Labor Movement in the Gilded Age

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Labor Movement in the Gilded Age

• AP US History
• Mrs. Huston

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Introduction

• While business leaders of the Gilded Age took
  advantage of corporations and trusts to increase
  their wealth and power, mechanization and mass
  production threatened the economic independence
  of the American worker.

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Antebellum Labor Organizations

• First tried in the 1820s 30s
• Involved major cities such as New York Chicago
• Attempted to control municipal politics
• Largely controlled by middle and upper class
  leadersnot the laborers themselves
• Mostly skilled laborers who did not consider
  themselves to be an oppressed class

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Skilled Workers go Downhill

• Increased mechanization meant that owners had
  less and less need for highly trained artisans
  and craftspeople
• Skilled labor was an ever shrinking portion of
  the labor force
• Unskilled workers get lower wages

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Other Changes

• Women and children became an ever increasing part
  of the workforce
• Women 18-24
• Children as young as 5
• By 1910 25 of all American children were
  employed full-time in the nations factories

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Gospel of Wealth

• Building a fortune is a profound Christian duty
• Anyone can become rich by hard work and
  perseverance
• After you succeed, then give back to society

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Gospel of Work

• Affirmed the dignity of hard work
• Promoted the virtue of thrift
• Stressed the importance of individual initiative

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Changing Status of Labor

• Self-employment less common
• In 1870 wage workers totaled 5 million of the 13
  million gainfully employed Americans
• By the end of the century, it was 2/3 of all
  Americans worked for wages

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Scientific Management

• Frederick Taylor
• Efficiency expert
• Took decisions away from workers
• Constant supervision
• Production quotas
• Etc.

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Working Conditions

• 1830s 40s 16-18 hour work day
• 1865 average work day 11-12 hours
• 1868 Federal Employees received 8 hr day
• 1880s workers began to ask for a reduction to a
  10 hr day
• Employers often believed long work hours
  benefited workers morally

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Wages

• Employers believed workers should not earn more
  than a subsistence wage
• High wages hurt their profits
• Profits should be used to expand the business
• Low wages prevent workers from wasting their
  money on gambling, alcohol, etc.

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Labor Organizations

• Knights of Labor
• 1869
• Most important of early groups
• Led by Terence Powderly
• National group
• Open to all
• About 10 of membership African-American

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American Federation of Labor

• Founded 1886
• Led by Samuel Gompers
• National organization of trade unions
• Competed with centrally controlled Knights
• Used strikes and boycotts to force collective
  bargaining
• mainstream voice of labor until 1955

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Industrial Workers of the World

• Founded in 1905 in Chicago
• SpokesmanWilliam D. Big Bill Haywood
• More radical group
• Focused on unskilled laborers
• Stated owners and workers were fundamental
  enemies
• Wanted to create one giant union of all the
  laborers in the world
• Use of violence sometimes backfired

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Growth of the City

• Immigration
• Expanding rail network, etc.
• Expanding opportunities for employment
• Manufacturing centers

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Downside

• Growth of services did not keep pace with grow of
  population
• Overcrowding in tenements rampant
• Beauty and safety not foremost
• Several cities suffered from major fires
• Quality of life did not necessarily improve

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THE END