of INDIVIDUALS rather than Unions Membership open to ALL Knights of Labor Knights of Labor trade card

15. Goals of the Knights of Labor -Eight-hour workday. -Worker-owned factories. -Opposed child and prison labor. -Safety codes in the workplace. -Equal pay for equal work -men and women. -Did not favor strikes but favored ARBITRATION= settlement by a 3rd party

16. Knights of Labor Terence V. Powderly An injury to one is the concern of all!

17. Powderly was an ENERGETIC organizer and Orator He dropped the veil of Secrecy and made them Public Successful due to a series of strikes against Jay Gould’s railroads Mid 1890’s they became extinct due to: a. HAYMARKET AFFAIR b. Rise of the AFL

18. Haymarket Riot (1886) McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

19. The Haymarket Affair • May 4, 1886- Haymarket square in Chicago • 1,200 people gathered to hear 3 RADICAL union speakers who were protesting police brutality on May 3, 1886 • Crowd member tossed a bomb at the cops. • Police shot into the crowd, over 10 people, including 7 cops died. • 8 men were convicted, 4 were hanged and there was NO PROOF that 5 of the 8 were actually at the square. • Public opinion swings sharply against Knights of Labor because they were the leading union involved in the strike.

20. Haymarket Martyrs

21. The American Federation of Labor: 1886 Samuel Gompers

22. American Federation of Labor • AFL- Union for trade and craft workers- Skilled/Specialized workers • Won higher wages and shorter hours. • Samuel Gompers created it 1886-1924 • Women and blacks excluded • Believed in Collective Bargaining-negotiations • Used strikes as main tactic to battle bosses. • Lost significance due to industrial unionism by Eugene V. Debs • Pushed for closed shops.

23. American Railway Union • Eugene V. Debs created the ARU. • Knights of Labor accepted all races, genders and skills and used strikes as a last resort.

24. Industrial Workers of the World IWW(“Wobblies”) PROMOTIONAL POSTER FOR THE IWW

25. Most organizing took place out west Most members were Miners, Lumbermen and Cannery & Dock Workers Included both women and blacks Proved that unskilled workers could be organized! “Big Bill” Haywood of theIWW • Violence was justified to overthrow capitalism.

26. The Hand That Will Rule the World One Big Union

27. SOCIALISM AND THE IWW • Some unionists (including Debs) turned to SOCIALISM – an economic and political system based on government control of business and property and an equal distribution of wealth among all citizens

28. Big Corporate Profits!

29. Labor Union Membership

30. Child Labor

31. Child Labor

32. WOMEN ORGANIZE • Nicknamed Mother Jones • Mary Harris Jones organized the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) and crusaded for child labor laws. • Her walk to NY drew attention to the children a& a yr. later a law was passed prohibiting children under the age of 14 from working!

33. Pauline Newman • organized the International Ladies Garment Workers Union at the age of 16 • Raised money to strike against a 59 hour workweek! • Successful and now had a 52 hour workweek

34. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire • NYC----March 25,1911. • Fire went through the machines and clothing fast. 146 women died due to no sprinkler system and locked doors! • 2 owners tried for manslaughter but were acquitted! (found not guilty) • The jurors regarded it as an act of god • The public disagreed • eventually fires safety codes would be enacted

35. Government Supports Management Despite all the victories of unions, many found it hard to make much progress The government would send in troops if business owners could prove interference with the public good INJUNCTION: court order prohibiting all strike activity against rail roads

36. Management vs. Labor “Tools” of Labor “Tools” of Management • boycotts • sympathy demonstrations • informational picketing • closed shops • organized strikes • “wildcat” strikes • “scabs” • P. R. campaign • Pinkertons • lockout • blacklisting • yellow-dog contracts • court injunctions • open shop

37. Section 2: Demands for Political Reforms Grow “Gilded Age” 1870-1896 outwardly showy but inwardly corrupt culture of the era of industrialization Mark Twain named period “Gilded Age” Mark Twain

38. CIVIL SERVICE REPLACES PATRONAGE • SPOILS SYSTEM: The giving of government jobs to people who had helped a candidate get elected. === PATRONAGE • Reformers wanted civil service: • MERIT SYSTEM: Government jobs should go to the most qualified people. “Today”

39. President Hayes & Garfield promote the Merit System • James A. Garfield: Ohio congressman who ran for President and won. “assassinated”--shot two times and killed by An insane man he turned down for a job. • (spoils system worker)

40. V.P. Chester Arthur Succeeds to the Presidency and turns into a Merit System supporter Passes the PENDLETON ACT 1883 Provides open competitive exams= Merit System The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 authorized a bipartisan commission to make appointments for federal jobs based on performance End of the “SPOILS SYSTEM

41. B. Patronage vs. C. Civil Service Results of Pendleton Act and Civil Service Reforms **85% of all federal jobs today are based on the Merit System Politicians lose patronage but have to find other ways to pay for campaigns-- found in wealthy business owners during the Gilded Age and through the 1920’s. The Alliance between the Federal Government and BIG BUSINESS is STRONGER THAN EVER!!!

42. TARIFFS • Taxes on Foreign Goods • During the Civil War, tariffs are high • Grover Cleveland: Tried to lower tariff rates, but Congress would not let him. • Laissez Faire- limited government interference in business • President Grover Cleveland:

43. New Business Culture Laissez Fairethe ideology of the Industrial Age. • Individual as a moral and economic ideal. • Individuals should compete freely in the marketplace. • The market was not man-made or invented. • No room for government in the market!

44. Presidents and Taxes • In the election of 1888, Cleveland ran against Benjamin Harrison. • Cleveland won the popular vote not the Electoral College vote • Harrison: Raised tariffs/taxes again • McKinley Tariff- 1890 raised tariffs on foreign manufactured goods- raised cost of U.S. goods

45. Cleveland: Only President to serve 2 terms not consecutively. Fails again at reducing tariffs 

46. Woman’s Suffrage= VOTING • Women object and fight to get right to vote they are delayed due to the 15th amendment • 15th gave all MEN the right to vote Susan B. Anthony (1872) registers to vote. She votes- arrested and fined $100 for voting illegally

47. Woman’s Suffrage= VOTING • The only states that allowed women to vote were: • WY, UT, CO and ID

48. 1878 Anthony Amendment went to the Senate committee, committee did not recommend passage. • Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke here 19th Amendment (1920) Women right to vote Click picture for video

49. Section 3: Farmers Begin the Populist Movement Populism- movement started by farmers in the 1890’s who wanted a number of economic and political reforms

50. Farmers and Money • Deflation- prices for goods and services go down • Good for consumer (can buy more) • Bad for farmers (had to repay loans with money that is worth more, and they are not getting top dollar for their crops • Inflation- when the price of goods goes up, value of money goes down