Industrialization

Industrialization Unions

Unions 5-4 • Main Idea • Workers trued to form unions in the late 1800s, hoping to improve wages, hours and working conditions • Business leaders were willing to deal with some trade unions but generally opposed industrial unions. Many strikes led to violence, which hurt the image of unions and slowed their growth

Unions 5-4 • Vocabulary • Deflation • Trade Union • Industrial Union • Blacklist • Lockout • Arbitration • Injunction • Closed Shop

Unions 5-4 • Working in the United States • Workers in industrial American faced monotonous work, dangerous conditions, and experienced a large rich/poor gap • Between 1865 and 1897, The United states experienced DEFLATION(your dollar can buy more) • Relations between workers and employers were made more difficult by deflations as it caused prices to fall and companies to cut wages • To the workers, it seemed like their company wanted to pay them less for the same work • Workers felt their only way to improve their working environment was to organize labor unions

Unions 5-4 • Two types of workers were a part of industrial America • Craft workers had special skills and were typically paid more • Common laborers had few skills and as a result received lower wages

Unions 5-4 • In the 1830s, craft workers formed TRADE UNIONS which were limited to people with specific skills • By 1873 there were 32 trade unions in the United States • Employers opposed INDUSTRIAL UNIONS. Companies went to great lengths to prevent unions from forming • Companies would have workers take oaths or sign contracts promising to not join a union • Companies would also hire detectives to identify union organizers

Unions 5-4 • Workers who organized a union or strike were usually fired and put on a BLACK LIST • Once blacklisted, a worker would usually only get a job only by entering a new field, moving or changing his/her name

Unions 5-4 • If a union was formed, companies used a LOCKOUT to break it. (Workers were literally locked out of their place of employment) • If the union did strike, employers would hire replacement workers known as STRIKEBREAKERS, otherwise known as scabs

Unions 5-4 • At this time, there were not laws that gave workers the right to organize • MARXISM, the ideas of Karl Marx were popular in Europe. Marx felt it was the class struggles between the workers and management that shaped society and that workers should revolt to gain control • After the revolution, Marx believed a socialist society would be created in which the wealth was evenly divided and classes would no longer exist • As ideas of Marxism and anarchism spread in Europe, tens of thousands of immigrants arrived in the United States • People began to associate Marxism and anarchism with immigrants and became suspicious of unions as well

Unions 5-4 The Struggle to Organize Workers attempted to create large unions, but rarely succeeded. Many times confrontations between owners and workers ended in violence

Unions 5-4 • The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 occurred after a severe recession in 1873 forced many companies to cut wages • The result was the first nationwide labor protest as workers walked off their jobs and blocked the tracks • The strike spread until 80,000 rail workers in 11 states stopped worked and violence erupted • President Hayes sent in the Army to stop the strike • In the end, 100 people died and millions of dollars in property were lost

Unions 5-4 • By the late 1870s, the first nationwide industrial union (KNIGHTS OF LABOR)was formed and they demanded: • An 8 hour work day • Equal pay for women • An end to child labor • Worker owned factories • ARBITRATION, a process where an impartial third party helps mediate between workers and management

Unions 5-4 • The HAYMARKET RIOT, caused the popularity of the Knights of Labor to decline • A nationwide strike was called to show support of the 8 hour work day • A clash in Chicago left one worker dead • The next morning, a meeting in Haymarket Square was scheduled to protest the killing • Somebody threw a bomb to the gathering and 7 police officers and 4 workers were killed • Nobody knows for sure who threw the bomb but a member of the Knights of Labor was arrested which hurt the organizations reputation and led to a decline in membership

Unions 5-4

Unions 5-4 • In 1893 rail workers created the American Railway Union (ARU) • They unionized the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois • After a recession caused the company to cut wages, a boycott of Pullman cars occurred across the U.S., it tied up the railroad and threatened the national economy • To end the boycott, U.S. mail cars were attached to the Pullman cars • Refusal to handle a Pullman car would result with tampering with the mail, a violation of federal law • After an INJUNCTION (formal court order) stopped the boycott, the strike and the ARU both ended

Unions 5-4 • The American Federation of Labor • In 1886 delegates from over 20 of the nation’s trade unions organized the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR (AFL) • The AFL’s 1st leader Samuel Gompers had a plain and simple approach to labor relations and helped unions become more accepted • Gompers wanted to keep unions out of politics and to fight for small gains such as higher wages and better working conditions

Unions 5-4 • Under Gompers’ leadership the AFL had three goals • To get companies to recognize unions and agree to collective bargaining • To push for CLOSED SHOPSwhere companies could only hire union member • Promote the 8 hour work day • By 1800 the AFL had over 500,000 members, however the majority of workers were still unorganized

Unions 5-4

Unions 5-4 • Working Women • By 1900 women made up about 18% of the total workforce • Women worked as domestic servants, teacher nurses, sales clerks and secretaries

Unions 5-4 • Woman were usually paid less than men as it was felt that men needed a higher wage to support a family and most unions excluded women • A separate union for women the WOMEN’S TRADE UNION LEAGUE (WTUL) was eventually created and was the first national association dedicated to promoting women’s labor issues

Industrialization