INDUSTRIAL AGE

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• How successful was organized labor in improving
  the position of workers in the period from 1875
  to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to
  the level of success achieved.

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement

• Knights of Labor
• 1. Leader
• Uriah Stephens Terence Powderly
• 2. Members/Eligibility
• Open Membership Male, Female, African
  American, etc.
• 3. Goals
• Reform Economic system worker cooperatives,
  abolition of trusts, abolition of child labor,
  8hr. Day, govt. regulation
• 4. Methods of Achieving Goals
• Arbitration (preferred, but couldnt stop
  local assemblies from striking
• 5. Results/Public Perceptions
• a. 1886 May Day Great Upheaval strike
  failures and fear of economic chaos
• b. Haymarket become associated with
  anarchists
• c. Large and loosely organized
• d. By 1890s down to 100,000 and disappear
  by mid 1890s

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement

• American Federation of Labor (AFL)
• 1. Leader
• Samuel Gompers
• 2. Members/Eligibility
• Skilled Workers Association of Craft Unions
• 3. Goals
• bread butter issues (accept capitalism/wage
  system)
• Better Wages, Hours, Working Conditions not
  economic or governmental reform concentrate on
  relationship between management and labor
• 4. Methods of Achieving Goals
• bargain collectively closed shop
• walk out, boycott, strikes against employers
  who refuse to bargain
• 5. Public Perceptions
• Not as bad as K of L, but still associated with
  anarchists after Haymarket

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 1. Railroad Strike 1877

• Causes
• i. Wages Cut 10 for 2nd time since 1873

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 1. Railroad Strike 1877

• Labor Actions
• i. Strike First National Strike, 11 states,
  2/3 of countrys rails
• ii. Railroad strikers joined by 500,000 workers
  from other industries
• iii. Disrupt service from Baltimore to St.
  Louis, destroy equipment, riots in Pittsburgh
  other cities

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 1. Railroad Strike 1877

• Response Results
• i. President Hayes uses Federal Troops in W.V.,
  
• militiamen used in other cities, 100 killed by
  end
• ii. Shows resentment on both sides, and lengths
  both
• sides would go to Government use Federal Troops
• iii. Fear of union by propertied classes

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• Causes
• i. May Day labor movement in Chicago
• ii. Strike and violence at McCormick Harvester
  plant

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886

• Labor Actions
• i. Labor leaders call for public meeting at
  Haymarket Square
• ii. Radical and anarchists present

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 2. Haymarket Riot, 1886

• Response Results
• i. Police attempt to break up, bomb thrown
• ii. Kills 7 policemen, 60 injured police fire
  into crowd and kill 4 civilians
• iii. 8 anarchists accused found guilty 7
  sentenced to death, 4 executed, 1 suicide, 3
  pardoned (Gov. John Altgeld)
• iv. Most middle class associate unions w/
  anarchists

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892

• Causes
• i. Frick Carnegie cut wages 20 in 1892
• Had been cutting wages for two years not want
  to pay workers by ton produced but by sliding
  scale (market price) want streamline efforts
  cut labor costs
• want to get rid of union at Homestead plant

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892

• b. Labor Actions
• Strike

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892

c. Response Results i. Frick closes Plant
calls in Pinkertons (strikebreakers) violence
erupts, 13 killed 100 wounded
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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892

c. Response Results Firing continued for
hours, One observer estimated more than one
thousand shots were fired in the first ten
minutes The noise that they made on shore was
awful, and it made us shake in our boots. We were
penned in like rats.All of our men were under
the beds and bunks, crying and trembling.
(Gillon, Ten Days)
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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892

c. Response Results According to one account,
the joyous crowd formed itself into two lines,
600 yards long, between which the men from the
barges had to pass. The crowd assaulted the
detectives as they walked the gauntlet. A woman
used her umbrella to punch out the eye of one
man. The men screamed for mercy. We were
clubbed at every step.(Gillon, Ten Days)
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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 3. Homestead Strike, 1892

c. Response Results ii. Governor sends in
state militia iii. Scabs used to resume
production iv. public opinion turns when
radical attempts assassinate Frick v. Union
surrenders after 4 months is broken
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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 4. Pullman Strike, 1894

• Causes
• i. Pullman cut wages 25
• ii. Refused to reduce rents in Pullman town
  (already higher than surrounding rents)

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 4. Pullman Strike, 1894

• Labor Actions
• Workers Strike helped by American Railway Union
  led by Eugene Debs
• Effects rail transportation across the country

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

• VI. Union Movement
• C. Strikes
• 4. Pullman Strike, 1894

• c. Response Results
• Gov. Altgeld refuses to call out militia Pres.
  Cleveland Att. Gen. Olney get court injunction
  interfering w/ mail
• Debs union leaders refuse, arrested and jailed
  strike broken
• Use of court injunction gives employers powerful
  weapon against unions