Unions
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Chapter 12 Lesson 4
Labor Conditions and Deflation

6-7 day work week, 12 or more hours a day.

No vacation, sick leave, unemployment, or workman’s
compensation for injuries on the job.

Did repetitive, mind-numbing tasks with dangerous and faulty
equipment.

Wages were so low most families couldn’t survive unless
everyone worked.

1889 – women earned $267 a year, men $498.

1900 – average worker made 22¢ an hour and worked 59
hours a week

Uneven division of wealth led to resentment among workers

Despite this, the standard of living rose dramatically

Effects of Deflation (1865-1897)

Deflation = rise in the value of money

Price of goods fell, which meant you could buy more
with little money

Wages were cut throughout the late 1800s but because
prices fell faster, you still had good buying power

Workers resented having less money despite how much it
could buy.

Felt they needed to organize to get higher wages and
better working conditions
Early Unions

There were 2 types of workers:
 Craft workers
Had special skills and training
 Received higher wages
 Had more control over their working conditions and
time
 EX: machinists, iron workers
 Unionized first


Common laborers
No real skills
 Received lower wages
 Eventually formed industrial unions

Opposition to Unions

Employers had to negotiate with craft unions because they
represented workers with needed skills.

Saw unions as conspiracies that interfered with property
rights

Methods used to prevent unions from forming:

Workers were required to take oaths or sign contracts
promising not to join a union

Hired detectives to identify union organizers

Workers who tried to unionize were fired and
blacklisted so that no one else would hire them.
Methods used to break up unions:
 Lockouts = locked workers out of the property and
refused to pay them
 If there was a strike, hired strikebreakers to come in
and work
 These methods usually succeeded because there were
no laws that gave workers the right to unionize or to
require owners to negotiate.
 Courts frequently ruled against unions and their
leaders
 Unions were also seen as being un-American and
anarchist.

New Unions

The Knights of Labor (1889)
 Organized non-skilled workers
 Opposed strikes in favor of arbitration
 Welcomed women and African-Americans
 Wanted an 8-hour workday, equal pay for women,
no child labor, and worker-owned factories
The American Federation of Labor (1886)
Focused on promoting the interest of skilled laborers
 Had 3 main goals:
 Convince companies to recognize unions and agree
to collective bargaining
 Pushed for a closed shop
 Promoted an 8-hour workday
 Would not allow women or African-Americans to join

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW; 1905)
Wanted to organize all workers according to industry,
not whether they were skilled or unskilled
 Were in favor of using strikes
 Never gained a large membership due to its radical
philosophy and controversial strikes.
 Most successful was the 1912 Lawrence, MA textile
strike.

Women and Organized Labor

1900 = women were more than 18% of the workforce in jobs
that were considered “women’s work”.

1/3 were domestic servants

1/3 were teachers, nurses, sales clerks, clerical workers

1/3 were industrial workers (garment industry or foodprocessing plants)

Paid less than men doing the same job – it was assumed
she had a man at home to help her & men needed the
money to support a family.

Most unions excluded women


Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

Worked as a labor organizer for the Knights of Labor

Eventually worked to organize mine workers
International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union

Founded in 1900, represented men and women in the
women’s clothing industry

1909 strike got the ILGWU better wages and benefits for
employees

Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)

Pushed for an 8 hour workday, a minimum wage, an end to
evening work for women, and the abolition of child labor
Homestead Steel Strike, 1892
Conditions:
 Seeking to break the union, the Carnegie Steel Company
rejects wage increase and proposes a 20% wage cut
 Union:
 Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin
Workers
 Tactics:
 Workers: Surround factory with pickets and armed
workers to keep it shut down and keep strikebreakers
out
 Employer: Locks workers out of the plant; hires
Pinkertons to break strike

Homestead Steel Strike, 1892
Rule of Government:
 State government sends in militia to end violence
between strikers and Pinkertons
 Outcome:
 Company hires strikebreakers
 Strike collapses after an anarchist tries to kill plant
manager Henry Clay Frick

Pullman Railroad Strike, 1894

Conditions:

Deep wage cuts without cuts in rent and food prices at
company housing and company stores

Union:


American Railway Union
Tactics:

Workers: Refuse to handle any railcars built by
Pullman; railroads are tied up nationwide

Employer: Locks workers out of factory
Pullman Railroad Strike, 1894

Role of Government:

Federal government gets court injunction to end
strike because it interferes with shipment of US mail


Federal troops end strike
Outcome:

ARU leaders jailed

Strike ends unsuccessfully

ARU membership declines
Lawrence Textile Strike, 1912
Conditions:
 Very low wages; high mortality rate among workers
(many workers are young girls); extreme poverty
among workers; strike begins after new wage cuts.
 Union:
 International Workers of the World (IWW)
 Strikers mostly female, immigrant textile workers
 Tactics:
 Workers: Picketing; union provides food and money
to strikers; gains support by touring child workers
around country
 Employer: Uses fire hoses on picketing workers

Lawrence Textile Strike, 1912
Role of Government:
 Local police and state and local militia make mass
arrests, attack picketers
 After attack on women and children, strike is
publicized
 Congress and President Taft investigate
 Outcome:
 Employers give in, grant workers’ demands
