The Growth of the American Labor Movement

1. The Growth of the American Labor Movement

2. The Changing American Labor Force

3. Labor Force Distribution1870-1900 • Analyze these graphs and the ones on the previous slide and describe what is occurring to the American labor force. (use specific data to support your conclusions) • What is the reason for these changes?

4. Observe the following photographs and identify the different impacts industrialization is having on labor. While viewing each photographs answer the following: Who is doing the work? What are the hazards? What type of work are they doing? Would they need training? (skilled vs. unskilled) What was it like to live during this time period?

5. Working Conditions- What do you see?

8. A group of miners pose for a picture……. 2000 feet underground!!!!! That is almost ½ of a mile!

9. 3 miners waiting to use the primitive elevator to lower them into the mining shaft for a days work!

10. Women and Children in the Workplace – What do you see?

11. How is Big Business treating its workers according to the picture?

12. Child Labor

13. Children stand on the machine while it is in motion!!!!

14. Here is a SIX year old girl working in a cotton mill

15. “Galley Labor” Analyze this cartoon using your cartoon analysis questions

16. Look carefully, what is missing? (more than 1 thing) What do you think happened?

17. Daydreaming……. What is she thinking about?

18. What occupational (job) hazards can you find in these pictures? A candle would be placed into his hat to provide light while working in the mines!

19. The taller boy standing to the right oversees the breaker boys who separate the coal from the stones during mining. The machine used is moving quickly and they are not allowed to wear gloves! Why might this be dangerous?

20. Women in the Workplace

21. Mom and children working together in the seafood industry!

22. Women sewing in a garment factory.

23. Women canning fruits in order to preserve them!

24. The Molly Maguires(1875) The Molly Maguires were a secret organization of coal miners in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Also known as the "Buckshots," "Sleepers," and "White Boys," the name "Molly Maguires"was taken from a famous widow who had headed a tenant protest in Ireland in the 1840s. By the 1860s, there was much unrest among coal miners. Working conditions were abysmal and hiring discrimination was common. The workers had little recourse since the mine operators controlled the workplace, housing, stores and often the police and courts. Inability to improve their conditions eventually led the workers to violence that was most often directed against mine owners and supervisors. The activities of the Molly Maguires were often shielded by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-American fraternal group. Secrecy was strictly enforced. When reform demands were not met, mining equipment was destroyed, officials intimidated and sometimes killed. The end of the Mollies came in the mid-1870s when Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia Coal and Iron Company, decided that the Mollies had to be put down. He hired a Pinkerton detective, James McParlan as an infiltrator. McParlan joined the organization and rose to become secretary of his division. When after a particularly heinous murder in 1875 led to the first capital conviction of a Molly, suspicion began to build that the nature of the testimony introduced at trial pointed to the likelihood of a traitor in their midst. McParlan began to look suspiciously like the best candidate. Despite a plot to murder him, McParlan was able to last a while longer and then slip away. In later murder trials, his testimony resulted in the conviction and hanging of 10 alleged members of the Molly Maguires. Those harsh sentences and public fear of radicalism led to the group’s rapid demise. JamesMcParland

25. The Corporate “Bully-Boys”: PinkertonAgents Offering a range of “private investigative” services, the Pinkerton Detective Agency was founded in 1850 and at first specialized in train robberies: the protection of railroad property. By the late 1860s, however, Pinkerton agents were protecting all manner of property — most notoriously when its ownership was at odds with organized labor. A lot of agency detective work, however, became “protective” work. With labor disputes often turning violent, several states had enacted laws to give businesses the authority to create or rent police forces. Corporations desirous of ascertaining whether their employees are joining any secret labor organizations with a view of compelling terms from employers can [hire] a detective suitable to obtain this information. — Pinkerton advertisement, early 1890s The Pinkerton agency’s first foray into strikebreaking took place at an Illinois mine in 1866, during which it provided “guards” to “protect” replacement workers. An armed force would escort scabs into a factory, plant or mine, while armed watchmen in towers would intimidate strikers. Hundreds of strike-breaking operations were created during the 1870s, with some, such as the Baldwin-Felts Agency, openly boasting about organizer harassment and other “labor discipline services.” Pinkerton, authored Strikers, Communists and Tramps. The title is quite telling, and in the pages of the book he defended the use of his agents as strikebreakers, arguing that it was an extension of his original property-safety business and that opposition to unionism was a good way to protect workers.

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

27. A Striker Confronts a SCAB! Write a caption for this picture?

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

29. Knights of Labor What is meant by the Knights of Labor Slogan? Knights of Labor trade card

30. Goals of the Knights of Labor • Eight-hour workday. • Workers’ cooperatives. • Worker-owned factories. • Abolition of child and prison labor. • Increased circulation of greenbacks. • Equal pay for men and women. • Safety codes in the workplace. • Prohibition of contract foreign labor. • Abolition of the National Bank.

31. Labor Unrest: 1870-1900 What conclusions would you make based on this data shown on this map?

32. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Why do you think railroads were a focus of strikes early on in the labor movement?

33. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Based on this image what assumptions do you think readers had about the Railroad Strike? What leads you to make this conclusion?

34. The Tournament of Today: A Set-to Between Labor and Monopoly Analyze this cartoon using your cartoon analysis questions

35. Anarchists Meet on the Lake Front in 1886 Strikes by industrial workers were increasingly common in the United States in the 1880s, a time when working conditions often were dismal and dangerous, and wages were low. The American labor movement during this time also included a radical faction of socialists, communists and anarchists who believed the capitalist system should be dismantled because it exploited workers. A number of these labor radicals were immigrants, many of them from Germany.

36. Haymarket Riot (1886) McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. The May 4, 1886, rally at Haymarket Square was organized by labor radicals to protest the killing and wounding of several workers by the Chicago police during a strike the day before at the McCormick Reaper Works.

37. Haymarket Martyrs Toward the end of the Haymarket Square rally, a group of policemen arrived to disperse the crowd. As the police advanced, an individual who was never identified threw a bomb at them. The police and possibly some members of the crowd opened fire and chaos ensued. Seven police officers and at least one civilian died as a result of the violence that day, and an untold number of other people were injured. The riot set off a national wave of xenophobia, as scores of foreign-born radicals and labor organizers were rounded up by the police in Chicago and elsewhere. In August 1886, eight men, labeled as anarchists, were convicted in a sensational and controversial trial in which the jury was considered to be biased and no solid evidence was presented linking the defendants to the bombing. Judge Joseph E. Gary imposed the death sentence on seven of the men, and the eighth was sentenced to 15 years in prison. On November 11, 1887, four of the men were hanged.Of the additional three who were sentenced to death, one committed suicide on the eve of his execution and the other two had their death sentences commuted to life in prison by Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby. The governor was reacting to widespread public questioning of their guilt, which later led his successor, Governor John P. Altgeld, to pardon the three activists still living in 1893.In the aftermath of the Haymarket Square Riot and subsequent trial and executions public opinion was divided.  For some people, the events led to a heightened anti-labor sentiment, while others believed the men had been convicted unfairly and viewed them as martyrs.

38. Governor John Peter Altgeld Analyze this cartoon using your cartoon analysis questions

39. The American Federation of Labor: 1886 Keep it simple. That was the mantra of labor leader SAMUEL GOMPERS. He was a diehard capitalist and saw no need for a radical restructuring of America. Gompers quickly learned that the issues that workers cared about most deeply were personal. They wanted higher wages and better working conditions. These "BREAD AND BUTTER" issues would always unite the labor class. By keeping it simple, unions could avoid the pitfalls that had drawn the life from the National Labor Union and the Knights of Labor. In December of 1886, the same year the Knights of Labor was dealt its fatal blow at Haymarket Square, Gompers met with the leaders of other craft unions to form the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR. The A.F. of L. was a loose grouping of smaller craft unions, such as the masons' union, the hatmakers' union or Gompers's own cigarmakers' union. Every member of the A.F. of L. was therefore a skilled worker. Samuel Gompers

40. How the AF of L Would Help the Workers • Catered to the skilled worker. • Represented workers in matters of national legislation. • Maintained a national strike fund. • Evangelized the cause of unionism. • Prevented disputes among the many craft unions. • Mediated disputes between management and labor. • Pushed for closed shops.

41. Homestead Steel Strike (1892) The Homestead strike, 1892, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, pitted one of the most powerful new corporations, Carnegie Steel Company, against the nation's strongest trade union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. An 1889 strike had won the steelworkers a favorable three-year contract; now Andrew Carnegie was determined to break the union. His plant manager, Henry Clay Frick, stepped up production demands, and when the union refused to accept the new conditions, Frick began locking the workers out of the plant; on July 2 all were discharged. The union, limited to skilled tradesmen, represented less than one-fifth of the thirty-eight hundred workers at the plant, but the rest voted overwhelmingly to join the strike. An advisory committee was formed, which directed the strike and soon took over the company town as well. Frick sent for three hundred Pinkerton guards, but when they arrived by barge on July 6 they were met by ten thousand strikers, many of them armed. After an all-day battle, the Pinkertons surrendered and were forced to run a gauntlet through the crowd. In all, nine strikers and seven Pinkertons were killed; many strikers and most of the remaining Pinkertons were injured, some seriously. Homestead Steel Works

42. Homestead Steel Strike (1892) The sheriff, unable to recruit local residents against the strikers, appealed to Governor William Stone for support; eight thousand militia arrived on July 12. Gradually, under militia protection, strikebreakers got the plant running again. Frick's intransigence had won sympathy for the strikers, but an attempt on his life by anarchist Alexander Berkman on July 23 caused most of it to evaporate. Meanwhile, the corporation had more than a hundred strikers arrested, some of them for murder; though most were finally released, each case consumed much of the union's time, money, and energy. The strike lost momentum and ended on November 20, 1892. With the Amalgamated Association virtually destroyed, Carnegie Steel moved quickly to institute longer hours and lower wages. The Homestead strike inspired many workers, but it also underscored how difficult it was for any union to prevail against the combined power of the corporation and the government. The Amalgamated Association of Iron & Steel Workers

43. Attempted Assassination! Henry Clay Frick Alexander Berkman

44. Big Corporate Profits! What is this graph showing? What do you think laborers response would be to this information?

45. A “CompanyTown”: Pullman, IL In 1879 Pullman followed closely the movement in New York to create model tenements that would offer working class families clean and ventilated room to reduce sickness and disease and promote good morals by inducing men to stay at home rather than escape to saloons. In return, investors would receive a reasonable 7% return. The idea that improving workers’ material conditions of life could be made compatible with the most efficient and economical business practices lay at the heart of Pullman’s plan in 1880 to build a model town south of Chicago. The town was intended neither as philanthropy or charity nor as a utopian experiment. It was an attempt to demonstrate that reform and uplift could be made a paying proposition, just as he had turned comfort, beauty, and luxury in railroad travel into a successful business enterprise.

46. Pullman Cars With the same marketing flair that Pullman had used to drum up interest in his railroad cars, Pullman attracted visitors to his town. However many workers resented their inability to buy their homes, a limitation that Pullman adamantly retained. Pullman officials conducted periodic inspections of workers’ homes to make sure they were not damaged and that the town maintained a proper public image. Moreover, rent was higher in Pullman than elsewhere; in 1893 it comprised one-third rather than the more typical one-fifth of a workers’ income. Despite its family-friendly image and the fact that a majority of its employees were relatively highly paid skilled workmen, the town as well as the company itself experienced a high degree of turnover. Only two-thirds of Pullman’s workers actually lived in the town and one-half of those were boarders. According to one observer, “no one regards it as a real home.” A Pullman porter

47. The Pullman Strike of 1894

48. President Grover Cleveland “If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered!”

49. The Pullman Strike of 1894 Olney obtained an injunction from a federal court saying that the strike was illegal. When the strikers did not return to work the next day, President Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago. This enraged strikers, and rioters began stopping trains, smashing switches, and, again, setting fire to anything that would burn. On July 7, another mob stopped soldiers escorting a train through the downtown Chicago area. Many people were killed or wounded from bullets. Debs realized that continuing the strike would be a lost cause because of the federal troops.Most railroad workers resumed their old jobs and received the same wages as before. Some workers were put on a blacklist, which meant that no railroad in the United States was allowed to hire them. Government by injunction!

50. The Socialists Eugene V. Debs From his membership in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen to his role co-founding the Industrial Workers of the World (the "wobblies"), Debs raised his voice in defense of the common man. Debs became a featured speaker for the Socialist Party, and ran for president in 1900 as their nominee. He lost, but continued to be the party’s candidate in several subsequent elections.