Notes on Section 3: Workers Organize

Section 3: Workers Organize

• Context: In response to terrible conditions, low pay, and long hours, workers began to organize. The core idea is that workers joined together to form unions to advocate for collective needs.

• What is a union?

  • A union is an organization formed by workers to fight to get what they want, i.e., to represent collective worker interests.

• The three main worker desires (the goals of union organizing):

  • More pay
  • Better working conditions
  • Shorter hours
  • These are repeated to emphasize the priority of wage, safety/conditions, and time.

• Collective bargaining: definition and rationale

  • Definition: When you negotiate with the boss as a group.
  • Rationale: Bargaining as a group is more effective than a single worker bargaining alone.
  • Classroom analogy (illustrative): If a teacher, Ms. Young, is asked by a single student to delay a quiz, it’s unlikely to happen; if many students across periods line up with the same request, the teacher is more compelled to consider a delay. This demonstrates why collective bargaining is powerful.
  • The ultimate expression of collective bargaining: going on strike.

• Going on strike (what it is and why it works/doesn’t always work)

  • Definition: Not working; refusing to work in the factories.
  • Why it harms the owner: The factory relies on workers to run machines; without workers, production stops and profits fall.
  • Example scale: If a thousand workers strike, the owner faces significant disruption.
  • Boss counter-strategies to strikes:
  • Strike breakers: A long line of immigrants can be hired to replace striking workers temporarily.
    • Those hired to replace you are called “strike breakers.”
    • It’s presented as a temporary fix, but it breaks the strike’s effectiveness because replacements can continue production.
  • Violence and intimidation: Strikes often led to violence between strikers and strike breakers; clashes were common.
  • Information control and coercion: The owner could threaten to fire workers if they disclose who is organizing; they could even threaten family welfare.
  • Extreme measures against leaders: Leaders of local unions could have their houses burned, be assaulted, or be killed.
  • Result: Strikes were not always effective, and owners had substantial means to break them.

• Unions and social/political stigma

  • The book notes that membership in unions carried a stigma, with public perception tying unions to socialism or communism.
  • Relationship to broader ideologies:
  • Socialism and communism were becoming more visible in Europe around this period, and many Americans associated labor unions with these ideologies.
  • Distinction: socialism vs communism (highly related, with communism being a more extreme form). The idea is that socialism is like “diet communism.”
  • American economic system: Free enterprise (capitalism).
  • In free enterprise, individuals take risks (capital, starting a factory), workers are paid, and the owner can amass wealth from profits after paying workers.
  • The promise is an illusion of upward mobility: hard work, luck, and good ideas can lead to wealth (e.g., Andrew Carnegie as a Scottish immigrant who became wealthy).
  • Critics note the significant imbalance: workers often toil long hours for low pay while owners accumulate wealth.
  • In contrast, socialism/communism involve government control of production and redistribution of wealth, aiming to reduce or eliminate class differences, but at the cost of economic incentives and individual opportunity.
  • Real-world implications discussed: People may flee socialist/communist regimes (e.g., Cuba, Venezuela) to preserve economic freedom and opportunity.
  • The result is a tension in American public opinion: unions are seen by some as protective of workers’ rights and by others as too closely aligned with socialist/communist ideals.

• First large union: Knights of Labor

  • Origins: Began as a secret (clandestine) organization rather than a public union.
  • Public leadership: The shift to a public organization was led by Terence Howerly, who argued that secrecy didn’t work for achieving goals.
  • Inclusive membership: Knights welcomed a broad membership—skilled and unskilled workers, white and Black workers, male and female workers.
  • Goals: Extremely broad, including improving many aspects of workers’ plights and even ideas like worker-owned factories (a concept that edged toward socialism).
  • Peak and decline: The Knights were a major force until 1886 when a pivotal event in Chicago changed public perception.
  • 1886 Chicago strike and Haymarket Square riot:
  • The Knights sought an eight-hour workday instead of the prevailing longer hours (in contrast to the National Trades Union, which had lobbied for a ten-hour day).
  • Strikes involved heavy use of strike breakers by owners, leading to violent clashes.
  • An anarchist bomb killed a police officer, triggering a riot; the Haymarket Square riot was widely reported in newspapers as a strike by Knights of Labor, even though the organization did not endorse the anarchist violence.
  • Public backlash followed, and Knights of Labor membership plummeted.

• After the Knights: the rise of the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

  • The Knights’ decline coincided with the formation of a new union, the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which became the focus of tomorrow’s lecture.
  • Key takeaway: The period saw a transition from broad, inclusive organizing (Knights of Labor) to more specialized, craft-based unions (AFL), shaping the modern labor movement.

• Summary of key terms to know for this section

  • Union: a workers’ organization formed to advocate for collective goals.
  • Collective bargaining: negotiating as a group with the employer to improve pay, conditions, and hours.
  • Strike: a work stoppage intended to pressure the employer.
  • Strike breaker: a worker hired to replace striking employees.
  • National Trades Union: an early union that fought for a shorter workday (ten-hour day).
  • Knights of Labor: a large, inclusive union advocating broad reforms, led publicly by Terence Howerly, later eclipsed by other unions after the 1886 Haymarket incident.
  • Haymarket Square riot (1886): a turning point that affected public perception of labor movements.
  • AFL (American Federation of Labor): successor to the Knights of Labor-era labor organizing, to be discussed in tomorrow’s lecture.
  • Free enterprise / capitalism: an economic system emphasizing private ownership, individual risk, and the potential for wealth accumulation by owners.
  • Socialism / communism: ideologies where the government plays a central role in ownership and distribution of wealth; socialism is less extreme, communism is more radical; both were perceived as linked to unions by some.

• Numerical references and timelines (for quick recall)

  • Worker hours mentioned: commonly 12 to 14 hours in certain periods; some brutal days reached 14 hours.
  • Eight-hour vs ten-hour goals:
  • Knights of Labor sought an $8 ext{-hour day}$.
  • National Trades Union sought an $10 ext{-hour day}$.
  • Haymarket Square riot: $1886$.
  • The radical shift to AFL occurred after the Knights of Labor era, with AFL’s prominence continuing into the next lecture period.

• Real-world relevance and reflections

  • Organized labor aimed to curb exploitation by coordinating workers’ efforts rather than relying on individual negotiation.
  • The tension between labor movements and political/economic ideologies shaped public policy, business practices, and immigration patterns (e.g., the use of immigrant workers as strike breakers).
  • The ethical and practical implications include balancing workers’ rights with social stability, and evaluating the trade-offs between a market-based system and collective social protections.

• Final note before tomorrow

  • Tomorrow’s focus will be on the AFL and how it differed from the Knights of Labor, continuing to connect these historical developments to modern labor relations and workplace rights.