6.7 Labor in the Gilded Age

The Gilded Age (1865-1898)

• Origin of the Term

  • Coined by Mark Twain in 1873 for his book The Gilded Age.

  • Refers to the superficial glitter of new wealth in late 19th-century America.

  • The era was marked by the dominance of corporate "captains of industry" and the creation of vast fortunes.

  • At the same time, significant social and economic problems, such as issues faced by workers, farmers, and urban areas, remained hidden under the surface.

Challenges for Wage Earners

• Growth of Industry and Labor Conditions

  • The growth of industry relied heavily on physical labor in mines and factories.

  • Workers endured harsh living and working conditions.

• Wages

  • By 1900, two-thirds of American workers were employed for wages.

  • Workers typically worked ten hours a day, six days a week.

  • Wages were determined by supply and demand.

    • Immigrant labor force competing for factory jobs kept wages barely above subsistence levels.

  • David Ricardo’s "Iron Law of Wages":

    • Argued that raising wages would only increase the population of workers, leading to a fall in wages due to increased competition.

• Real Wages

  • Real wages (income adjusted for inflation) increased during the late 19th century.

  • Despite this, many workers could not support their families on one income.

  • Families often relied on the income of women and children.

    • In 1870, 12% of children worked outside the home.

    • By 1900, this number increased to 20%.

    • In 1890, 11 million families earned less than $380 annually.

Labor Discontent

• Workplace Changes Before and After the Industrial Revolution

  • Pre-industrial workplaces valued craftsmanship and allowed workers to create products from start to finish.

  • Factory work introduced monotonous, repetitive tasks where workers typically performed just one step in the production process.

  • Many workers, including immigrants and rural migrants, had to adapt to strict time schedules (i.e., the tyranny of the clock).

• Working Conditions

  • Many industrial workplaces, such as railroads and mines, had dangerous conditions.

  • Workers were exposed to harmful chemicals and pollutants, which caused chronic illnesses and early death later recognized.

• Worker Rebellions and Labor Mobility

  • Workers reacted to harsh conditions by quitting or missing work.

  • On average, industrial workers changed jobs every three years.

  • 20% of factory workers left the industrial workforce, choosing not to continue in these conditions.

  • This high dropout rate was more common than protests through labor unions.

The Struggles of Organized Labor

• Labor Conflicts in the Late 19th Century

  • The late 19th century saw frequent and deadly labor conflicts, marking one of the most violent periods in U.S. labor history.

  • Many feared the nation was on the brink of open warfare between capital (employers) and labor (workers).

Industrial Warfare

• Management's Power Over Labor

  • Due to a surplus of low-cost labor, employers held most of the power in their struggles with organized labor.

  • Strikers were easily replaced by "strikebreakers" (or "scabs"), typically unemployed individuals desperate for jobs.

• Tactics Used by Employers to Defeat Unions

  • Lockout: Closing a factory to break a labor movement before it could organize.

  • Blacklist: A list of pro-union workers circulated among employers to prevent them from finding work.

  • Yellow-Dog Contract: A contract that prohibited workers from joining a union as a condition of employment.

  • Private Guards and State Militia: Forces hired by employers to suppress strikes and protests.

  • Court Injunction: Judicial orders used by employers to prevent or end strikes.

• Public Perception of Unions

  • Employers fostered public fear of unions, often labeling them as anarchistic and un-American.

  • Before 1900, employers generally won most battles with labor, as the federal and state governments often supported them, especially when violence broke out.

Tactics by Labor

• Divisions Among Workers

  • Workers were divided on how best to defend themselves against management.

  • Political Action: Some union leaders advocated for political action to address labor issues.

  • Direct Confrontation: Others favored direct actions, such as strikes, picketing, boycotts, and slowdowns to secure union recognition and collective bargaining rights (the ability to negotiate as a group for better wages and working conditions).

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

• The Outbreak of the Strike

  • The strike was one of the most violent labor conflicts of the century.

  • Triggered by railroad companies cutting wages during an economic depression.

  • The strike began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and quickly spread across 11 states, disrupting two-thirds of the nation's rail lines.

• Scale of the Strike

  • The strike grew to include 500,000 workers from various industries, escalating into a nationwide labor rebellion.

  • For the first time since the 1830s, President Rutherford B. Hayes sent federal troops to end the labor dispute.

• Violence and Aftermath

  • The strike and the violence resulted in more than 100 deaths.

  • After the strike, some employers responded by improving wages and working conditions, while others took a harsher stance and dismantled workers' organizations.

Attempts to Organize National Unions

• Before the 1860s: Local Craft Unions

  • Prior to the 1860s, unions were typically local and focused on specific crafts or industries, rather than organizing workers nationwide.

National Labor Union (NLU)

• Founding and Goals

  • The NLU, founded in 1866, was the first attempt to organize all workers across the United States, including skilled and unskilled labor, agricultural, and industrial workers.

  • By 1868, it had grown to 640,000 members.

  • The NLU advocated for higher wages, the eight-hour workday, and a broad social agenda including equal rights for women and African Americans, monetary reform, and worker cooperatives.

  • Its chief success was securing the eight-hour workday for federal government employees.

  • The NLU lost momentum during the 1873 depression and following the failed strikes of 1877.

Knights of Labor

• Formation and Leadership

  • Founded in 1869 as a secret society to avoid employer detection, the Knights of Labor became public under the leadership of Terence V. Powderly in 1881.

  • The union welcomed all workers, including African Americans and women.

  • Powderly pushed for a variety of reforms:

    1. Worker cooperatives for self-employment

    2. Abolition of child labor

    3. Dissolution of trusts and monopolies

    4. Arbitration instead of strikes for resolving disputes.

• Growth and Decline

  • The Knights grew to 730,000 members in 1886 but declined rapidly after the Haymarket bombing in 1886, which turned public opinion against them.

Haymarket Bombing (1886)

• Event Details

  • Chicago, home to 80,000 Knights in 1886, was the site of the first May Day labor movement.

  • Tensions boiled over at the McCormick Harvester plant, where labor violence broke out. On May 4, during a public meeting at Haymarket Square, a bomb was thrown, killing seven police officers.

  • Despite never finding the bomber, eight anarchist leaders were tried, with seven sentenced to death.

• Aftermath

  • Public shock from the bombing caused many to view unions as radical and violent.

  • As a result, the Knights of Labor lost support and membership.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• Focus and Leadership

  • Founded in 1886, the AFL focused on "bread-and-butter" unionism, advocating for higher wages and better working conditions.

  • Initially made up of 25 craft unions of skilled workers, the AFL was led by Samuel Gompers until 1924.

  • Gompers encouraged collective bargaining and strikes to secure better contracts.

• Growth

  • By 1901, the AFL had become the largest labor organization in the U.S., with 1 million members.

Strikes and Strikebreaking in the 1890s

• Homestead Strike (1892)

  • Henry Clay Frick, manager of Andrew Carnegie's Homestead Steel plant, cut wages by nearly 20%, triggering a strike.

  • Frick used lockouts, private guards, and strikebreakers to suppress the strike, leading to a violent conflict that resulted in 16 deaths.

  • The failure of the strike set back labor organizing in the steel industry until the New Deal in the 1930s.

• Pullman Strike (1894)

  • Workers in Pullman’s company town near Chicago went on strike after wage cuts and the firing of workers' representatives.

  • The American Railroad Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs, supported the Pullman workers by boycotting trains with Pullman cars, disrupting rail transport nationwide.

  • The federal government intervened, linking Pullman cars to mail trains, and President Grover Cleveland used the military to break the strike.

  • A federal court injunction prevented interference with the mail, leading to the arrest of Debs and other union leaders, effectively ending the strike.

• In re Debs (1895)

  • The Supreme Court upheld the use of court injunctions to break strikes, giving employers a powerful legal tool.

Conditions by 1900

• Union Membership

  • By 1900, only 3% of American workers were in unions, and management had the upper hand in labor disputes.

• Shifting Attitudes

  • While management held power, growing recognition emerged for the need to balance the interests of workers and employers to avoid further violence and strikes.

Industrial Growth and Regional Impact

• Gilded Age Industrial Growth

  • Industrial growth was centered in the Northeast and Midwest, regions with large populations, capital, and transportation networks.

  • As industries expanded, these areas saw rapid urbanization and immigration, contributing to the workforce available for industrial labor.