Chapter 9, Section 4: Unions Outline
Early Unions
· Workers felt like they were being exploited by their owners by:
o Being paid little for their work (22 cents an hour; 59 hours)
o Working long hours (12 hours a day; 6-7 days a week)
o Working in horrible and dangerous conditions
· Two kinds of workers:
o Craft workers- skilled labor that was paid more
o Common laborer- few skills and paid less
· Workers decided to band together and organize so their voices could be heard, creating what we call unions
o Trade Union- some specific skill like Iron working, shoe cobbling
o Industrial Union- all workers in an industry come together (craft and common)
Industry opposed to Unions
· Owners were not fond of unions because they usually caused disturbance within the industry
o Workers could not join a union
o Hired police and detectives to go undercover (Pinkertons)
o Workers who joined union were “blacklisted” or blackballed
o Created lockout to where workers could not work and get paid, hired strikebreakers or scabs to work in their place
European Immigrants bring Marxism (1848)
· Karl Marx believes in a socialist society where the workers will rise up, overthrow the owners, and seize control of government and distribute the wealth evenly, leading to a classless society (communism)
· Also, anarchism (belief in no government; government not needed) and caused riots and bombings
· Americans began to resent immigrants, causing Nativism to occur
Knights of Labor (1886)
· 1st nationwide industrial union; downfall was Haymarket Riot
American Federation of Labor
· Led by Samuel Gomers; nationwide trade union
Women’s Trade Union League (1903)
· Women made up 18% of workforce by 1900, but still paid less than men because seen as “supplementing” men’s income
· First national association to help with the promotion of women’s labor and abolishing child labor
Major Labor Strikes
1. Great Railroad Strike of 1877- 1st nationwide labor strike; governors call in state militia, President Hayes calls in army, and 100 people lay dead (leads to Knights of Labor being founded)
2. Haymarket Riot (1886)- Chicago; wanted eight-hour workdays; nationwide strike; 3000 people meet to hear speeches and an anarchist group threw a bomb, police intervened and 7 cops and 4 workers lay dead; Eight anarchists were arrested, 4 executed; end of Knights of Labor
3. Homestead Steel Strike (1892)- workers and Carnegie Steel Company over wages; Henry Clay Frick was in charge; strikers blocked the plant, and 300 Pinkerton agents tried to come in as scabs; when they tried to come in, alarms were sounded and 3 Pinkerton and 7 workers were killed; many workers were blacklisted or rehired as non-union workers
4. Pullman Strike (1894)- boycott of workers near Chicago; cutting wages at a railroad car company; Pullman decided to hook up U.S. mail cars so if strikers refused to work, they would violate federal law; President Cleveland stepped in and ended the boycott