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Workers Organize

Workers Organize. 14.3. Essential Questions?. To what extent were labor unions effective in meeting the political, economic, and social needs of laborers? How did the government’s role in economic and political affairs change during this era?. Main Idea.

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Workers Organize

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  1. Workers Organize 14.3

  2. Essential Questions? • To what extent were labor unions effective in meeting the political, economic, and social needs of laborers? • How did the government’s role in economic and political affairs change during this era?

  3. Main Idea • Grim working conditions in many industries led workers to form unions and stage labor strikes.

  4. Working Conditions in the Gilded Age • Long hours, few breaks • Rough, dangerous work • Children and women often risked their lives on job • If workers got sick and missed a day, they could be fired • If you get hurt on job, tough luck, the company wouldn’t pay

  5. Labor Unions • Workers form unions to combat powerful Robber Barons. • 2 types of unions • 1. CraftUnions: people with same occupation (carpenters’ union, teachers’ union ) • 2. Trade Unions: people from different types of jobs join the same union (bricklayer, factory worker in same union)

  6. Goal of Labor Union • 1. Better working conditions! • Safer conditions • No child labor • Fewer hours • 2. Higher wages! • More $

  7. Methods for Achieving Goals • Collective bargaining: labor and management try to reach an agreement together. • Mediation: a 3rd party listens to both sides, then makes a suggestion. • Arbitration: a 3rd party listens to both sides, then decides the case. • Strike: when labor refuses to work until management gives in to their demands.

  8. Management’s Tools • Injunction: a court order forcing workers to stop striking. • Scabs: workers strike, but management replaces them with non-union employees • Lockout: management refuses to allow workers to work. • Blacklist: troublesome employees may be fired and placed on a list which prohibits them from obtaining other employment.

  9. Management’s Tools • Yellow Dog Contracts: persuading workers to sign a contract guaranteeing they will not join a union. Closed Shop: employing only union members.

  10. Famous Strikes • The Great Strike (1877): West Virginia, railroad workers strike over pay cuts. Battles between workers and management spread throughout nation. Army comes in, dozens dead. • Haymarket Square (1884): Chicago, workers at the McCormick Reaper plant strike, clash with police, 8 police killed by bomb.

  11. Famous Strikes • Homestead Strike (1892): steel workers in Pittsburgh . Carnegie bought the mill, but refused to allow unions. Resulted in armed conflict, several die. • Pullman Strike (1894): workers for a train company went on strike in Chicago because of a 25% decrease in pay.

  12. Important Unions • American Federation of Labor (AFL): large organization of craft unions. Founded by Samuel Gompers. • Knights of Labor: early labor union that contributed to the populist movement. • Eugene Debs: 5 time presidential candidate for Socialist party and labor organizer.

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