Enriched Version
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Who entered the workforce and what kind of
work did they do?
How did the roles of workers change?
What are unions and how did they work for
improvements in the work place?
What were the results that the unions
achieved?
“To protect the workers in their inalienable
rights to a higher and better life; to protect
them, not only as equals before the law, but
also in their health, their homes, their
firesides, their liberties as men, as workers,
and as citizens…to this workers are
entitled…The attainment of these is the
glorious mission of the trade unions.” Samuel
Gompers, 1898
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Men left the home and began working outside of
it because the industrial goods that were
available for purchase significantly reduced their
work at home. (leather shoes, wheat and corn
harvesting and grinding, stoves and coal
decreased the amount of wood needed to be
cut)
Young unmarried ladies worked to help support
their families until they were married, then they
stayed home and tended to the house work.
Children worked in factories to help provide
money for the family.
For liberty our fathers fought
Which with their blood, they dearly bought,
The Factory system sets at naught.
A slave at morn, a slave at eve,
It doth my inmost feelings grieve;
The blood runs chilly from my heart,
To see fair Liberty depart;
And leave the wretches in their chains,
To feed a vampyre from their veins.
Great Britain's curse is now our own;
Enough to damn a King and Throne.
 “Portrait of a Factory Village” by Thomas Mann, 1833
Workers and owners began to drift apart as the working
relationship changed. Owners began expecting more for
less and could get away with it because there were others
waiting to fill those jobs.
 Roles of women:
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 More married ladies began working in factories out of necessity.
 Women began graduating high school more and received jobs
in an office doing typing or in schools as a teacher.
 Women received far less pay than men.
 The family unit suffered the loss of the mother and home
maker.
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Roles of minorities:
 African Americans were not allowed to join labor unions except
the Knights of Labor (after 1878)
 Received less pay than Caucasian males.
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Roles of children:
 Began working in
factories at a very young
age, many under the age
of 12
 Working resulted in lack
of education, emotional
disturbance, family
breakdown and physical
abuse
 Earned less than adults
 video
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Knights of Labor: 1869 Haymarket
Riot
 Depression made wages drop
 40,000 Chicago workers struck against
the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
 May 1, 1886: demanded 8 hour work day
 May 3, 1886: conflict between strikers
and police; 4 strikers died
 May 4th: rally in Chicago’s Haymarket
Square:
▪ About to break up when 200 police arrived
▪ A bomb exploded and 70 officers were
wounded, 7 police and 1 civilian died.
▪ Police arrested 8 well known anarchists.
▪ Only one of them was present and charged
with conspiracy.
▪ All 8 found guilty
▪ 4 hanged
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Amalgamated Association of Iron and
Steel Workers: Homestead Strike 1892
 Strike against Carnegie Steel because of
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a threat to cut wages and dismantle the
union
Workers picketed the plant.
Pinkerton guards came to protect the
plant but were attacked by the strikers
and run out of town.
Governor of Pennsylvania sent in militia
Strike lasted 9 months
Union didn’t gain anything from the
strike
Amalgamated Association of Iron and
Steel Workers dissolved
Steel Industry unorganized for 40 years
afterwards
video
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American Railway Union: 1894
Pullman Sleeping Car Factory
strike
 Pullman cut wages but not the rent or
prices at the store in the company
town.
 The union supported the strike-Led by
Eugene Debs
▪ Any train with Pullmans on them wouldn’t
be worked on or ridden.
▪ All railroad traffic stopped.
▪ President Cleveland ordered an end to the
strike because Federal mail went through the
railroad.
 Federal offense not to deliver US mail
▪ Strikers refused and were jailed.
▪ Federal troops went into Pullman in July.
▪ Pullman strike ended and the American
Railroad Union was destroyed
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American Federation of Labor:
 Founded by Samuel Gompers 1886
 Organized independent craft unions
into a group that worked to advance
interests of skilled labor
 Worked towards:
▪ 8 hour work day
▪ Better working conditions
▪ Use of union-made products
 Used strikes and boycotts
 Achievements: closed shop and the
end of yellow-dog contracts
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Industrial Workers of the World
 Formed by unskilled workers in
1905
 Encouraged militant aggression,
obstruction of industry and
damage to business
 1912 30,000 textile workers in
Lawrence, Massachusetts struck
for better working conditions and
better wages.
▪ American Woolen Company met
almost all of the demands
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International Ladies Garment
Workers Union
 Most unions wouldn’t allow
women to be members.
 A strike by thousands of women
shirtwaist workers led to the
International Ladies Garment
Workers Union.
 Helped the victims of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire,
NYC 1911
▪ 146 dead
▪ Led the way for factory inspection
laws
Increased pay led to a
higher standard of
living.
 The return of children
to schools and homes
helped strengthen the
family unit.
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Who entered the workforce and what kind of
work did they do?
How did the roles of workers change?
What are unions and how did they work for
improvements in the work place?
What were the results that the unions
achieved?