Picture: Write a caption describing the possible incidents/situation.

Quote: what is the quote saying? What is the context that surrounds this

quote?

“The struggle…has developed into a contest between the producing classes and the

money power of the country…Workingmen are entitled to a

just proportion of the proceeds of their labor”

-Eugene V. Debs

“My life work has been to try to educate the worker to a sense of the wrongs he has had to suffer, and does suffer - and to stir up

the oppressed to a point of getting off their knees and

demanding that which I believe to be rightfully theirs.”

Based on the following images, what were the conditions while

working in factories?

Working Conditions

• Wages– Low wages– Wage inequality

• Hours– Long >12-18 hours– 6-7 days per week– Overtime - unpaid

• Conditions– Lighting– Dirty/Dusty/Filthy

• Safety– Crowding– Temperature– Equipment– Inspection?

Organized Labor

• Powerlessness among the workers– Factories no longer run by families

• No friendly discussion• No bargaining for wages

– Man replaced by machinery– Focused on output and bottom line

Resistance begins…

• Workers strike back against these outrageous working conditions– Slower pace– Informal strikes

• Formal methods– Rise of organized labor unions

• Attempt to have a voice, fight for better working conditions

• Methods– Strikes– Collective bargaining – Arbitration

Resistance Continues…• Labor Unions

– People with similar skill/trade banned together• Use specific tactics to have their voice heard,

create changes

– Early victories led to increased membership

Knights of Labor

• Knights of Labor (1869)– Skilled labor only– Terrance Powderly – president of union

• Opened the union up to immigrants, African Americans, women and unskilled laborers

• Opposed strikes– Used public meetings to gain support

American Federation of Labor

• AFL - 1886– Samuel Gompers founder– Became one of the most powerful labor unions in the

nation– Skilled workers only

• Skilled workers joined a specific trade union (blacksmith, carpenter, plumber). The trade union itself then joined the AFL (no individual members of AFL).

• African Americans, immigrants and unskilled workers barred from joining as they were not able to join most trade unions (remained unrepresented)

Labor Union Lingo• Strike

– Stoppage in work– Risks of a strike

• Loss of job (easily replaced – especially unskilled labor)• Black listed• Yellow-dog contracts• Violence/riot

• Collective Bargaining– Right for unions to be able to negotiate with

management as the workers’ representatives• Skilled in negotiation, legality of writing and consequences

• Arbitration– Process that allows a third party to make legally

binding decisions when two sides are in disagreement

Haymarket Riots

• McCormick Harvest Company – Chicago• Initial strike not endorsed by the K of L

– Strikers and strikebreakers clash outside the factory• Police arrive, shots are fired, four left dead

– Next day more strikers (anarchists) come out to protest yesterdays violence

• Anarchists – opposed to organized government• Protesters, strikers, police, strikebreakers – bomb explodes

killing an additional seven people

• Unsuccessful strike– Membership declines

Pullman Car Factory Strike

• Pullman cut wages at railroad car factory• Did not reduce rent/prices in company towns• Strike ensues

– As sympathies grew throughout the industry other railroad workers began to walk off the job

• Effectively shutting down the railroads

– Federal government steps in and forces laborers back to work

• Government intervention (first time)• Illegal to stop the United States mail service

“ ‘A girl and I,…were on the eighth floor, and when I

ran for the elevator shaft my girl friend

started for the window on the

Washington Street side. I looked

around to call her but she had gone.’”

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

• March 1911

• New York

• Fire breaks out just before closing time…

• Owners kept doors locked to keep laborers at work

• Fire ladders could not reach the top floors

• Laborers climbing over one another and jumping out windows

New Working Class• Immigrants

– Temporary stay

• African Americans– North and West; not hired in Southern industry

• Women– Did not want to return to life in the home– Industrial boom meant an increasing demand for labor– Families needed the money

• Children– Families needed the money– Education not compulsory– Small size/stature (machines)– Lower wage– No child labor laws (hours, wage, work week, etc.)

Who represents the farmers?• As the country moved from an agricultural icon

through the industrial revolution people began to forget about the farmers– Unions were limited in their representation

• Discriminatory (race, skill, etc.)– Farmers demanded representation and a voice too

• Populists (1892)– political party that invested time into representing the issues of farmers (low prices, high costs, failing farms)

– Found a voice in Congress electing 10 members over the years– Never won a Presidential Election (William Jennings Bryan

closest)• Grange

– Social organization that expanded into addressing economic and political problems facing farmers

• Cooperative– Farmers pooled their resources (money, machinery, tools,

transportation costs, etc.) together

Why did labor unions emerge in the late 1800s?

What were industrial working conditions like in the late 19th Century?• LONG HOURS! - 72 to 84 per week.• ANY VACATION TIME?• SICK LEAVE?• “SAFETY NET”?• DANGEROUS WORK CONDITIONS• 1882 – AVERAGE OF 675 LABORERS KILLED

EACH WEEK• CHILD LABOR• SWEATSHOPS – 27 CENTS FOR 14 HR. DAY

Different Unions Had Different Goals

• National Labor Union – (1866) – First union to organize workers regardless of their race or gender or whether they were skilled or unskilled.

• Knights of Labor – (1869) – preferred arbitration to the strike. Claimed 750,000 members by 1886, before fading out after a violent labor demonstration in Chicago.

The American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• Led by its president, Samuel Gompers.

• Not very radical.• Worked for realistic goals.• Open only to skilled

workers.• 1 million members by

1900.• More successful than

other major unions.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

• AKA the Wobblies.• Most radical union of the

time.• Working class should

control factories and businesses.

• Sometimes violent.• Contained socialists –

supported overthrowing capitalism.

Eugene V. Debs

• Left home at 14 to work for the railroads.

• Organized the American Railway Union , including all workers, skilled and unskilled.

• Became a socialist and ran for President five times.

• Won 900,000 votes in 1912.

Labor Union Goals/hope to accomplish Labor Union Personalities (how did he/she impact the

happenings of labor unions?)

Labor Strike

(where, when, industry)

Who was involved? Reason? Results?

• Straining backs, hands and eyes, those working on special stitching and fine work might sit close to windows in order to have better light while the sun shone.  Others were forced to work under ineffective gas lights.

• Long workdays at piece rates were often insufficient to pay high rents, sustain families and save for a better life.  To compound the problem, during the slack season work was assigned preferentially.  Any public sign of discontent guaranteed there would be no money coming in throughout that time.

• Dark cramped shops made exhausting work still more difficult and dangerous.  Children hired in violation of child labor laws were helped to hide in large boxes of cloth on the rare occasion when inspectors arrived.

• Some unethical subcontractors took advantage of newly-arrived immigrants, forcing them to work long hours for the right to keep their job.  Supervisors docked pay for late arrival, talking, missing Sunday shifts, or taking too long in the rest room.  On the other hand, a 56-hour week might stretch to 70 hours without overtime pay.

• Labor unions, religious communities, political groups and social reform organizations assembled to mourn those who lost their lives and demand real progress in worker protection.  At times the difficulties created by their differences in methods and priorities threatened to take back gains made in public awareness and the commitment to act.