US History
Ch. 20
The Gilded Age Part III
Working Conditions and the Rise of Labor Unions
Businesses grew rapidly during the Gilded Age. Corporations such as Rockefeller’s Standard Oil
Company formed large monopolies that resulted in huge profits. The U.S. Government encouraged the growth
of industry because it helped to strengthen the economy of our nation. With the exception of granting
corporations large subsidies, the government had a “laissez faire” approach to the economy. The government
enacted very few laws to regulate corporations. Instead the government allowed the businesses to regulate
themselves. During the Gilded Age the people that ran corporations made enormous profits and they became
very wealthy.
Working Conditions during the Gilded Age…
While business owners enjoyed the wealth they accumulated during the Gilded Age, most of their
employees did not enjoy the same quality of life. The conditions that most workers had to endure were pretty
horrific by today’s standards.
There were very few restrictions regarding child
labor at this time. Children as young as six years
old worked long hours for little or no pay. Children
were not paid the same wages as adults. Children
working at the Whitnel Cotton Mill in North
Carolina were paid about 48 cents a day for 12-14
hours of work. Children worked in all kinds of
factories and oftentimes in very dangerous
conditions. Young children were left to operate
dangerous equipment. Some children worked in
coal mines without the safety equipment necessary
to protect them from inhaling deadly fumes and
dust particles. Employing children was one way
that business owners cut their expenses so that they
could maximize their profits. It was not until 1936
that the Federal government passed the first law limiting child labor.
The working conditions for adults were not much better. The factories
where most people worked were very unsafe. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory,
located in New York City, was a typical textile mill of the time. It was considered
a sweatshop. The factory was extremely overcrowded with employees who worked
long 14-hour shifts. On March 25, 1911 a fire broke out in the factory resulting in
the deaths of 148 workers. This scenario was not uncommon. Similar incidents took
place all over the country including Providence, RI and Fall River, MA. The
machinery that factory workers operated was unsafe and often resulted in serious
injury to employees. Those who worked in the meatpacking industry risked falling
down on the unclean floors and being cut by coworkers on the crowded slaughterhouse floor. Coal miners were killed regularly by explosions or collapses. The courts
decided that workers injured on the job were not entitled to compensation from
their employers. A Massachusetts Judge stated, “workers agreed to take certain
risks when they began working for their employers.”
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Not only did employees take on the risk of personal injury, but they also were paid very low wages.
The government’s laissez faire approach to economics meant that minimum wage requirements had not been
established. Corporations could pay their employees whatever wages they deemed fit. When the business cycle
was in a recession (as it was in 1873, 1893 and 1907) corporations looked for ways to cut their expenses so they
could continue to maximize their profits. One way they did this was by lowering the wages paid to employees.
Most workers had found it difficult to provide for their families before the wages had been cut. The following is
a quote from a railroad worker in 1877,
They know what it is to bring up a family on ninety cents a day? To live on beans and corn meal week in and week out, to run in
debt at the stores until you cannot get credit any longer? To see the wife breaking down and the children growing sharp and
fierce like wolves because they don’t get enough to eat…
Workers Unite!
Workers felt as though there was no one out there who was willing to help them. The courts would
not rule in their favor and the government took a “hands off” approach to the economy that favored
businesses. Workers decided that they needed to help themselves. They formed labor unions. Labor unions are
organizations of workers who try to negotiate with business owners for better working conditions and higher
pay. Workers believed that if they stuck together they would be better able to negotiate with their employers.
Unions and business owners wrote legal workers’ contracts that both sides agree upon (outlining wages and
working conditions).
Strike 1, Strike 2, Strike 3…Strike 4, Strike 5, Strike 6…
An economic depression in 1873 devastated the nation. Banks began to shut down and businesses went
bankrupt (forcing them to lay off their employees). Over the next four years millions of workers took pay cuts
and about one fourth lost their jobs. In July 1877, the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad announced a wage
cut of 10%. The day the wage cut went into effect, the workers refused to run the trains. The union had
organized a worker’s strike. A strike is when members of a union refuse to work as a means of expressing their
discontent to their employers. As news of the strike spread across the country, many other workers joined in.
It was not long before the Pennsylvania Railroad was also shut down by striking workers. In Pittsburgh, 33 iron
mills, 29 oil refineries and 158 coal mines were shut down by workers who joined in the national workers strike.
State militias were called in to stop the strikes and violence erupted. Both workers and militiamen were killed.
Finally President Rutherford B. Hayes sent in federal troops to end the two-week strike. The strike did not
prevent the pay cut, but it did show the nation that labor unions had the potential to be very powerful.
Painting of the Pullman Strike
In 1894 another economic depression
forced many railroad companies to declare
bankruptcy. To stay in business, the Pullman
Palace Car Company (which made railroad cars) cut
their worker’s pay by 25%. Many workers lived in
apartments owned by the Pullman Company. The
Pullman Company did not lower the rents of these
apartments. After paying their rent, many Pullman
workers went home with no leftover pay. The
workers began the Pullman Strike of 1894 which
eventually spread to other industries. When the
Pullman company refused to negotiate, American
Railway Union president Eugene V. Debs called on
all U.S. Railway workers to refuse to handle
Pullman cars. Railway traffic throughout the
country came to a stop. U.S. President Grover
Cleveland had federal troops end the strike and he
threw Debs in jail.
Name:
Date:
Core:
U.S. History
ch. 20
The Gilded Age III: Working Conditions & Labor Unions
Reflection Questions…
Directions: Use the Gilded Age Part III: Working Conditions & the Rise of Labor Unions to answer the
following questions.
Fact Check…
1. What happened at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911? ______________________________
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2. What are “llabor unions”? _________________________________________________________
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3. Identify two specific problems that labor unions wanted to address in the late 1800s.
a. ________________________________________________________________________
b. ________________________________________________________________________
4. What is a “w
worker’s strike”? _______________________________________________________
5. Briefly describe the Pullman Strike of 1894. __________________________________________
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6. Who was Eugene V. Debs? ________________________________________________________
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7. Why do you think that all labor unions joined together when one union had a problem (i.e.
why did railroad workers join striking steel workers)? _________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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More on the back!!
8.
8. Choose a quote from the text and explain how it relates to the
picture on this page.
This picture reminds me of this quote: ______________________
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It reminded me of this quote because: _______________________
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9.
True or False. During the Gilded Age, corporations spent large amounts of money to ensure that their
factories were safe places for their employees. Business owners believed that a happy and safe employee
would be a productive employee.
Use specific evidence from the text to explain why you believe this statement is true or false.
I think this statement is ____________________ because in the text I read ________________________
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10. Why did workers form labor unions?
a. The courts were unwilling to help workers. Courts ruled that workers knowingly took on a risk
and that business owners did not have to compensate their employees when they got injured.
b. The government had a laissez faire attitude towards the economy. As a result they did not pass
any laws that protected the rights of workers (such as minimum wage).
c. The workers believed that they would be more powerful if they banded together to negotiate
with their bosses for higher pay and better working conditions (power in numbers).
d. All of the above