1 / 7

Opposition to Unions… … Leads to their Demise

Learn about opposition to unions in early 20th century America, where employers exploited workers and influenced the government, leading to challenges for labor movements and pushing back progress.

lilika
Download Presentation

Opposition to Unions… … Leads to their Demise

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Opposition to Unions……Leads to their Demise

  2. Employers • Wanted to work people as long as possible for as little as possible to make as much money as possible • “If you don’t come in Sunday, then don’t come in Monday.” • “I treat my workers as I treat my machines.” • “We’ll hire one-half of labor to kill the other half.” • “If you pay the working class too much they will just spend it on liquor and wild times.”

  3. Employers… • Found it easy to influence the public and government • Hired lawyers to fight in courts • Contributed to politicians – “bought” Senators and Congressmen

  4. Public • Very negative because of violence and strikes • Feared disorder and chaos • Felt it wasn’t right to “gang up” on the employers (i.e. Social Darwinism) • Angry when strikes caused shortages of goods

  5. Immigrants & Unskilled Workers • Mistrusted unions • Unions were basically for skilled workers

  6. Government • Government decisions dictated by economic interests • Sent in state militia and federal troops • stopped strikes • Issued injunctions • Sent labor leaders to prison • Debs during the Pullman strike

  7. As a result… • Difficult for unions to be effective • Unions were losing members • In 1910, 8.3% of industrial workers belonged to unions • Also… • hurt themselves with continued prejudice against women & minorities

More Related