19-4 Industrial Workers

Mrs. Manley

Industrial Workers• Why are workers organizing into unions?

- to demand better pay and working conditions• Mass production- leads to less personal working

conditions in factories• 10-12 hr. workdays• Fired at anytime/any reason• Immigrants working for low pay took jobs• Factories- noisy, unhealthy & unsafe• Burns, spills, coal dust, cave-ins, lung damage, poor

eyesight• Sweatshops- urban factories where garments are

made- known for poor conditions

• Women were paid ½ of what men earned for same work

• Child Labor- laws said had to be 12 yrs. And couldn’t work more that 10 hrs. a day; did not apply to agriculture or address unsafe conditions

Labor Unions

• Labor Unions- groups of dissatisfied workers who organize to demand better pay and working conditions

• Knights of Labor- – led by Terrence Powderly in Philadelphia– African-Americans, immigrants, and unskilled

laborers could join– Grew quickly but lost power

Labor Unions cont.

• American Federation of Labor (AFL)- – Skilled workers of various crafts/trades– Led by Samuel Gompers– Wanted :• higher wages, • shorter hours, • better working conditions,• and collective bargaining- unions represent

workers to bargain or work with management for change

Women and Unions• Many unions wouldn’t accept women• “Mother Jones”, Mary Harris Jones, fought for

women’s rights• Triangle Shirtwaist Company- – Crowded sweatshop NYC– Fire breaks out, women trapped and burned to

death b/c company locked doors to prevent them from leaving

– 150 workers die•International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) forms to push for safer working conditions

Unions Act:• Economic depressions led to firings and pay cuts• Strikes break out• Strikebreakers- hired by companies to replace

striking workers• Haymarket Square, Chicago- Strikers gather to

protest the killing of other strikers. Police are called. Bomb thrown at police and a riot breaks out. This Haymarket Riot= terrorism and disorder

• Homestead Strike- at Carnegie’s Steel Plant in Homestead, PA.– Wages were cut– Union strikes, company hires strikebreakers (non-

union) and guards to protect them– Fight breaks out, 10 dead– Militia is sent in to restore order. Failed.

• Pullman Strike- – Railcar plant cuts wages, workers strike– Pullman closes plant– Other rail workers refuse to work and rail traffic is

stopped– US Attorney general issues an injunction- court

order- to stop obstructing the railways! – Eugene Debs- leader; refuses to end strike and is

jailed– President Grover Cleveland sends in federal troops

to end strike, another failed strike.

• Unions do not give up and keep fighting for:– Better wages– Better Working Conditions