2: Trade Union and Labour Rights

how many TU members were there by 1915?

2.5mn

what were unions like in 1865?

Made up of small industry skilled workers

1877 Railroad Strike

strikes due to a second wage cut, fed troops delpoyed and 40 killed

how many railroad workers were killed in 1889

2000

what process created the need for extensive unions?

Industrialisation

how much did unskilled workers make in comparison to skiled?

1/3

what % of workforce did unskilled women make up in 1890s?

35%

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

1890, anti-monopolies

Knights of Labor

1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization

AFL (American Federation of Labor)

A union of many labor unions into one, this establishment accomplished much for its members. Conservative TUC.

number of members in KoL by 1886

700,000

what strike was the KOL influential in?

Wabash Railroad strike

what event collapsed the KOL?

Haymarket Affair

wage rise for skilled workers in gilded age

60%

how much of skilled worker wage did unskilled workers get?

30%

Industrial Workers of the World

1905, radical union, known as Wobblies, aimed to unite the American working class into one union. It worked to organize unskilled and foreign-born laborers, advocated social revolution, and led several major strikes. peaked in 1923.

why were white workers frustrated? why was this bad for workforce?

More competition in labour market after emancipation. AA workers happy to accept lower pay. Whites often laid off for AAs. Therefore excluded from TUs and divided workforce was easier to exploit.

Progress made by unions from 1865-WWI

TU membership grown to 2mn.

TUs put pressure on candidates to support workers' rights.

Limitations of unions in this period and how much of non agricultural workforce did unions represent?

- Unions only represented 20% of non-agricultural workforce

- Steel/car manufacturing had no unions

- Unions often not legally recognised

- workers divided by skill, ethnicity, etc

- gains often limited to white skilled workers

why did workers rights improve during WWI

Big demand for man industries meaning employers more willing to negotiate

union membership 1916

2.7mn

National War Labor Board

negotiated labor disputes to prevent strikes that would disrupt war prod

gains for workers rights in 20s boom

- welfare capitalism

- employers willing to negotiate

- declines in unemployment

- rise in real wages

yellow dog contract

a contract between a worker and an employer in which the worker agrees not to remain in or join a union.

limitations of workers rights in 20s

- yellow dog contracts

- employers often didn't recognise unions

- employers like Henry Ford and Pullman companies restricted ALL union activity

issues for AA porters on trains

- poor conditions

- relied on tips

- promotion impossible

- couldn't unionise

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Union founded by A. Philip Randolph in 1925 to help African Americans who worked for the Pullman Company, not recognised by employers until 1928

The Molly Maguires

1873 strike of Irish immigrants wanting better conditions, derailed trains, set fire to coal tips and murdered a superintendent.

The Haymarket Affair

1886 strike at McCormick Harvester Plant in Chicago. 4 strikers killed.

what was the reaction to the 4 strikers killed in Haymarket affair?

Protests march where bomb was thrown and 7 police killed, and 4 workers shot, and 5 executed. Destroyed the KoL.

The Homestead Strike

1892, 143 day steelworker strike near Pittsburgh against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ended in battle between workers and Pinkerton detective agency.

when was previous unrest at this plant and what did it lead to?

82 and 89, more AA membership

why did the strike begin?

Decision to replace unionised workers with back-leg labour

Henry Frick

Attempted to break strike, shot and stabbed, employed 300 Pinkertons

Aftermath of Homestead Strike

- AA membership dropped 12,000 from 91-94

- AA bankrupted and strikers fired and blacklisted

- No union in a Carnegie steel plant for 40yrs

- By 1900, 0 steel plants unionised

Lochner vs NY

1905 - 10hr work day max was unconstitutional, infinges on workers rights to choose hours

Clayton Anti-Trust Act

1914 - cant use courts against strikes if theyre not violent or destructve

who did Gompers provide backing for?

Woodrow Wilson

union membership from 1900-1910

500,000 to 2mn

what law allowed the BSCP to represent pullman company porters over the employer formed union?

1934 Railway Labor Act

Pullman Strike

- 1894

- Pullman palace car co was model employer, workers in company houses/ industrial town, well paid and happy

- 1893 depression, 25% wage cut and 1/3 of workforce laid off with no price cuts in the industrial town

- Union reps sacked - leading to strike

How did the Pullman strikes escalate?

Debbs (head of ARU) calls strike in solidarity with Pullman workers, strikes on trains with a pullman carriage, railway system ground to halt

How were Pullman strikes broken?

Attorney General issues restraining order for anyone interfering with movement of mail or inciting workers to strike. Fed troops sent to ensure mail movement, Debbs and others arrested. Omnibus Indictment act introduced to stop people convincing eachother to strike.

Coppage vs Kansas

1915, allowed yellow dog contracts

Adkins v. Children's Hospital

1923, rejected womens min wage

1919 unrest

red scare, immigrant hostility. 3630 workers

Seattle general strike. 315,000 stopped working

how many were involved in strikes from 1919-20

4mn

why was the breaking of Pullman strikes significant?

First time law was used to break a strike

Great Steel Strike

1919 asking for NWLB conditions, fed troops sent

how much of labour force were striking by 1929?

1.2% compared to 21% in 1919

why were TUs down in 1920s

lack of strong leaderhsip, low membership (AFL fell by 1mn), campaign as TUs as anti-american, US courts agresive (twice as many injubctions as any othe rperiod)

when were yellow dog contracts illegal?

1932

Impact of WWI

Factory prod increased 35% from 1914-18, wages rose by 20%

National War Labour board

no strikes, join unions and collectiely bargain, 8h working day and better conditions,

union membership by 1920

5mn

why did improvements of NWLB go wrong?

left-wing suspieicion from red scare, war over, return to status quo

1929 WSC effect

25% labour force unemployed, strikes increased. By 1933 10% of workers were unionised

NRA (National Recovery Administration)

est under NIRA 1933. New Deal agency that promoted economic recovery by regulating production, prices, and wages. code sof practice etc.

2 example of anti-union businesses recognising them in the ND

- General Motors recognise UAW union in 1936

- US Steel recognise SWOC in 1937

Robert Wagner

orchestrated NRA, and was sympathetic to TUs

how many employers and workers were signed upt ot NRA

2mn employers with 23mn workers

when was NRA found unconstitutional by SC and what followed?

1935 Schecter poultry corp vs US, est NLRB under NLRA

how did TU membership increase between 33-38?

4-9mn

NLRB vs. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp

1937, upheld NLRB

Fair Labor Standards Act

1938 act which provided for a minimum wage, ended child labour, 1.5x OT pay, 40h/w

how did wwII have an impact on TUs?

more worker demand, better rights

how many were in a union from 1940 to 1945

9mn to 15mn

how many were involved in sttrikes from 1946-47

4.5mn

How many workers did Ford have by 1920 and what were they paid

80,000, $5 (good)

when did ford recognise unions

1941

Taft-Hartley Act

1947, said TU members couldnt be communists

impact of T-H act

bad for CIO leaderhdip

how many owned a car in the 50s?

75%

when did the first nuclesr PP open?

1957

from what industy to what industry did american economy shift in the 50

blue-collar to white collar and tech

how much did TU membership drop in the 50s?

50%

fed govt role in falling tu membership

expansion of federal roles, signed no strike/union contracts

When did the AFL and CIO merge?

1955

how many did the AFL-CIO merger bring together?

85% US union members (16mn)

how many lived under poverty line by 1960?

20%

Economic oppurtunity act

1964

how much of the poor lived in rural areas?

1/3

how many migrant workers lived in extreme poverty?

2mn

why were AAs disadvantaged with this laboru market?

less blue-collar jobs, poor quality education

JFK scheme for tackling poverty

New Frontier

how did congress block JFK?

Blocked min wage bill

Equal Pay Act

1963, gender pay equality

impact of equal pay act

womens salaries rose, women earned 62% of male salaries in 1970

Great Society

LBJ program to reduce those under poverty line by creating jobs and increasing benefits

CRA (Community Reinvestment Act)

1964 targeted racial discrimination in workplace

equal opportunity act 1964

fund and train young people

age discrimination in employment act

1967, prohibits discrimination of those who are 40 looking for a job

Cesar Chavez

Founded NFWA which amalgamated in 1966 to eventually become UFW

1970s salad bowl strike

series of strikes from farmers

how was economy struggling in 70s

- increase in foreign comp

- 13% inflation in 79

why did pay gap increase in 70s

more skilled roles which payed more, less non-skilled which payed little

why did union heartlands decline

manafacturers moved to more rural cheaper areas more anti-union

when was the CIO formed

1935

When was the AFL-CIO merger?

1955

why did the BP movement not help workers

identity politics, AA support not worker, militancy of BPs