Unit 2: The Gilded Age
I Now Pronounce You, Unionized
Objective: I can explain what led to the
development of labor unions in the United
States.
Preview: Set up your unit page.
Process: Guided Notes.
On Your Own: Unionizing our school discussion.
Characteristics of the Gilded Age
 Child
labor
 Nativism
 Filth/crime
in cities
 Tenements
 Farmers
debt—buying new technology to help them.
 Treatment
of Native Americans
 Monopolies
 Working

conditions, low pay, long hours
Little was being done to address these problems because of
the laissez-faire attitude of the government
Workers Get Common Sense

Northern wages were generally higher than Southern wages BUT
exploitation and unsafe working conditions drew people together
across the country in a massive labor movement.

Laborers wanted improvements on their work life.

Due to the lack of government response, three different groups
challenged the issues of the gilded age.

Each group responded to different issues so their solutions will be
different.

Not all groups will be successful in addressing the problems…

Labor Unions – workers

Populists – farmers in the Midwest

Progressives – Middle class people living in the cities.
Labor Unions
- Organizations
of workers
- Craft unions = skilled laborers
- Industrial Unions = unskilled laborers
- Fought for higher pay and better working conditions
- Opposed by businesses and the government
Workers Unite

The solutions for some workers is to unite together as one.

This is known as a labor union

What are some things labor unions call for?

Better pay

Better hours

Better conditions

Limits on immigration

School attendance laws – limits child labor who could be paid far less

Some workers have more radical ideas

Overthrow owners and place workers in charge – socialism
How will laborer’s achieve their goals?

Instead of…
Collective bargaining –
when workers unite as one
and negotiate with
management for hours,
conditions and pay.
vs.
Vs.
 Knights
of
Labor


Led by Uriah Stevens & Terrence Powderly
Was open to all workers regardless of skill level,
gender, color, or trade

Fought for an eight hour workday

Wanted equal pay for men and women

Wanted child labor abolished

Improved safety in the workplace

Compensation for on-site injuries

Success - the KOL peaked with 700,000 members – they did
achieve some of their smaller goals for some workers, but
many of their greater demands were ignored.
Failure of the KOL: Haymarket Riot
 On
May 1, 1886, local chapters of the Knights went on
strike demanding an eight-hour day for all laborers.
At a rally in HAYMARKET SQUARE in Chicago on May
4, someone threw a bomb into the crowd. One police
officer died and several crowd members sustained
injuries.
 Who
was responsible? No one is really sure, but the
American press, government, and general public
blamed the Knights of Labor.

Americans associated labor activity with anarchists
and mob violence. Membership began to fall. Soon
the Knights were merely a shadow of their former
size
The AFL

American Federation of Labor

Leader – Samuel Gompers

Members – skilled workers only – craft union (organized into
chapters based on particular skill)

Platform- Bread and Butter Unionism – better pay, hours and
conditions.

Success Due to the fact that the AFL represented skilled labor
they did see more successes because it was tougher for
management to replace skilled labor.

As a result of these successes the AFL will live on and is still
the major union today – (known today as the AFL-CIO)

Think why professional athletes are able to get many of their
demands when they negotiate with owners

They are skilled – not easy to replace.
The Radical Option

After the death of the Knights of Labor another union
formed in attempt to unite all workers (AFL only
skilled)

The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)

Known as the Wobblies

Leader was Eugene v. Debs

Far more radical then the KOL – socialist

Wanted to overthrow management & capitalism



Workers should run all business
Violence was an appropriate tactic
Membership peaked at 100,000 but struggled to gain
mass acceptance (ideas counter to the “American
Dream” ideology that was so dominant at the time)
Management’s Response to Unions

Management in most cases refused to recognize Unions
right to exist and especially their right to collective
bargain.

What are some tactics management used to undermine
labor?

Lockouts, scabs, injunction, yellow-dog contract, blacklist

Scabs: Hiring a substitute worker

yellow-dog contracts: Workers pledge not to unionize as a condition
of their employment

Blacklists: Employers circulate lists of undesirable workers who led
strikes, or who were known for union organization
Injunction:
using the court system to
break strikes
Laborer’s Last
Option…

With management working so
hard to undermine Labor unions,
many Unions felt their only tactic
was to strike
 Strike
- Stopping of work by
employees to gain demands made
on their employer
Noteworthy Strikes





Great Railway Strike – 1877
 The B & O RR cut wages 20% over 8 months
 Riot turned violent – Federal troops called into put down
workers
Homestead Act of 1892 – details in movie – ended when
Pennsylvania State militia put down strike
http://www.history.com/topics/andrewcarnegie/videos/homestead-strike
Pullman Strike - 1895
 Pullman, a railway car maker laid of workers, cut wages by 25%
and refused to collective bargain. 120,000 railway workers went
on strike.
 With the halting of the railroads – mail was not being delivered.
So President Cleveland used this as justification to send in
federal troops to break up the strike
Pattern: Government always takes the side of business – laissezfaire in this time period actually means help business (free land,
open immigration, strike breaking)
Why did most unions fail at the time?

Unions for the most part failed to achieve demands for
workers.

Why?

National and State Government support big businesses
(break strike, little legislation passed to address
problems)

Public fear of unions – Haymarket strike turns many
against unions

Business undermined Unions whenever they could
 Leaders
jailed, scabs, blacklisted, yellow dog
contracts, did not recognize the right to collective
bargain
 large
supply of labor therefore the employer could
replace unskilled labor easily
History of Labor Day

http://youtu.be/FJamea576YY