Strikes Rock the Nation
Pullman
Homestead
Haymarket
Factory Work
Some workers were paid for
each finished piece the
produced. Most piecework
was completed in
sweatshops.
Frederick Taylor improved
work productivity and profit
with the Principles of
Scientific Management that
resulted in the division of
labor. Workers were seen
as “hands” or “operatives”
In factories, workers logged
long hours with little pay in
unsafe conditions.
Working Families
Children were 5% of the labor
force. Between the ages of 10
and 16, children left school to
worked long hours for low
wages. Many were maimed or
deformed for their efforts.Other
families depended on charities
to survive.
Rise of Labor Unions
By 1890, 9% of Americans owned 75% of the nation’s wealth. Workers began to
seek solutions to get their fair share of the wealth.
One option was Socialism that wanted the government to own production and
distribute the wealth equally. Socialism became more radical when Karl Marx
issued the Communist Manifesto denouncing capitalism.
A violent choice was anarchism
Unions
Knights of Labor A National Union
protecting all unskilled men and women including
African Americans
Leader - Terence Powderly who demanded equal pay for equal work, the 8 hour
workday and an end to child labor
The Knights did not want to use the strike to get their demands because strikes
turned violent and that hurt the unions
Unions
American Federation of Labor
A craft union that organized only skilled
workers and excluded women and African
Americans
Leader was Samuel Gompers who used
strikes and boycotts to force owners to
participate in collective bargaining
IWW or Wobblies
Industrial Workers of the World
Founded in 1905 by Bill Haywood
Radical union that helped the unskilled
worker and relied on violence and strikes
Owners Response to Unions
Forbade union meetings
Fired union organizers
Forced workers to sign “yellow Dog” contracts promising
never to join a union or a strike
Refused collective bargaining if workers were on strike
Refused to recognize union representatives
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
July 1877, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads cut wages by 10%, this was
the second wage cut in 8 months. Other railroads did the same and also
ran “double headers”
Workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia declared a strike. When they tried
to prevent scabs from running the train, they clashed with militia. Violence
spread to Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis
Strikers attacked railroad property and state governors asked for federal
help.
President Hayes sent in federal troops
When troops in Pittsburg killed many rioters, a crowd of 20,000 men and
women set fire to the railroad company causing $5,000,000.00 in
damages
The stage was set. Employers got federal and state help when labor
unions went on strike and strikes turned violent.
Haymarket Riot 1886
May 1st, 1886, Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions prepared for an eight-hour day and were joined
by the Knights of Labor and IWPA International Working People’s Union) Anarchists (80,000)
1. McCormick had cut wages but not rent in his company town despite a 71% profit. Ordered a lockout in
response to the union plan for a strike and hired strikebreakers and 400 police officers to guard them.
2. Lumber workers and McCormick workers joined forces at the Cyrus McCormick Reaper Plant to protest the
hiring of strikebreakers.
3. Police attacked protestors without warning, killing two and wounding several others
4. IWPA called for a meeting on May 4th to protest Police Violence and memorialize
victims at McCormick Plant.
5. IWPA posted leaflets that called for unions to fight back; Revenge Workingmen to Army
6. Demonstration was peaceful as Spies and others spoke. Even the Mayor found it peaceful.
7. Later, 180 police moved in to break up meeting, a bomb exploded
killing police officer, Mathias Degan, and eleven people. Seven other
policemen died from their injuries. Police opened fire killing eleven more.
8. Eight IWPA workers arrested and tried for murder. All eight found guilty, four were
executed and Louis Lingg killed himself.Three others released in 1893 and pardoned by Governor
Homestead Strike 1892
Price of steel dropped so Frick and Carnegie looked to cut production costs
Henry Frick tried to cut workers’ wages so workers hanged Frick in effigy
Frick began closing the mills, and locked out 1,100 men
Frick would no longer negotiate with the unions, only individuals
Carnegie did not respond to efforts to reach him
3,000 of 3,800 workers voted to strike (only 780 were union)
Frick fenced off the mill, adding peep-holes for rifles
Workers seized Fort Frick
June 1 Frick hired Pinkertons, a private police force
July 5, 300 Pinkerton guards hired by Frick came up the Monongahela River under
darkness
Gunfight broke out between union and guards
who tried to surrender 3 times.
July 23, Alexander Berkman tried to
assassinate Frick
Union called off strike.
State militia moved in to protect mill
Pullman Strike 1894
Pullman Company manufactured sleeper cars
Pullman City was built to house employees and workers
were required to live
In 1893, Pullman laid off workers & cut wages by 25% but
kept rent and food prices high
On May 11,1894, three thousand Pullman workers went on
strike. They were members of the American Railroad Union
(ARU) founded by Eugene V. Debs. who ordered that
strikers not touch the mail (federal offense)
General Managers Assoc. asked federal government for
help because they claimed the mail could not get through
On July 2, 1894, Attorney General Olney got an injunction
saying that the strike was illegal.
This federal injunction and the fact that mail-trains might be
delayed caused President Grover Cleveland to send in
federal troops
Debs was arrested and several workers were blacklisted