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Industrialization and Workers. Ch 6, Sec 3 & 4. Factory Workers. Boom in workforce mid to late 1800s. Urbanization and large immigrant population. 10-12 hours/day, 6 days/week. Paid by piecework – paid by number of completed products.
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Industrialization and Workers Ch 6, Sec 3 & 4
Factory Workers • Boom in workforce mid to late 1800s. • Urbanization and large immigrant population. • 10-12 hours/day, 6 days/week. • Paid by piecework – paid by number of completed products. • Worked in sweatshops – long hours, low pay, poor working conditions.
Efficiency studies by Frederick Winslow Taylor led to division of labor. • Production divided up into small parts, each person does on part over and over. • Made businesses very efficient; low skill level, low pay. • Few safety measures in factories; hot, loud, dangerous. • Due to low pay, wives and children worked. • 1 in 5 kids aged 10-16 was employed.
Unions and Strikes • 1890-Richest 9% of Americans held 75% of wealth. • Led to resentment and anger. • Many began to support philosophy of Socialism. • Public control of factors of production, not private. • Wealth should be spread evenly to all. • Socialist ideas led to creation of labor unions.
Unions formed to help workers in hard times. • Changed to become a way for workers to give demands to employers. • Higher pay, shorter hours, better conditions, etc. • 1869, Knights of Labor union formed to organize allinto single union. • Wanted equal pay for equal work (women, minorities), 8-hour workday, no child labor. • Peaked at 700,00 members, then declined and disappeared in 1890’s.
1886, Samuel Gompers founded American Federation of Labor (AFL). • Craft Union – Only skilled workers in a network of smaller unions, each devoted to a specific craft. • Wanted better wages, hours, conditions. • Used strikes, boycotts, collective bargaining. • Workers negotiate as a group with employers. • AFL was very effective and successful.
1877, railroad workers struck to protest wage cuts and unsafe conditions. • Destroyed railroad property, US president sent troops to restore order. • Eugene V. Debs organized the American Railway Union. • Industrial union – workers from all crafts in a given industry. • Debs was opposed to violent strikes, preferred peaceful protests.
Industrial Union Eugene V. Debs
Employers disliked and feared unions. • Tried to stop unions by: • Forbidding union meetings. • Firing union organizers. • Forcing new employees to sign contracts promising not to join unions or strike. • Refusing to collectively bargain. • Refusing to recognize unions as workers’ representatives.
1881-1900 – 24,000 strikes. • Haymarket Riot, 1886 – national protest for 8 hour workday led to strikes. • Chicago-fight between strikers and scabs led to union protest in Haymarket Square. • Someone threw a bomb and killed cops, led to open riot with dozens dead. • Knights of Labor blamed. • 4 anarchists hanged, 1 killed self, 3 let go.
Homestead Strike, 1892 – Carnegie’s partner Henry Clay Frick tried to cut wages at Homestead, Pennsylvania mill. • Led to huge strike. • Frick sent in Pinkertons to break strike; gunfight, many killed. • Anarchist Alexander Berkman tried and failed to kill Frick. • Public opinion turned against strikers. • Strike ended against workers 3 months after start.
Pullman Strike, 1894 – George Pullman built luxury railroad cars, and a town for his workers. • 1893, cut wages 25%, kept rent and food prices same. • Caused local union to strike. • Pullman shut down factory, refused to bargain. • ARU led nationwide Pullman strike, 260,000 workers. • Blocked mail delivery, fed gov’t got involved. • Citing Sherman Anti-Trust Act, railroads got court order to end strike, President Cleveland sent troops to enforce.
