Unit 2. Labor Movement

Conditions of Workers

Boring and repetitive tasks became the norm for workers)
Lack of personal connection to employers
Dangerous conditions: little safeguards in place combined with tired workers made workplace injuries/deaths common
- some were ill from conditions
Lack of opportunity for advancement - no motivation for workers
Child Labor: factories hired children because they could pay them less and take advantage of their small stature to get close to dangerous machinery and conditions
Low Wages: everyone had to work, including children
Long Hours (10-14 hour every 6-7 days)
Unpleasant living conditions - workers lived in crowded inner city slums or company towns were the company controlled the rent, food, officials, etc

Labor Unions Goals:

Higher Wages and Better Conditions

Pressure on Government to change

Voting
lobby legislatures
Contributing to campaign funds

Mutual Aid Societies

Society members would fund insurance and pensions for workers

Labor Union Tacticts

Strikes: walk out on business
Collective Bargaining: multiple workers negotiate contract conditions
Closed Shop: only union workers can work there
Mutual Aid Society: homemade insurance

Two Main Labor Unions

Both:

Wanted 8 Hour Workdays
Used arbitrations to settle disputes but supported strikes

Knights of Labor

Founder: Terrence Powderly

Hired Unskilled workers, skilled, minorities, rural farm workers, and women
Failed after numerous failed strikes, painting them as a “bad guy” in media, and loose organization

The America Federation of Labor

Founder: Samuel Chompers

Only Hired Skilled Workers
Failed because there was not enough members

Management Tactics:

Firing Workers
Blacklisting: spread name throughout industry, so they cannot get hired
“Yellow-dog” Contract: contract to ban worker to join labor union
Injunctions - Have court mandate dispersion of strike
Lockout: closing business and prevent workers from working
Pinkertons: private investigators to disperse strikers by shooting
Strike-breakers (scabs): temporary workers to fill gap (mostly immigrants for cheap labor)

Strikes

Homestead Strike

Henry Frick hired Pinkertons in order to combat the workers on strike and locked themselves inside factory

Results:

Frick hired strike breakers after he ordered militia to restore order
members of steel workers union were blacklisted & fired

Haymarket Strike

While protesting, someone threw a bomb in Chicago Haymarket Square, killing an officer

Police killed 10 people

Results

8 immigrant workers were arrested
Labor unions were synonymous with anarchism

Pullman Strike

Workers in Pullman Town received decreased pay, but prices stayed the same, so they went on strike

Eugene V. Debs asked American Railway Union to stop running Pullman Railroads.

President Cleveland ordered federal troops to stop strike because there was a national halt of commerce and mail