COPY THE WORDS IN RED

Organizing Workers

A Hard Life for Workers

Sweatshops = places where workers worked long hours under poor conditions for low wages.

Pre-Industrialization, skilled workers made products from start to finish

Post-Industrialization, workers usually did one small part of the work, over and over again.

Workers often treated like machinery.

Child Labor

Factories, sweatshops, & mines used both adults and child workers.

Children were useful for their small size.

Started as young as 6 yr. Old

1870 = 750,000 workers under 15 yr. Old – increased over next 30 yrs.

A Call to Action

Corporations goal was to make money – paid little attention to worker conditions

No government helpLabor Unions = groups of workers that

negotiate with company owners about wages & working conditions

The need to organize was seen in 1877…

Railroad Strike of 1877

Railroads began to lose money – companies began cutting workers’ wages

Workers in West Virginia started going on strike (refusing to work until their demands were met) – spread to every major industrial city

Pres. Hayes ended the strike with state and federal troops.

Knights of Labor

Terence Powderly was head of the Knights of Labor – A loose federation of workers from different trades

Demanded a shorter work day (8 hours) & restrictions on child labor

Allowed women & African Americans to join

Knights of Labor

Immigrants started taking jobs for less money than native-born workers.

Native-born workers began losing their jobs and wanted to limit immigration.

Knights of Labor (West Coast) excluded Chinese workers & worked to stop Chinese immigration

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 – stopped Chinese Immigration to the U.S. for 10 years.

Opposition to Labor Unions

Business leaders blamed unions on Socialists & Anarchists

Socialists = believed in a social system where the means of production and distribution of goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government.

Anarchists = believed in the abolition of all governments

After some violent fights with labor unions, public opposition to unions increased and union membership dropped.

Until…

American Federation of Labor

Samuel Gompers founded a national organization of unions

AFL used negotiations, strikes, and boycotts to get better working conditions

1904 – about 1.7 million members

Union Setbacks

Some strikes ended in violence, while other companies brought in strikebreakers (people who work in the place of workers on strike)

Company owners (Like Andrew Carnegie) refused to deal with Unions, only having discussions with one worker at a time.

Some factories would kick union workers out, and reopen with non-union workers.

Homestead Strike

1892 – Andrew Carnegie reduced wages at his steel mills in Homestead, Pennsylvania

AFL led Homestead Strike – nonunion workers hired with armed guards

July 6 – 10 people killed in fight between guards and locked out workers

After 4 months, the strike collapsed

Pullman Strike

1894 – worst depression to datePullman Palace Car Company cut wages 25-

40%Laid off many workersPullman workers went on strike, refusing to

handle Pullman carsPresident sent in troops to break up the

strike, union leaders went to jail

Federal Troops brought in to break up the Pullman Strike

Cause & Effect: Industrial GrowthCAUSES

•Growth of Railroads•New inventions•Large supply of natural resources•More workers & capital (money)

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH

(1860-1900)

EFFECTS•More goods available to consumers•More economic opportunities•Rise of corporations•Growth of labor unions