Title: Labor Unions of the Late 1800
1Labor Unions of the Late 1800s
Knights of Labor (KOL) American Federation of Labor (AFL) American Railway Union (ARU)
Terrence Powderly Samuel Gompers Eugene Debs
1869 1886 1893
All Laborers Skilled, Unskilled, Black, White, Male, Female, White and Blue Collar Only Skilled Labor reluctant to accept women, blacks, and immigrants All types of Railroad Workers
One Big Union (Industrial Union) One umbrella Union made up of separate craft workers (Trade Union) One Big Union (Industrial Union)
Unsuccessful workers had little in common hard to win strikes Successful charged high fees to join restricted membership built up strike fund Mixed Results Forced RR companies to increase wages but died after the Pullman Strike
Haymarket Square Riot Bomb exploded at KOL meeting and KOL associated with Anarchists KOL died. Got higher wages, shorter hours, and better benefits still around today Debs was arrested and convicted. ARU died.