Labor Unions

1. Labor Unions Era 7

2. Ending the Gilded Age/Beginning Progressivism **As ordinary Americans grew tired of the corruption in politics and business of the Gilded Age, a new spirit of reform sweeps the nation. People from all walks of life begin to call for improvements and progress in America. **Labor unions had worked to gain power in theera of big business.

3. United We Stand; Divided We Fall Labor Union- -an organization that represents the worker’s rights in the workplace. -work hours -child labor -wages -safety/working conditions **Labor unions were usually local until the National Labor Union was formed. It disbanded when a depression hit in 1873.

4. Big Business Fights Back **Owners of big business feared labor unions andtook steps to stop them. • Blacklisting – preventing workers from getting a job in an industry. • Sent spies among workers • Used the Pinkerton National Detective Agency • private security that would break up labor protests • Sent spies to encourage trouble in union meetings • Scabs- replacement workers for workers on strike

5. Labor Has Their Own Tactics Boycotts – get people not to buy the company’s product Informational picketing – to let public know conditions Closed shop – all workers must belong to union Organized strikes (work stoppages)

6. Famous Labor Disputes of the Era • Molly Maguries • Great Railroad strike 1877 • Haymarket Riot • Homestead strike • Pullman strike

7. The Molly Maguires (Pennsylvania) • -most famous -Irish coal miners form a secret union against coal mine owned by Reading Railroad After a fire in the mine killed over 100 miners due to no second entrance, the miners decided to strike. The mine boss had had enough and used violence against the miners. -miners decided to fight violence with violence and begin to threaten management -The mine management hired a Pinkerton agent who infiltrates group and testifies against 24 miners.  Members of the "Mollies" were accused of murder, arson, kidnapping and other crimes, in part based on the testimony of a Pinkerton detective, James McParland -Many hanged and imprisoned.

8. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 -Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cuts wages 10% -W. Virginia railroad workers strike -Spread to all railroads in east and mid-west -2/3 of nation’s railroads come to a stop -violence between strikers and police break out in many major cities across the nation -federal troops sent in to stop destruction -increased anti-labor feelings because of fear

9. *When prosperity returns in the 1880’s, unions again attempt to gain power for the workers. • The Knights of Labor -secret from 1869-1878 until it went national -all workers, skilled, unskilled, men, women, different races and ethnicities -excluded liquor dealers, professional gamblers, bankers, lawyers -called for an end to child labor, convict labor -wanted equal pay for women, safety codes 8 hour days, public ownership of railroads -numbers rose to 800,000 until Haymarket Riots

10. Haymarket Riot -at McCormick Harvester Works, Chicago, IL -trouble between workers and police -rally gathers in Haymarket Square to support workers. -bomb thrown at police, police fire on crowd -6 civilians and 4 police die -Knights of Labor wrongly blamed and numbers fall to about 100,000 then fades away.

11. **The decline in the Knights of Labor did not mean an end to labor-management violence. Two of the biggest and bloodiest strikes took place in 1890. • Homestead Strike (Pennsylvania) -at Carnegie’s Homestead steelworks -boss Henry Frick cut wages and demanded union end -workers are locked out -3,000 workers fight 300 police -anarchist,a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power, tries to kill Frick -popular support turns against workers -Carnegie has gov’t on his side. -Union is broken up

12. **For the next 20 years, the gov’t will use injunctions as a powerful tool against the union movement. • Pullman Strike -Pullman Palace Car Co. in Pullman, Illinois - When his company laid off workers and lowered wages, it did not reduce rents, and the workers called for a strike. -workers strike and strike spreads cross-country The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation‘s freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. -President Grover Cleveland sends troops -federal court issues an injunction to end strike on the basis it is interfering with mail delivery. -union refuses and leaders go to jail -leader Eugene Debs becomes a socialist in jail after reading about Karl Marx’s ideas on Socialism -gov’t again sides with big business

13. **It was decided that the unskilled worker was the weak link in the labor movement. • The American Federation of Labor (AFL) • labor organization of skilled workers (craft unionism)---no attempt to organize unskilled workers • headed by Samuel Gompers • concerned only with labor issues, not interested in social reform • (wages, hours, working conditions, etc) • grew to 1.7 million members by 1904 • accepted Capitalism but just wanted workers to get a “piece of the pie” • Capitalism - privately owned businesses and goods and services are produced for profit in a market economy.

14. From the 1900s to Today •  Unlike the National Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, the AFL represented only skilled white male craftsmen in the cities. • Despite this limitation, however, the AFL survived the Gilded Age and would become one of the most powerful labor unions in the new century. • In 1955 it joined with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to become the (AFL–CIO)