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Chapter 20 Section 1 Part 2 The Labor Unions

Chapter 20 Section 1 Part 2 The Labor Unions. A Time of Labor Unrest. Government wouldn’t allow striking during the War 1919 U.S. saw more than 3,000 strikes with more than 4 million workers walking off jobs. Labor Problems:. Wages not keeping up with prices

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Chapter 20 Section 1 Part 2 The Labor Unions

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  1. Chapter 20 Section 1 Part 2 The Labor Unions

  2. A Time of Labor Unrest • Government wouldn’t allow striking during the War • 1919 U.S. saw more than 3,000 strikes with more than 4 million workers walking off jobs

  3. Labor Problems: • Wages not keeping up with prices • Bosses didn’t want to raises or unions • union members seen as revolutionaries • Labeled striking workers as communists

  4. Project Directions: • Groups will work on a poster (some will be strike posters representing the strikes while others will represent anti-strike propaganda) • You are to devise a poster representing your cause • On this poster you will have a slogan and an artistic depiction of that slogan

  5. The Boston Police Strike • Not given a raise since before the war • Denied right to unionize • Representatives asked for raise and were fired • Remaining men decided to strike

  6. Governor Coolidge and the Police Strike • Called the National Guard to restore order • The police called off the strike • Police commissioner hired new police officers to take their places

  7. American Federation of Labor • When AFL leader Samuel Gompers appealed to Coolidge, Coolidge said: • “There is no right to stike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

  8. Coolidge for President • Coolidge received press that shot him to the White House. • People praised Coolidge for saving Boston from communism/anarchy • 1920, he became the vice president nominee with Warren G. Harding who won.

  9. The Steel Mill Strike • Working conditions were extemely difficult and dangerous • Many worked seven 12-hour days a week. • U.S. Steel Corporation refused to meet with union representatives • 300,000 workers walked off their jobs

  10. What did they want? • The right to organize and bargain with their employer • Shorter working hours • A living wage

  11. Anti-Strike Propaganda • Strikebreakers were hired • workers who agreed to work during the strike • Strikers were beaten by police, federal troops, and state militia • 18 workers were killed • Linked strikers to communism

  12. Oct. 1919 – negotiations between labor and management produced a deadlock • President Wilson made written pleas to both negotiators

  13. What did the steel workers get? • Eight-hour workday • Remained without a union

  14. The Coal Miners’ Strike • Unionism more successful in coalfields • 1919 – United Mine Workers of America (organized since 1890) got John L. Lewis as new leader • Lewis called union’s members out on strike (Nov. 1, 1919)

  15. What did they want? • More money • Shorter workdays

  16. Attorney General Palmer • obtained court order sending miners back to work • Lewis declared it over but quietly said to continue • Mines stayed closed an additional month (defiance of the court order)

  17. What happened and what did they get? • President Wilson appointed arbitrator, or judge, to put an end to the dispute • 27% wage increase was granted though no shorter workdays or workweeks (not until 1930’s) • Lewis became a national hero

  18. Why did Union Membership drop? • Much workforce immigrants who had no choice but to work in such conditions • Language barrier made it impossible to organize immigrants • Farmers, who were looking for jobs in factories, were used to relying on themselves

  19. Most unions excluded African Americans • By 1929 – 82,000 African Americans (less than 1% of their population) were apart of unions while just over 3% whites were • African Americans joined unions like: Mineworkers’, Longshoremans’, or Railroad Porters’

  20. 1925 – A. Philip Randolph founded Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters to help African Americans gain a fair wage. • American’s faith fading in unions and President

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