Labor, Immigration, & Political Bosses

Laborers were being exploited and placed in unsafe working conditions.
* 12+ hour days, no vacation or sick leave, unemployment compensation, or reimbursement for injuries.
* No child labor laws (1.9 million children were working in 1900)
National Labor Union- formed in 1866 by William Sylvis
* Color National Labor Union (CNLU) formed in some cities for African American workers
* Union dissolves after the Panic of 1873
The Knights of Labor- 1869 by Uriah Stephens
* Focused on individual workers regardless of race, gender, or degree of skill
* Strikes and refusal to work was seen as a last resort

Collective Bargaining- union officials representing the workers negotiate with management
* If negotiation fails, workers strike or organize boycott
Closed Shop Businesses- only hire members of the union.

Collective Bargaining: Union & Business leaders meet to negotiate terms & working conditions
Arbitration: An unbiased 3rd party resolves the conflict with rule of law.
Strike: Stoppage of work
* Ex: Sit downs, slow downs, shut downs

Closed Shop: “Union friendly”- must join the union to get a job

Craft Unions- skilled workers from one or more trades
* American Federation of Labor- Samuel Gompers- reached written agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions.
* Strikes were used often and efficiently.
Industrialized Unions- inclusive of all laborers, skilled and unskilled, in a specific industry
* American Railway Union- Eugene V. Debs- “strike was the weapon of the oppressed”
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)- Eugene V. Debs (Wobblies)
* Advocates for socialism- economic and political system focused on government control of business and property with the equal distribution of wealth.

The Great Strike of 1877- Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers strike to protest their second wage cut in two months. Strikes lasted about one month.
  * Occurred during the Long Depression that started with the Panic of 1873.
  * $4 million in losses, 100 people dead in Baltimore and Pittsburgh
  * Multiple cities were dealing with strikes and violence
  * With no true leadership were put down and wages continued to drop
  * President Rutherford B. Hayes sent in troops to end the strike saying it impeded interstate commerce.

On May 3rd, outside the McCormick factory in Chicago, union leader Albert Spies encouraged striking workers to stay calm and continue the strike for an 8 hour workday.
As the speech ended, the factory shift bell rang and unionists attacked workers going to the next shift. Police opened fire and killed 4 demonstrators.
Next day at Haymarket Square, Albert Spies and other unionists held a vigil for the dead union workers. Police marched on the crowd and told them to go home.
Gunfire started on both sides and then a bomb was thrown, killing 6 police officers (total of 7 policemen and 4 workers die in the Riot).
Results and Effects
  * After the riot, Spies and other unionists were arrested and sentenced to death
  * Power and influence of unions were greatly diminished
  * Anti-immigrant sentiment spread towards Germans and Bohemians

Carnegie Steel Corporation owned the Homestead Steel Mill
In 1892, the factory manager, Henry Frick, tried to lower wages (22%) and increase production which caused the union members to go on strike.
Frick locked out the workers and requested 300 Pinkerton guards (private security agency) as protection against union workers.
On July 6th, Pinkerton guards arrived and fought over 10,000 union workers (around 10-15 deaths on both sides).
State militia came in to maintain peace and some workers came back to work due to intimidation and threats.
Assassination attempt on Frick by anarchist Alexander Birkman caused the public to turn away the support for the union workers. Strike is eventually abandoned in October.
Effects
  * Steel Union is dissolved
  * Carnegie lowers wages and institutes long hours
  * Strike inspires other workers around the world, but shows how hard it is to be successful against big business.

After George Pullman fired 1200 workers and lowered wages by 25%, Pullman factory workers were joined by the American Railway Union (ARU) and their leader Eugene Debs and refused to run trains with Pullman cars and went on strike in Chicago.
* They obstructed railroad tracks which prevented the transportation of goods and affected the entire nations.
* Strike ended when Grover Cleveland used U.S. Marshals and the Army to force workers to return to duty saying it represented a threat to public safety.