The Gilded Age
The Organization of Labor
Essential Question:
How did workers & the U.S.
government respond to the
rapid changes of
industrialization during the
Gilded Age?
Changes of the Gilded Age
• During the Gilded Age (1870-1900), the
U.S. industrialized rapidly:
• New technology led to a boom in
railroads, oil, steel, electricity
• Trusts, corporate mergers, & new
business leaders led to monopolies
• Mass immigration from Southern &
Eastern Europe increased the size of
American cities
• But, problems during the Gilded Age led
to demands for change
The Changing American
Labor Force
Group Activity:
Gilded Age Theme Analysis
• Students will examine a series of
three primary sources from the
Gilded Age:
• For each image, provide a one
sentence summary of the image
• Once all three images are revealed,
determine how the images are
related—What’s the theme?
Theme #1—Image A
Theme #1—Image B
Theme #1—Image C
Theme #1: Labor Unions
• Industrial work was hard:
• 12 hour days, 6 days per week
• Received low wages; No sick leave or
injury compensation
• Industrial work was unskilled,
dangerous, & monotonous
• These bad conditions led to the growth of
labor unions -- groups that demanded
better pay & conditions through collective
bargaining
Theme #1: Labor Unions
Two Labor Union
(types)
1) Trade Unions (skilled)
 Limited to people with
similar skills
Vs.
2) Common Laborers
(unskilled)
 workers w/ little
to no skills (paid
less)
Theme #1: Labor Unions
Industrial Unions
The unification of all
trade unions and
common laborers.
Opposed by business
interests.
Knights of Labor
• first major union
founded in 1869
• demanded sweeping
reforms:
• Equal pay for women
• An end to child
labor
• 8 hour work day
• claimed a substantial
membership
• Women
• African Americans
• immigrants
American Federation
of Labor (AFL)
Samuel Gompers, creates
union catered exclusively to
skilled laborers and focused
on smaller, more practical
issues:
•
•
•
•
Increasing wages
Reducing hours
Imposing safety measures.
Pushed for closed shops
• Company could only hire
union workers
Theme #1: Labor Unions
• Some people turned to socialism:
government control of business and
property, equal distribution of wealth
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW,
called the “Wobblies”) formed in 1905
• Socialism seemed appealing to some
Americans, but never became a major
option for workers
• By 1900, only 4% of all workers were
unionized
Theme #2—Image A
Theme #2
—Image B
Theme #2—Image C
Theme #2: Strikes & Labor
Unrest
• One of the tactics used by unions to
gain better pay was to strike:
• Strikes were designed to stop
production in order to gain pay
Theme #2: Strikes & Labor
Unrest
Business Opposition
 Blacklists
 union organizers
put on do not hire
lists
 Lockouts
 when union formed,
business locks out
workers
 Strikebreakers
(scabs)
 replacement workers
The Corporate
“Bully-Boys”: Pinkerton
Agents
Some business firms hired private police
companies to deal w/ strikers
In some cases, violence broke out
Theme #2: Strikes & Labor Unrest
During the Chicago Haymarket Strike (1886),
unionists demanded an 8-hr day; When violence
broke out, public opinion turned against unions,
viewing them as violent & “un-American”
Theme #2: Strikes & Labor
Unrest
ViolenceSteelworkers
erupted duringdid
thenot
Homestead
Strike
form
(1892)aatnew
oneunion
of Carnegie’s
steel
plants;
for 40 years
Federal troops were called to re-open the place
with replacement workers
Theme #2: Strikes & Labor Unrest
In 1894, Eugene Debs led railroad workers on a
national strike when the Pullman Palace Car
Company cut wages by 50%
President Cleveland sent the army to end the strike;
Strikers in 27 states resisted U.S. troops & dozens died
Management vs. Labor
“Tools” of
Management
“Tools” of
Labor
 “scabs”
 boycotts
 P. R. campaign
 sympathy
demonstrations
 Pinkertons
 lockout
 Blacklisting
 open shop
 informational
picketing
 closed shops
 organized
strikes
 “wildcat” strikes
The Great U.S. FEAR: The
Hand That Will Rule the
World One Big Union
A “Company
Town”:
Pullman, IL
Child Labor
Child Labor
After viewing the photos of child
labor, why do you think this image
is called “Galley Labor?”
Organized Labor Loses
Strength
• The Supreme Court
later upheld the use
of injunctions against
labor unions, giving
businesses a
powerful new weapon
to suppress strikes.
Organized Labor Loses
Strength
• Lochner v. New
York (1905)
Supreme Court
ruled 60-hour work
week limit
unconstitutional
• Freedom of
Contract
• Organized labor
began to fade in
strength, and did not
resurge until the
1930s