Big Business
&
Organized Labor
How did industrialization change the
workplace and give rise to labor
unions?
How did industrialization change the
relationship between the worker and
boss?
Organization
Inventions
Leaders
Industrialization
Leaders
Lives of
Workers?
Inventions
Organization
PSD Time!
• Please take 5 minutes to read and
think about the document you were
given
• Think about:
– The workers’ complaints
– The workers’ attitudes and perceptions
of their bosses
– What workers’ conditions must have
been like
Minute Spit-it
• Give each person in your small
group one minute to talk about their
findings
• Remember:
– Do not interrupt
– If minute not filled, must be silent
Conditions for Workers
Factory Life
• Workers: Immigrants, whites, & African
Americans from the South.
• Hours: Long
• Pay: Very Low
• Conditions: Dust, bad lighting, faulty machines,
no inspections, burns, death, poor training.
• Women: Highest number of workers.
• Children: Did not go to school.
• Employers not required paying for factory
injuries.
• Triangle Shirt Factory: Owner locked workers
in, most died in a fire.
Especially Brutal
Conditions in PA
• Coal and iron police
• Pennsylvania Railroads and
corporate charters
• Use of the state militia and federal
troops
• Company towns
What could you do to protect
your rights?
• If you were this guy, what
would your options possibly be
to try to protect yourself?
Strikes in the U.S.
Labor Unions
• Goals: Safer working conditions, shorter hours,
& better pay.
• Early Unions:
– Knights of Labor
– American Federation of Labor led by Samuel
Gompers.
• Problems: Some unions did not represent all
workers, riots, protests and strikes became
violent.
• Started Collective Bargaining or negotiations
between workers and management
Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly
An injury to one is the concern of all!
Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor trade card
•
Goals of the Knights of
Labor
Eight-hour workday.
•
Workers’ cooperatives.
•
Worker-owned factories.
•
Abolition of child and prison labor.
•
Increased circulation of greenbacks.
•
Equal pay for men and women.
•
Safety codes in the workplace.
•
Prohibition of contract foreign labor.
•
Abolition of the National Bank.
The American Federation
of Labor: 1886
Samuel Gompers
How the AF of L
Would Help the Workers
•
Catered to the skilled worker.
•
Represented workers in matters of national
legislation.
•
Maintained a national strike fund.
•
Evangelized the cause of unionism.
•
Prevented disputes among the many craft
unions.
•
Mediated disputes between management
and labor.
•
Pushed for closed shops.
Haymarket Riot (1886)
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
Management vs. Labor
“Tools” of
Management
“Tools” of
Labor
 “scabs”
 boycotts
 P. R. campaign
 sympathy
demonstrations
 Pinkertons
 lockout
 blacklisting
 yellow-dog contracts
 informational
picketing
 closed shops
 court injunctions
 organized
strikes
 open shop
 “wildcat” strikes
The Corporate
“Bully-Boys”: Pinkerton
Agents
Case Study:
The Pullman Strike of 1894
Pullman Cars
A Pullman porter
A
“Company
Town”:
Pullman,
IL
The Pullman Strike of 1894
Government by injunction!
Case Study: Strikes
Each group will be given one of the
following strikes to research:
• The Lattimer Massacre
• The Great Railroad Strike (in
Pittsburgh)
• The Homestead Strike
• The McKeesport Strike
Your group must research the
following topics and report their
findings to the class
• What industry was involved with
this strike (coal, steel, railroads)?
• What caused the strike to happen?
• How did the strike “go down”?
• What was the end result?
The Great Railroad Strike
of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike
of 1877
Homestead Steel Strike
(1892)
Homestead Steel
Works
The Amalgamated
Association of
Iron & Steel Workers
Attempted Assassination!
Henry Clay Frick
Alexander Berkman
Summarize
What conditions cause strikes
to happen?
What is the purpose of the
strike?
How did the company, police,
gov’t, etc treat workers?
What did the strike
accomplish?