Unions

1. Section 4 Unions

2. Unions • Life in industrial America was more than difficult. • Machines replaced skilled labor, leaving repetitive mundane jobs for many Americans to go to every day. • Working conditions were often unhealthy and dangerous. • Workers breathed in lint, dust, and toxic fumes. • Machines lacking safety devices caused high numbers of injuries.

4. Unions • Industrialism also brought about an increase in the standard of living. • Real wages earned by the average worker rose by about 50 percent between 1860 to 1890. http://outrunchange.com/2012/06/14/typical-wages-in-1860-through-1890/

5. Unions • Despite a rise in the standard of living, an increase in the division of income between the wealthy and the working class caused resentment among workers. • In 1900 the average industrial worker made $.22 per four and worked 59 hours a week. • Between 1865 and 1897 the U.S. experienced deflation, or the rise in the value of money.

6. Unions • Deflation caused prices of goods to fall, which increased the buying power of workers. • Even when wages began to be cut, workers buying power was still increasing. • This caused workers to believe that companies wanted to pay them less money for the same work. • Many workers decided that the only way to improve their working conditions was to organize unions. • They could bargain collectively to negotiate high wages and better working conditions.

7. Unions • There were two basic types of unions. • Craft worker unions: Craft workers had special skills and training allowing for them to receive high wages and had more control over how they organized their time. • Included machinists, iron molders, stonecutters, glassblowers, shoemakers, printers, carpenters. • Common laborers had few skills and received lower wages. • In the 1830s craft workers began to form trade unions. • Trade Union: unions limited to people with specific skills.

8. Unions • Employers were often forced to recognize and negotiate with trade unions because they represented workers whose skills they needed. • Employers generally regarded unions as illegitimate conspiracies that interfered with their property rights. • Later unions expanded including common labors called industrial unions. • Corporations particularly opposed these unions.

9. Unions • Companies used several techniques to prevent unions from forming. • They required workers to take oaths or sign contracts promising not to join unions. • They hired detectives to go undercover and identify union organizers labeling them on a blacklist, a list of “trouble makers”. • Companies used lockouts to break up unions by locking out the workers and refusing to pay them. • If strikes occurred companies would use strikebreakers or replacement workers

10. Unions • Workers that wanted to organize unions faced many problems. • There were no laws protecting worker’s right to organize or requiring companies to negotiate with unions. • Union perception was that they threatened the American institution. • During this time the ideas of Karl Marx were spreading through Europe. • Marxismargued that the basic force shaping capitalist society was the class struggle between workers and owners eventually leading to a worker’s revolt, seizing control of factories and the overthrow of the government.

11. Unions • Marxism claimed that after the revolution, the government would seize all private property and create a socialist society where wealth was evenly divided. • Eventually the states would wither away, leaving a Communist society where classes did not exist. • These thoughts strongly shaped European unions. • Anarchy also became prevalent during this time. • Anarchist believed that society does not need any government and that with only a few acts of violence they could ignite a revolution to topple the government.

12. Unions • These beliefs spread throughout all of Europe. • When the immigrant population began to expand throughout America the thoughts of Marxism and Anarchism followed. • This created a nativist mentality increasing hatred toward immigrants and unions alike.

13. Unions • In 1873 a severe recession known as the Panic of 1873 struck the American economy and forced many companies to cut wages. • As struggles continued into 1877, several railroads announced another round of wage cuts. • This triggered the first nationwide labor protest. • The day after the cuts took effect, railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, walked off the job and blocked the tracks. • As other cities (New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago) heard about West Virginia, railroad workers began to do the same.

15. Unions • Several states called local militias to stop the violence. • Determined to stop the violence, President Hayes ordered the army to open the railroad between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. • He also sent troops to Chicago where they eventually ended the strike. • More than 100 people died and millions of dollars in damage to property had been destroyed.

17. Unions • The failure of the Great Railroad strike convinced many labor organizations that they needed to become more organized. • In the late 1870s, the Knights of Labor created the first nationwide industrial union. • The Knights of Labor called for the following items: • Eight hour workday • A government bureau of labor statistics • Equal pay for women • Abolition of child labor • Creation of worker-owned factories

18. Unions • The Knights of Labor initially opposed the use of strikes, preferring boycotts to pressure employers. • Also supported arbitration to help workers and their employers come to agreements on certain disagreements. • Arbitration: process in which an impartial third party helps workers and management reach an agreement. • In the early 1880s, the Knights began to use strikes and they achieved great success initially. • The Knights convinced Jay Gould to reverse wage cuts in 1885 increasing union membership by 600,000 members.

19. The Haymarket Riot andThe Pullman Strike • In 1886 organizers called for a nationwide strike on May 1 to show support of the eight-hour work day. • On May 3rd, a clash between strikers and police in Chicago left one striker dead. • That night an anarchist group organized a meeting in Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest the killing at Haymarket Square. • When the police arrived, someone threw a bomb causing the police to open fire. • After fighting ceased, seven police officers and four workers were killed. • Police arrested eight people, seven of which were German immigrants. • All were convicted, and four were executed.

21. The Haymarket Riot andThe Pullman Strike • 1893 railroad workers created the American Railway Union (ARU) under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs. • One of the companies the ARU unionized was the Pullman Palace Car Company, based in Illinois. • Building a town (Pullman Town) next to its factory, Debs required his workers to live in the town and buy goods from the company store. • In 1893 a depression struck the U.S., causing the Pullman Company to slash wages. • These wage cuts made it difficult for workers to pay their rent or the high prices at the company stores.

22. The Haymarket Riot andThe Pullman Strike • Three workers complained and Pullman fired those workers. • In response a strike was called. • In support, the ARU stopped handling Pullman cars all across the United States. • This tied up railroads and threatened to paralyze the economy. • Railroad managers arranged for U.S. mail cars to be attached to the Pullman cars. • This would require the railroads to use Pullman cars because it is a federal offense to interfere with U.S. mail.

23. The Haymarket Riot andThe Pullman Strike • President Grover Cleveland sent troops, claiming it was his responsibility to keep the mail running. • Then a federal court issued an injunction ordering the union to halt the boycott, the strike at Pullman and the ARU both collapsed.

25. The American Federation of Labor • In 1886 delegates from over 20 of the nation’s trade unions organized the American Federation of Labor (AFL). • Started by Samuel Gompers, his approach to labor relations—which he called “plain and simple” unionism—helped unions to become accepted in American society. • Gompers views on organized labor were the following: • Unions should stay out of politics • Socialistic and communistic ideas were rejected. • Fight for small gains (high wages and better working conditions. • Use negotiations instead of strikes.

26. The American Federation of Labor • Under Gompers, the AFL had three main goals. • Tried to convince companies to recognize unions and to agree to collective bargaining • It pushed for closed shops. • Closed Shops: requiring that companies to only hire union members. • Promoted eight-hour workday.

27. Women and Unions • By 1900, women made up 18% of the labor force. • The type of jobs women did outside the home reflected society’s ideas about what constituted “women’s work”. • One-third of women worked as domestic servants. • Another third worked as teachers, nurses, sales, clerks, and secretaries. • The remaining third were “light” industrial workers.

28. Women and Unions • Regardless of employment, women were paid less than men even when they performed the same jobs. • It was assumed that women had men that helped support her, either her father or husband. • This made it acceptable to pay men more than women for the same job. • For these reasons, women were excluded from unions. • 1903 two woman labor organizers, Mary O’Sullivan and Lenora O’Reilly, decided to start a separate union for women.

29. Women and Unions • With the help of Jane Addams and Lillian Wald, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) was organized. • This union supported the following: • Eight-hour work day • Creation of a minimum wage • End to evening work for women • Abolition of child labor. • The WTUL also collected donations to support women that were on strike.