Chapter 4, Lesson 4
The Labor movement
Mr. Julian’s 5th Grade
Class
Essential Question
• Why did workers form labor unions to fight
for better wages and working conditions?
Places
• Homestead, Pennsylvania
• New York, New York
People
• Lewis Hine
• Samuel Gompers
• Mary Harris Jones
vocabulary
• Sweatshop
• Labor union
• Strike
Factories and
Sweatshops
• Andrew Carnegie made millions from his
steel factories but his workers barley made
enough money to survive.
• Most of his workers, worked 12 hours a
day and got paid only $10 a week.
• Women that worked in clothing factories
got paid even less.
• Factories were hot and cramped. They
were also know as sweatshops.
Children at Work
• Due to low wages, parents often had to
make their children go to work to help
support their families.
• Children were paid even less than the
adults.
• Children worked 10 – 12 hours a day
earning just 10 or 20 cents a day.
Children at Work
• The jobs the children were given were the
most dangerous.
• Many children lost fingers or worse, working
in the factories.
• People began speaking out against child
labor.
• A teacher named Lewis Hine led this
movement.
• He took many pictures of children in these
awful conditions to try and convince people
to end child labor.
Labor Unions
• Low wages, long workdays, and disasters
encouraged workers to join labor unions.
• A labor union helped people improve
working conditions, get better wages, and
end child labor.
• One of the first labor union leaders was
Samuel Gompers.
Labor Unions
• Gompers formed a labor union of cigar
factory workers when owners lowered
wages.
• In 1877 his union went on strike, or had
workers refuse to work.
• The strike did not work, so Gompers
realized that his labor union needed
workers from other industries to be
effective.
Labor Unions
• He formed the AFL or American Federation
of Labor.
• At the same time a union named the
United Mine Workers worked to improve
conditions for coal miners.
• Mary Harris Jones or “Mother” Jones
helped this effort by getting workers to join
the union.
Going on Strike
• Many unions became violent when owners
refused to listen to the workers demands.
• Most strikes however, were resolved
peacefully.
Improving Conditions
• As the membership of labor unions grew
so did their impact.
• Unions created a new holiday, Labor Day.
• The first Labor Day celebration was held in
New York City in September 1882.
Review Questions
• What conditions led to the rise of Labor
Unions?
• What were the main goals of the AFL?