Labor Unions form

1. Labor Unions form • Industrialization lowered the prices of consumer goods, but most workers still didn’t make enough to buy them • Their complaints usually fell on deaf ears • Early on, factory workers group themselves together in order to try to persuade management to raise wages—collective bargaining

2. Strikes • One kind of collective bargaining is a strike in which workers agreed to discontinue work until conditions improved • Some were local, but many spread to include entire industries • Had some success—now only 10 hour work days

3. Knights of Labor • Uriah Smith Stephens founded the Knights of Labor union • It was kind of like a secret society • This union did allow African Americans to join • By the 1890s they had fallen out of favor after a series of failed strikes

4. Labor Unions • 1886 Samuel Gompers formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL) • It was a craft union, unlike the Knight of Labor (which included workers from all trades—skilled or unskilled) • He set high dues for membership • Usually excluded African Americans and did not accept women

5. Haymarket Riot • thousands met to demand an 8 hour workday, strikes occurred in several cities and fights broke out between strikers and strikebreakers • In Chicago, a protester threw a bomb and killed a police officer and several were killed in the riot that ensued

6. Homestead Strike • 1892, at a Carnegie Steel plant in Penn., workers’ wages were cut and the union called for a strike • Pinkertons were brought in to break up the strike—they killed several strikers and wounded many others • The union called off the strike about four months later • Steelworker unions lost power throughout the country as a result

7. Pullman Strike • 1893, the Pullman Palace Car Company laid off workers and reduced wages by 25%, but the cost of living did not decrease • The owner of the company required his employees to live in the company town—he controlled their rent and prices of the local goods

8. Pullman Strike continued • Workers turned to the American Railway Union (ARU) and Eugene V. Debs—they called for a nationwide strike • Halted railway travel and even mail delivery • The president had to send in troops to end the strike • Debs refused and was thrown in jail

9. Life after Pullman • Labor movements split into different faction, becoming increasingly socialist • Debs became a Socialist and formed the ASP in 1897

10. Why would workers turn to strikes as a tactic to win labor gains?

11. Robber Barons • There was a belief that monopolies, trusts, and cartels gave businessmen an unfair advantage • Many small businesses were pushed out of competition by larger companies who could sell or produce products cheaper • Called Robber Barons- these American businessmen were viewed as having used questionable practices to gain their wealth

12. Some notable “Robber Barons” • Andrew Carnegie • John D. Rockefeller • J.P. Morgan

13. Or Captains of Industry • These same men were hailed by others as Captains of Industry and praised for their contributions to industry and the economy • The businesses run by these men provided thousands of jobs and supported innovation and improvements in technology • Many were important philanthropists who donated large amounts of money to different charities and established public institutions like museums, libraries and universities